1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



432 



cording to your directions, and transferred the bees 

 to them but they all died last winter but two. Pa 

 says he is not going' to give it up yet. You won't 

 have to give pa a smoker to quit using tobacco. He 

 don't use it, nor whisky either. I like to read the 

 letters in Gleanings the little girls write, and Mr. 

 Merrybanks' bee-pail. Loijetta T'tley. 



Farmersville, Posey Co., Ind. 



May God bless both you and your papa, 

 Loretta I I am very glad lie doesn't smoke, 

 nor drink whisky. How many little girls 

 who read this can say as much V But I want 

 you to go to Sunday-school; aitd will you 

 please tell your papa' that he must take you 

 and go too. If tiiere is not one near enough, 

 tell him to stir the people up and start one. 

 ^\i\\ you tell him so, Loretta V AVhat makes 

 them call your county " Posey " V Is it be- 

 cause you have so many posies V If so, I 

 should "like to go and seeyou. 



June 6th. A swarm came out Sunday, June 13th, 

 and alighted on the body of a maple-tree below the 

 limbs. I helped hive it, and did not get stung. Papa 

 could not get the bees to go up into the hiving-box, 

 and at last he took a liall'-bushcl basket and brushed 

 the bees off into it, and they filled the basket almost 

 full. 



I have read Gleanings, and see that you like to 

 have boys and girls write to you, so thought I would 

 write you a letter. I like to read about Mr. Merry- 

 banks, the Juvenile Department, and cartoons. 1 

 go to school, but we have vacation now. I have 

 been promoted to the grammar department. 



Willie H. Pond. 



Fo.xboro, Norfolk Co., Mass., July 25, ISSl. 



Although but 12 years old, I take an interest in 

 reading your journal, particularly the Juvenile De- 

 partment. I have two brothers who keep bees. 

 They began last year with one colony, which came 

 through winter all right; they packed it with chaff 

 in a box, which was fi inches larger each way than 

 the hive. They connected a ventilator with the en- 

 trance, then covered the box with straw. The bees 

 were l.">0 days without flight. The winter was very 

 cold; sometimes 30° i)Plow zero. My brothers take 

 Gleanings, and by the way they read it I should 

 judge they thought some thing of it at least. 



By the way, I must tell you my experiment with 

 the big bee — not Mr. Benton's bambera, but the 

 bumble-bee. I made a small hive for practice, size 

 fi by 4 inches, and (i inches high. One day I found a 

 bee's-nest, and after putting on veil and gloves I 

 transferred them into my hive, and removed them 

 to a new stand. Afterward I found two more nests 

 and gave them the honey and brood. What do you 

 think of that, Mr. Hoot? 



I attend school, which my sister teaches. There 

 are a number of bee-men in our vicinity. I live but 

 a few miles from the noted tec-keeper L. C. Boot. I 

 send you 13 cents for which please send me a pocket 

 letter-balance. Georgik W. Jones. 



Frankfort, N. Y., August 8, 1881. 



I suppose, Georgie, that those bees packed 

 in chaff wintered all right, although you do 

 not say so. I, too, once had a pet hive with 

 bumble-bees in it. but all the protit I got 

 from them was to see visitors run whenever 

 I opened that hive. I really wish you would 

 pay friend Root a visit, and tell us some 

 thing about what you saw there. If you 

 will make such a visit, and write us a lettei- 

 about it. r will pay you one dollar for it. 



I am a little boy 11 years old. My pai)a keeps bees, 

 and has begun this year to take Gleanings. He 

 has kept bees for several years, but he has not been 

 at home much till this summer, and coulil not take 

 care of them. He is now at home much of the time, 

 and so can look after his bees now. He used to keep 

 20 or more stocks. He has only 7 now. They are in 

 Langstroth and American hives. He likes the Lang- 

 stroth better; he says he shall use the Simplicity 

 next year. I am not afraid of bees now, but used 

 to be. When bees light on me now I stand still, and 

 they fly away and don't sting me. My papa showed 

 me a queen-cell to-day in a swarm that was hived 



I am a little girl 11 years old. I saw so many let- 

 ters in Gleanings, which my father takes, that I 

 thought that I would try it. This is the first time 1 

 ever wrote. My pa has 12 colonies of bees. I like to 

 help when they swarm. I am not a Viit afraid of 

 them. I have not got one sting this summer. 1 

 have 5 brothers and ;J sisters. Lizzie Johnston. 



Danforth, Iroquois Co., HI., July 12, 1881. 



Perhaps the reason why you are not afraid, 

 friend Lizzie, is because you have not been 

 stung ; are you sure you will be as brave 

 when you do get stun^'V AVhy, there are al- 

 most enough of you to have a Sunday-school 

 there at home, without anybody else. May 

 God bless you, and all those brothers and 

 sisters! " 



In my last letter I made a mistake. I said I was 

 11 years old. Pa says I am only 10. Pa bought the 

 watch for me because I had epilepsy. He told me I 

 must not run and get excited, and that I should take 

 my medicine regularly so I can get cured. I don't 

 have any spells if I do, but sometimes I forget my- 

 self, and run too much in playing and don't take my 

 medicine, and then I get a little spell. 



Pa had 9 swarms last fall, and he wintered (i of 

 them. Now they have increased to IT, and he says 

 we will soon get lots of honey; yet he says if I am 

 well he will give me one swarm. I like to go to Sun- 

 day-school every Sunday, and I don't forget to take 

 my watch along either. Charles Peters. 



Kogersville, Tusc. Co., O., July is, 1881. 



May God grant, friend Charlie, that you 

 may become perfectly cured of that dread- 

 ful malady. Last summer a little girl was 

 taken with a spell of it, right in Sunday- 

 school. Tell your pa to look out for next 

 winter with those 17 swarms. 



THE Li.lNGSTROTH FRAIUC:. 



|o]UIEND BOOT : —On page C6J, August No. of 

 Jiril "' 1880 of Gleanings, in an article headed "Which 

 ^^ Frame is the Best?" and signed Chas. Dadant 

 & Son, I find these words : " You know, as well as we 

 do, that the Langstroth frame is not fit for outdoor 

 wintering." Now, is the above remark true? It is, 

 of course, intended as an effort to disparage the Sim- 

 plicity hive, and may have some weight with those 

 who know nothing of the practical working of the 

 so-called "Langstroth Standard Frame." So far as 

 I know, everybody admits that the L. frame is the 

 most convenient form and shape for easy operation ; 

 and if the only objection found to it is its wintering 

 qualities — out of doors — and it can be shown that 

 that objection is incorrect, then why do we not have 



