578 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



bees are doing well. Every thing is about two 

 weeks late. B. F. Waggoner. 



Carlisle, Pa., April 27, 1888. 



CROWNING THE M.\Y-QUEEN. 



I have herded 47 sheep and 21 lambs for quite a 

 while, but now they are taken off to another shep- 

 herd. 



My father has been sick for quite a while. T 

 thank you for the book which yon sent me last win- 

 ter. T have read it through two or three times, and 

 it was very interesting to me. It was May-day here 

 a week ago. We had a (juecn and her five attend 

 anis, and a king and his tlve attendants. The first 

 thing in the morning we all gathered at the meet- 

 ing-house. We then all marched up to the ball- 

 ground, and the brass-band played on the way. 

 When we got up there some of the boys picked 

 tlowers to crown the maids, while some were play- 

 ing games. We all gathered together at the call of 

 the brass-liand, then we all marched back to the 

 meetinghouse, where the king, queen, and their 

 attendants, braided the May-pole. 



Fairview, Utah, May 23, 1888. M.w Laksen. 



THE LITTLE BOY WHOSE PAPA INVENTED A 

 SWARMXNG-BOX. 



This is the first time I have written to you. My 

 father has kept bees ever since I can remember. 

 He used to take Gleanings, but let his subscrip- 

 tion stop. He thought it was the best paper for 

 beemen. The bee-birds and cat-birds take ?ome 

 bees around here. The cat-birds are just as bad as 

 the bee-birds. Wc had three swarms Sunday. Two 

 settled tog'ether. My father is the inventor of Ka- 

 ler's swarming-box. We have 3") swarms. Our bees 

 never rob each other. I should like to correspond 

 with the boys and girls of the Juvenile Department. 



AndersonvMUe, Ind. Francis W. Kaler. 



Yes, we remember your papa in his con- 

 nection with the swarmin(?-box, quite well. 

 We are real glad that we have heard from 

 his little boy. But you didn't tell us how 

 you liked the swarming-box your papa in- 

 vented, nor whether you can "hive swarms 

 with it alone. Won't you tell us abotit it in 

 your next letter? 



HOW LEAH'S PA HIVES SWARMS; AND LOTS OF 

 OTHER GOOD THINGS ISESIDES. 



My father has 27 stands of bees. He had a that 

 swarmed this spring. One day he had three swarms. 

 I will try to tell you how he hives them. First he 

 puts his hive where he wants it, and then he sprin- 

 kles water on the bees. He then saws the limb off, 

 if they are high on a tree, and then shakes them in 

 front of the hive. I help him with the bees. I like 

 to work with them. One day he was away, and a 

 swarm came out and we did not know it till he 

 went back. I went to the hive to look, and they 

 got after me and chased me around the house, 

 through the house, and down into the shop. There 

 were five that stung me. They are working on the 

 red clover and persimmons now. I have five sis- 

 ters and two brolbers. My eldest sister is married, 

 and calls her youngest baby Amos, so you have a 

 namesake. My father tniys his supplies from you. 

 He got a wheelbarrow from you this spiing. We 

 like it very well. My father takes Gleanings. 

 We could not do withf)ut it very well. I like to read 

 the little letters in the Juvenile Department. 



Leah H. Yodkr, age 12 



Mattawana, Pa., June 22, 1888. 



A DUCK-EGG STORY. 



As my brother Perl was coming home from work 

 Thursday evening. May 3d, just as he was crossing 

 the large bridge over Pleasant Kun, which runs 

 about 24 rods from our house, he saw a duck-egg 

 lying in the water. He went and got the pole that 

 he generally gets the duck and goose eggs out of 

 the water with, and then went to get the egg out. 

 He noticed that, every time he touched it, it would 

 float quite a way; he also noticed that there were 

 several little fish, that would average about 2^2 

 inches in length, swimming around the egg. When 

 he got it to the bank he picked it up, and, turning 

 it over, saw that the shell was crushed on that side, 

 and that the " white skin," which is next to the 

 shell, had a slit in it about U4 inches long. Look- 

 ing in he saw that it was full of fish averaging 

 about 2^ inches in length. He brought it over to 

 the house to let us see it. We asked him how many 

 there were in it, and he answered, "I think there 

 must be as many as 6 or 7," and then he emptied 

 them out to count them, and the egg was eaten out 

 entirely clean, and only one fish was alive. There 

 were 13 in all. When he took them over to let Fred 

 (who lives a little way the other side of Pleasant 

 Run) see, as he came back he put the fish that was 

 alive back in the creek, so it would live. 



Fred wintered his bees all through. He had only 

 to feed one stand, a little before the blossoms came. 

 Nettie H. Cranston. 



Woodstock, O., May 9, 1888. 



Your little story is quite interesting— the 

 more so, because it is true. Evidently fish 

 like eggs as well as we do. I wonder if 

 they thought they had foimd a bonanza. 



OUB, APIARY. 



Come walk with me this morning 

 Thro' ranks of splendid trees. 



And see the fair bright palaces - 

 The city of the bees. 



Green and blue, and some like marble; 



Others red and pink and white; 

 Around us and far in the distance 



They rise upon the sight. 



They work through all the summer. 

 And their bright treasures hoard; 



With honey pure and wholesome 

 We crown our sumptuous board. 



We leave them stores for winter. 

 And keep them so snug and warm 



That they fear not our northern climate. 

 And never feel the storm. 



AVe think of the bees of our childhood. 



Around our homes' retreat; 

 Their songs were perhaps as pleasant. 



Their honey just as sweet. 



They toiled like these all summer. 



In rough, unpainted hives; 

 They gathered all the choicest sweets, 



Then yielded up their lives. 



As you walk with me this morning 



Thro' rnnksof leafy trees, 

 You may see how scientific care 

 May bless the honey-bees. 

 Malone, N. Y. Marian A. Bigelow. 



