772 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1.5. 



ly we discover that he has a feeder on an en- 

 tirely new plan. We have uo doubt that it will 

 work very nicely, and do as he says.] 



LADIES' Conversazione. 



were fastened solid together with cocoons and 

 worms, and wei'e utterly ruined, so I shall have 

 to take back what I said about there being no 

 worms. None of the other combs were affected, 

 which is very strong evidence that placing 

 them an inch or two apart is very essential. 

 Marengo, 111., Oct. .5. Emma Wilsox. 



SULPHURING WORMS IN COMBS. 



UNCLE TOM'S CABIN OF SPECKLED BEAUTY. 



miss wilson tells how they did and 

 didn't succeed. 



After reading, on page 664, Mrs. Axtell's 

 ti'ouble with extra comb**, I thought I would 

 report how we came out with ours. After hang- 

 ing them in the shop cellar we let them alone, 

 except occasionally to look at them to see if 

 there were any vvoi'ms at work. They hung 

 there a good many weeks without showing any 

 signs of worms. I beean to think they were 

 not going to trouble, but no such good luck. 

 Upon taking down a frame for examination, 

 one day. a good-sizctl worm was discovei'ed; 

 and by looking furthei'. quite a number were 

 found, some of them full grown. We conclud(>d 

 it was high time to fumigate. After a woi'm is 

 nearly or quite grown it takes considerable 

 sulphur to kill it: so we concluded to use enough 

 to make a sure thing of it. We got 20 lbs., put 

 it on the cellar bottom in four dishes. <et fire lo 

 the sulphur, and shut the door. The rooms 

 above were blue with smoke, and smoke issued 

 from every crevice, so we concluded it was 

 burning all right. We did not open the door 

 for two days, when we discovered the fire had 

 gone out in two of the dishes. On weighing 

 what was lefr, we found that only 8 lbs. of sul- 

 phur had really been bui'ned. 



I was vry anxious to find our wlnthi'i' thn 

 worms had been kilh'd or nut. ami ir, was with 

 no little intei-est that I examined the combs; 

 and when I came to a big worm all shriveled 

 up and dead I gave a big whoop of delight and 

 called Dr. INIiller to come and see that it was 

 really and truly dead. We had neither of us 

 felt very sanguine about the large ones being 

 killed, as our previous efforts had not been en- 

 tirely successful. But there was no disputing 

 the fact now. We never found ev-en one alive. 

 We left the cellar-door open, and it has stayed 

 so all summei'. Combs have kept nicely, and 

 no more trouble about worms. I don't believe 

 I'll ever worry so again about keeping combs as 

 I did this spring. 



Mrs. Axtell, don't you believe if you had 

 hung your combs overhead, so as to have them 

 further apart, the smoke would have got at 

 them better? 



From past experience I should say there is no 

 use to smo'ke lightly when the worms have at- 

 tained any size, and one heavy smoking is worth 

 a great deal more than several light ones. We 

 used about one pound of sulphur for every 275 

 cubic feet, which varies very littler from the 

 amount recommended by Mr. Uoolittle. An- 

 other point of importance. I think, is to keep 

 the room closed a day oi' two so as to retain th(^ 

 smoke as long as possible. We might have 

 smoked them earlier, before the worms got 

 quite so large: but by waiting as long as we 

 did, all eggs were hatched, and no sub-equent 

 fumigation was needt-d. 



After writing the above I went over to the 

 shop cellar to count the frames we had left 

 hanging up. I thought we had used about 

 two-thirds of them; but I found we had only 

 260 left. In counting them I found 5 combs in 

 one place and 2 in another that had, by some 

 means, been pushed ud close together, and they 



twelve months of poultky life ; AN in- 

 teresting chicken- story for the 



.IUVENILES, by MRS. AXTELL. 

 CONTINUED FROM P. 735. 



Soon the bright summer wore away, and the 

 yard was filled with chicks, big and little. Cold 

 weather came on. and our coops were not very 

 warm; and as mistress liad poisoned the rats, 

 she did not need to close the coops at night, so 

 now we were often very chilly, especially when 

 the cold wind blew, and i-ain Ijeat in upon us, as 

 our coops leaked badly. 



Master Brown came one night and caught 

 ever so many of us to sell, as he said we should 

 all be sick from the exposure, as some were al- 

 ready dying of Ijowel trouble caused by the 

 cold." Some said it was cholera, but it was all 

 caused by taking cold. 



Master Williams advised giving us sharp 

 grit. Pounded crockery was good, he said; 

 and he told us to put two tablespoonfuls of cop- 

 peras into a pail of water for us. if many were 

 sick: if not very sick, one spoonful to the pail- 

 ful would do. ri'moving all other water, so we 

 should be compelled to drink the copperas wa- 

 ter. Mistress said she had tried so many differ- 

 ent things that she had almost come to believe 

 nothing would do any good; but she did try the 

 copperas, and'it helped us right away. Then 

 we were all gathered up, what were left of us. 

 and put into a warm hen-house, as master 

 Brown had built a new one, because he said we 

 were fine stock, and cost too much to let die in 

 cold weathei' for want of jn'oper protection. He 

 sold oft the homely chicks, and kept only what 

 master Williams lu-onounced peifect specimens. 

 As I had but one foot. I should have thought I 

 would have had to go; but I had been given to 

 Clara, and I was pronounced perfect in all re- 

 spects, except the loss of one foot. 



The new poultry-house had large glass win- 

 dows in the south that could be slid to one side 

 in the summer time. The space wa^ covered 

 over with wire cloth, so that we might not 

 break the glass: and when slid to one side it 

 would not let rats and other vermin in. There 

 wei'e two doors, one in the south and one that 

 opened into the old hen-house, that was not 

 very warm. When our house was too warm, the 

 door into the old house was opened, which pi'e- 

 vented the cold winds from out of doors blow- 

 ing directly upon us. 



I wonder whether people know how thankful 

 poultry are for dust baths in winter time. Well, 

 every evening Clara came out with a large pan- 

 ful; and, after sweeping our floors, she took the 

 shovel and threw ashes all around. This ab- 

 sorbed the moisture of the droppings, and made 

 it easy to be swept next day. She kept a shal- 

 low box full for us to wallow in, or, to be more 

 polite, to biith(> in, for that is the way we kept 

 ourselves clean ami healthy. 



We soon became vei-y healthy in our warm 

 sunny house; and with such good care as we 

 were getting of late, through the influence of 

 master Williams, we were a very happy lot of 

 chickens. It was plain to be seen that mistress 

 was proud of us, for we were pure-blooded, 

 handsome chickens. I heard her tell a neigh- 



