180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Apr. 



something in his hands near that hive, but 

 with the good hxdy in the doorway, and that 

 modest individual in the background. I 

 can hardly decide whether it is the fear of 

 stings or the fear of strangers that makes 

 him so prone to stand back out of sight. 

 And those hives ! Did you ever ! No won- 

 der some of them cost over $15.00. Are they 

 not pretty? Why, Peter, I almost feel as if I 

 should just like to live with you all the while. 

 I wonder if it shall ever be that I may make 

 a visit to these many friends away across 

 the seas. Oh bow gladly would I do so, if it 

 were God's will that I should even make you 

 a brief visit ! Go on, friend Peter; be care- 

 ful aud prudent, and remember the promise, 

 that those who are faithful with a few things 

 shall, in due time, be made ruler over many 

 things. 



^ AM 8 years old. I have three brothers and one 

 M sister. When the bees stiug father around the 

 face and eyes it swells all up. Mother read to 

 me about a little girl named Louie in your Glean- 

 ings. I have not any bees yet, but father says he is 

 going to give me a swarm of bees. He says he is 

 going to give me a grapevine too. Mother is teach- 

 ing school this year, and I am going to her. I am 

 studying the Third Reader, and spelling, geography, 

 and arithmetic. When father transferred the bees 

 I washed up the things and made vinegar out of the 

 sweetened water. I sell my vinegar to grandpa, and 

 I get my money from him. I am named after my 

 grandma. What is your little Blue Eyes' name? I 

 lilie to go to Sunday-school. I got the prize there 

 for the best lesson. My name is 



Ellen Christine Wilder. 

 Forsyth, Ga., Feb. 22, 1881. 

 Yery good, Ellen. Blue Eyes' name is 

 Constance, but we call her " Connie," as you 

 will see in the back part of the ABC book. 

 That is a first-rate idea about the vinegar, 

 and I hope you will keep on making it, so 

 that no honey is wasted. We send you a 

 book too. 



I read a good deal in the bee papers papa takes, 

 and I Bee letters from other little boys, so 1 thought 

 I would write you a little about our bees. We have 

 had a very hard winter, and papa has worried about 

 them ever so much. Last year our bees did finely. 

 Papa packed down 33 stands in flax chaff In the fall, 

 with chaff cushions on top. To-day, Sunday, is the 

 first day that has been warm enough for them to fly, 

 although it snowed yesterday. So papa came right 

 home after church and took off the top cushions so 

 the sun could shine right on top of the frames. You 

 don't think papa did any thing wrong, do you, Mr. 

 Root? To-morrow it may be cold again, and the bees 

 have been shut up ever since Noventber. Papa says 

 they were in good condition. He found one swarm 

 dead, and that was starved. Papa says he must 

 have overlooked it In the fall, for it did not have 

 honey enough. I am ten years old. Roy Morris. 



Rantoul, lil., March 6, 1881. 



Very well done, Eoy. I am glad that you 

 thought about it being Sunday when, your 

 father opened the hives, for it shows that 

 you have a wish to remember the Sabbath i 



day to keep it holy. When our domestic an- 

 imals need care on Sunday, it is perfectly 

 right to give it, for the Bible says so ; and if 

 the first day the bees could fly came on Sun- 

 day, and your father judged they needed 

 care, it was perfectly right to give it. I 

 would make it a point, however, when it is 

 any way questionable about Sunday work, 

 to be sure to ei'r " on the Lord's side." 



We have had Sandaj^-school here all winter. I 

 like to go. Our bees are not doing very well this 

 winter. We have part of them in the cellar, and 

 some of them in the room. Those in the room got 

 to coming out, and we had to take them out. We 

 take the bee journals. I like to read about the bees. 

 I have to read it for papa. I like to read for him 

 about the bees. I like the bees when they don't 

 sting. Papa says they don't hurt him, but they swell 

 on me, and you bet it hurts too. We have lost about 

 15 stands of bees this winter. Bees are all dying off 

 around here. I like to read the Home Papers. Pa- 

 pa says if his bees don't all die he wants some queens 

 and some flower-seeds that are good for bees to 

 work on. Grandpa has got two stands of bees. Papa 

 has got one stand of Italian bees. He sent for two 

 queens last summer, but only one of them proved 

 to be good. Minnie B. Lee. 



Grant City, Worth Co., Mo., Feb. 28, 1881. 



I am a boy 14 years old. I have one colony of bees 

 in good order. I have them packed i» chaff on their 

 summer stand. They made 40 lbs. surplus comb 

 honey. I expect to be a bee-keeper. Bees do not 

 sting mc very much. 



WHY COMBS GET BLACK. 



If I may be excused, I do not think that Mabel 

 L. Nelson is quite correct about the cause of 

 comb getting black. The reason is, that the larva 

 spins a fine silken cocoon, so thin that it takes sev- 

 eral years to reduce the size of the cell so that we 

 can notice that it is any smaller. This cocoon is left 

 in the cell, and gives to the comb a dark color. The 

 bees clean the cell out again before it is used. The 

 honey in this comb is as clear as that in new comb. 

 The comb is tougher after it has been used for 

 brood. Eddie Jackson. 



Fairland, Ind., March 5, 1881. 



Very well done, Eddie. Your reasoning 

 would do credit to an older bee-keeper, and 

 your crop of honey from your one chaff hive 

 does credit to both you and the hive, during 

 such a season as last. 



Mamma was reading to me from the Juvenile De- 

 partment, and I thought if other little girls could 

 write I could. I am only eight years old, and can 

 not write very well, as I am left-handed, and mamma 

 says I must write with my right hand. I would like 

 to know aU the little writers in Gleanings. We 

 have no bees, but papa wants to get some, and that 

 is why he sent for your book. I think the pictures 

 of Mr. Merrybanks are very funny. 



Anna Spencer. 



Hockiugport, Ohio, March 7, 1881. 



That is a very good letter, Annie, and we 

 send you a book called " Sheer Off." See if 

 you do not almost feel like crying when you 

 read about poor Nora Peel. 



When I was eleven years old a swarm of bees went 

 across the street and clustered on a little cherry- 

 tree. I took my bive and smoker over, and went to 



