236 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



:^rAY 



I see some letters from very young bee-keepei'S. 1 

 am older than the most of them; my age Is 15. In 

 the spring of 1880 my brother, who is a bee-keeper, 

 anrl has 30 colonies of bees, gave me a swarm of hy- 

 brid bees in a Langstroth hive. I Avas to attend to 

 it myself; so when they tilled the first set of surplus 

 boxes I had no more to put on, so I had to make 

 then. I presume you will laugh to think of a girl 

 making 2-lb. section boxes. 1 made them all myself, 

 and got 48. lbs. of honey. I help my brother look for 

 queens. I look on one side of the combs while he 

 looks on the other. He lost 3 colonies out of 33 this 

 winter. Mine are all right so far. Nearly every 

 bee-keeper about here has lost all, or nearly all, his 

 bees except us. My brother takes three bee papers, 

 but I claim Gleanings as mine. My brother got 100 

 lbs. of comb honey from one hive. We all like the 

 Home Papers. Mollie E. Caxolks. 



Hereford, Baltimore Co., Md., March U, ISSl. 



"Well done, IMollie. Yours is a tip-top let- 

 ter for a girl of 15, and there are lots of grown- 

 11]) bee-keepers that haven't done near as 

 well as you and your brother. Your exam- 

 ple of making the boxes yourself, when you 

 could not get them otherwise, is an excellent 

 one for all of us. That is just the way to 

 learn to he independent of circumstances. I 

 know girls can do a great many things that 

 people often think they can not do, and may 

 be that is just the reason I always have so 

 many of them working for me. 



I am a little boy live years old; and mamma says I 

 may print a letter to you, and tell you all about our 

 nice fields of snow; they are so pure and white, real 

 little mountains of snow, too, and the high fences 

 play hide and seek in them, while my two sisters 

 and I go over them with our coasting sleighs; and 

 the snow even hides papa's two-story chafC hives, 

 and when he shovels it from the entrances we can 

 just see his hat above the snow '. Last summer the 

 bees stored but little honey; and they have not had 

 a tly since the tenth of last November; and papa 

 says " many poor little bees have perished this long 

 winter." My papa loves to care for his bees. I do 

 not attend school, but study reading, writing, spell- 

 ing, figures, and music, at home; I can play "Hail, 

 thou long-expected Jesus," on the organ, and some 

 exercises. We have a pet bird that sings nicely, and 

 will fly to our hand when we call him. He likes 

 mamma's house-plants very much — I think as much 

 as we like Gleanings. I help papa with the bees, 

 and on the farm. I will tell you what I can do, the 

 next time I write. I am tired now. 



Johnnie E. Olsen. 



Nashotah, Wis., April i, 1881. 

 Very good, Johnnie. If I am not mista- 

 ken, you are the youngest one in our class 

 that ever Avrote me a letter. ^Ve send the 

 book. 



My pa takes Gleanings and keeps bees; but we 

 don't get any honey. Some of our bees are in Koot, 

 and some in Parker chaff hives. We have not lost 

 any yet, and pa says if it should be a good season we 

 will have lots of honey. AVe have lots of snow and 

 mud, and can't go out, because we have had the 

 diphtheria. I have not been out-doors since the 

 IVth of March. I am 9 years old. My sister is V and 

 brother Karl is 5. We had a little brother Ralphs 

 years old, but he died of the diphtheria on Sunday, 

 March 2Tth. Oracle and I go to school and to Sun- 



day-school when we are well enough. Pa says the 

 reason he don't write to you as other bee-keepers 

 do, is because he would be put in Blasted Hopes; 

 but he don't look like Mr. Lake. 



Harry L.vwrence. 

 Bloomington, Bl., April 8, 188L 



Thank you for your good letter, Harry. 

 Tell your pa if he has lost no bees in winter- 

 ing, he is certainly not a "Blasted Iloper." 

 Poor little suffering Ilalph has gone, and I 

 can well imagine the sorrowing hearts that 

 he left in that little home circle. AV'eep not, 

 for he has a home in heaven, where you will 

 all meet him, if you do right and love God. 

 Be kind to Grac'ie and Karl ; read the little 

 book to them we send, and try to make your 

 mother happy. She feels the loss of the 

 dear little one more than you or I, perhaps, 

 know any thing about. 



MRS. LI'CINDA A. HARRISON'S TALK TO THE JUVE- 

 NILE CLASS. 



l.ESSOX SECOND. 



I'm caught in a trap, just as many a mouse before 

 me has been, because we didn't think. I had no idea 

 of writing any more to you when I quoted, "Thus 

 end eth the first lesson." AA'ill Mr. Koot and you let 

 mc off with a story— not a "make believe," but an 

 "o'er true tale"? I was at Cincinnati last fall at the 

 bee meeting, and, by the way, children, while I think 

 of it, Mr. Root was there, and he is like Uncle Ned — 

 " has no hair on the top of his head, the place where 

 the hair ought to grow." 



I like to talk, and my tongrcis like the man's cork 

 leg, that, when it got to going, he couldn't stop it; 

 but when it is run down I listen to other people. Mr. 

 Hays was there ; I presume he is a relative of the e.v- 

 President, for j)i'csidenis, you know, have so many 

 kin folks, and they both live in Ohio. I wanted to 

 ask him if he wasn't, but I didn't. I was too bash- 

 ful. It does not matter whether he ever had a rela- 

 tive in the White House or not, as he is a bee-keeper, 

 and, what is better, an amateur bee-keeper (that is, 

 one who keeps bees for the love of it, or, as we say, 

 for recreation, which means for play.) Mr. Hays is 

 a lawj'cr, and stays in an office among books, and 

 writes; and people come there to ask about law, and 

 some are filthj- fellows who chew and smoke tobacco, 

 so that he needs fresh air and sunshine, and seeks it 

 by playing with his bees. They are queer pets, are 

 they not? 



Most of you children have a dog; and when you 

 come home from school he is glad all over; rolls over 

 and over, capers around, jumps upon you and kisses 

 (you may call it licked) with his tongue; but it is 

 his way of kissing; he don't know how to pucker up 

 his mouth. Mr. Hays has a little daughter who runs 

 to meet him, glad all over, when he returns, and, tak- 

 ing hold of his hand, says, " Now, papa, we will go 

 and work with the bees." He has other little daugh- 

 ters, but they don't care any thing about the bees; 

 and I doubt if they love him as well, as they are not 

 interested in the same way. This one is always his 

 companion when he is in the apiary, helping him and 

 asking questions. She said that she would like to 

 have a swarm of bees, and her papa gave her hishcst 

 swarm. All papas would not have given her the best 

 as he did, but some poor little one that was good for 

 nothing. After awhile she wanted to have two col- 

 onies, and her papa told her that her swarm was 

 large enough iK> divide and make two, and she did it 



