IS'.i'J 



GLEANINCS IN BEE CULTLTRE. 



73f; 



by a liiilc web. and— yon must watrb rlosdv or 

 yoii will not sec how it is doiu'. but \()u will scr 

 a beautiful chrysalis of grocii and ^'old. Hc- 

 nt>Hth in a little heap will lie the old skin. 

 Watoh tlio chrysalis and you will see the dai'k 

 si)ots of the tiutterlly's wings app<>ar. In about 

 twei\-e days the pretty cfeature comes forth. 



I shall try again to induce the l)ees to take 

 honey from siirnlns biood-conibs. I will take 

 them away until they have become accustomed 

 to living below, and storing theri> such olh(>r 

 stores as are given them. Then by uncapping 

 the honov and inverting the frames in the up- 

 per story I think they will be promptly cleaned. 

 Warmth is essential in all feeding. 



As the raspberry is an important honey-plant, 

 will Gi.KANiN(is "please give an article on its 

 eni'mies. and how to meet them? 



LlUHIK WlI.IJAMS. 



Delavan. Wis.. Sept. 17. 



HOW MRS. HARRISON KEEPS COMBS FROM 

 THE MOTH WORMS. 



in tlie general round-up of the apiary in the 

 spring there wen- many colonies that did not 

 answer at roll-call. I cleaned out the tenant- 

 less hives and put them into the cellar with 

 their complement of combs. Some of the hives 

 did not become entirely tenantless until iiuite 

 late in the season, and the bee-moths were on 

 the wing. dei)ositing their eggs. When swarms 

 issued, the hives latest carried into the cellar 

 were issued: and if moths had hatched in any 

 they were the ones chosen. 



I looked over the combs occasionally, and did 

 not allow any cocoons to mature: and as the 

 windows wei-e covered with wire gauze, none 

 could come in. I expected to burn sulphur to 

 destroy the grub of moths: but when swarming 

 was over I examined all the remaining combs, 

 and could not find one. This morning, Sept. 7, 

 I could discover none. This storing of combs in 

 the cellar has saved me a great amount of hard 

 work and worriment. and I shall practice it in 

 the future. 



Our bees have stoi'ed very little surplus honey 

 this season, but are now pushing out lively in 

 the direction of the river-ltottoms. and I am in 

 hopes they will secure sutticient stores for the 

 winter. Mrs. L. HARtiisox. 



Peoria. III. 



UNCLE TOMS CABIN OF SPECKLED BEAUTY. 



TWKI.VK MONTHS OF POfl.TRV LIFE: AN IN- 



TEKESTINf; fHICKEN-.STOP.y FOR THE 



.irVENII.ES. BY MRS. AXTEI.I,. 



roNTINlED FROM I'. 7()"». 



After this long talk with mother Biddie we 

 all ran out upon the green grass, and mistress 

 turned mother Biddie out of the coop for the 

 first time since we were put in there. Vou 

 ought to have seen how glad she was to get 

 out. She .lumped and ran and flew with all 

 her might, and came neai' scaring us out of oui' 

 wits Shut in that foul-smelling coop for six 

 weeks, and never let out once, with nothing but 

 corn and corn-meal dough to eat, no nice gravel 

 to eat. that all poultry must iiave to make 

 tliem feel well, she said if mistre.ss had kept 

 her in much longer slie knew she must have 

 died of disease and vermin: and as she said 

 this, how she did make the dirt fly. scratching 

 and hunting for gravel, and rolling in the dust 

 to rid her.-elf of the parasites that kept us un- 

 easy all night of late I 



>iistress Brown came out with a basin of 



kerosene and water and a whisk -i>room, and 

 turned our c(M)p back and gave it a good sprink- 

 ling, and cleaned oil' the lloor of llie coop, and 

 moved it to a fresh piec«' of ground, when the 

 rats ran off. 



On seeing the rats, mistress said slie would 

 set the t'oop up ofT the ground, so nothing could 

 hide under it to kill us. wliich mother Biddie 

 said was a nice arrangement, as it would afford 

 us chickens place to tjuickly I'un under when a 

 dash of rain came up suddenly. 



When night came, mother Biddie did not 

 want to I'eturn to the coop, because she had 

 been kept there so long. She said master Wil- 

 liams would not have allowed her to be shut up 

 a prisoner' six long weeks. He used to let all 

 his hens with young chickens out two or three 

 times a week when it was warm and dry; and 

 when the chicks were thiee weeks old the hens 

 were let out with them every day when not 

 raining. What nice times we did-have scratch- 

 ing for worms and bugs, and catching grass- 

 hoppers, which made us grow fast! and we 

 were not bothered with hen-mites either, be- 

 cause our coops wei'(> sjirinkled with kerosene 

 and water quite; often, and a healtliier lot of 

 chicks you never saw. 



Mistress Brown said mother Biddie must go 

 back into her coop, and she threw some corn- 

 meal dough down for us to eat: and when 

 mother Biddie was not thinking she just ran a 

 long piece of stiff wire, .-ome six feet long, with 

 a loop bent up at one end. in the shape of the 

 top of a letter f, and the other end of the rod 

 was bent to form a handle to hold by. Mistress 

 slyly ran the wire up under mother Biddie. and 

 gave it a quick jerk, and it caught one of 

 mother Biddie's feet. Oh my I how she did 

 jump and squeal I and we were all frightened, 

 but it did not hurt her much, and she was put 

 back into the clean coop. 



It smelled terribly strong of kerosene for 

 several days, especially at night; but it did not 

 hurt us. 



The coop was now high and dry off the 

 ground, and we were glad of that. It had a 

 wide airy crack in the bottom, which I think 

 mistress did not intend to leave. She said she 

 must give us a change of feed, if she wished us 

 to ever get large enough for broilers, as we look- 

 ed so poor and little. Mother Biddie said she 

 ought to have thought of that sooner, as chicks 

 that are stunted when young will never make 

 so large nice poultry as if properly fed at first. 

 She said master Williams was particular that 

 all his youTig chicks should have curd made 

 from sour milk; and the corn meal was made 

 up into bread, and baked, for very young 

 chicks. We were occasionally treated to wheat, 

 oats, and buckwheat. 



Clara washed out our water-dish and poured 

 in some clabbered milk: but we would not 

 drink it at first: but as we could get no water 

 we soon learned to love it better than water. 

 How we all crowded around it in a i)retty little 

 row I Little mistress said, when one head was 

 bobbing down for a drink, other little heads 

 were bobbing up; and. oh how she laughedl 

 We were almost scared at her. she laughed so 

 loud. 



She gave us such piles and piles of food we 

 could not eat it all. and old Robinson and his 

 mates got more of it than we did. Sometimes 

 they drove us away and took it all. How we 

 wished we could ask foi' that box arrangement 

 to be placed in front of our coop, that mothei- 

 Biddie had when she was a chick, as old Robin- 

 son was so big he nearly crushed us when he 

 stepped on us. so eag»r was he to get our fo od! 



Sometimes mistress Clara would drive him 

 and his mates away, and sometimes she would 

 set little dog Fidoon him. and that taught Fido 



