1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



485 



I am a girl six years old. I go to school every day, 

 and I have a different lesson every class. I have no 

 brothers nor sisters. All the other little girls were 

 printing letters, so I thought I would print one too. 

 I often write letters to my grandma. My pa takes 

 Gleanings, and I like to hear about friend M. and 

 his neighbors. My pa got a queen two or three 

 weeks ago, and the bees killed it. I am not afraid 

 of bees, for I have one hive of my own. I was a long 

 time printing this. I go to Sunday-school. My 

 grandfather at Mt. Carroll, 111., has one hundred 

 stands of bees. Ada Bekyl Darrah. 



Chenoa, McLean Co., 111., Sept. 10, 1881. 



Well, I don't wonder you were a long time 

 printing your letter, my '-little friend,"' for 

 it is done very nicely indeed for a little girl 

 only six years old. ^\'hat do you think of 

 Mr. ]SIerrybanks this month V Don't you 

 think you would have laughed too, if you 

 had been there when he tipped over back- 

 ward on the buggy seat V 



I am a girl nine years old, and like to read your 

 Gleanings ever so much. Mother has not any bees 

 now; she thought thej' were dead, and brought 

 them into the sitting-room, and fixed a feeder on 

 top, and in the night she heard an awful buzzing; 

 they were swarming, out in the sitting-room, and 

 she shut the bedroom door, for she thought they 

 would swarm us out too. They got out of a little 

 hole in the feeder. Mother says she wants to get 

 some more. She promised me a swarm, and her 

 bees died, and she did not have any to give mo. 

 , Addie E. Osborn. 



Brlmfleld, Ind., May IT, 1881. 



Well, now, that was sad, was it not, Ad- 

 die y Tell your motlier, when she under- 

 takes to fasten bees iii or out of a hive, she 

 will have to look sharp. A good many of us 

 have '' come to grief '" when we thought a bee 

 could not get out nor in. I hope both you 

 and your mother will have better success 

 next time. 



This Is the first letter I have ever written, though 

 T am thirteen years old. I have three sisters and 

 one brother. Father has kept bees for thirteen 

 years, and the most that he ever owned at a time 

 was IT colonies. Last fall he had 5, but lost 2 last 

 winter. Sometimes they sting him, but he don't 

 mind that much, for he likes bees, and calls them 

 "little pets." Sometimes they swarm when he is 

 not at home; then we have to hive them. One time, 

 when father and mother had gone to town, they 

 came out, and we children had to hive them; and 

 when pa came home they came out and went back 

 into the old hive. This is the fourth year that father 

 has taken Gleanings. Florence G. Peck. 



Jackson, Mich., May 20, 1881. 



Very good, Florence. So your father has 

 kept bees just as many years as you are old. 

 You must not be discouraged, even if the 

 bees "you children'' hived did not stay; 

 they often "don't stay,'' even for old hands 

 at the business. 



I am a boy 14 years old. I have 8 hives of bees ; 

 they are all in box hives; I had a good many young 

 swarms get away from me this year. I live at an 

 old steamboat landing called Newport, on the Trini- 

 ty River; the nearest town is Riverside, on the I. & 

 G. N. R. R., which is my postoffice. This is a good 



country for honey. I have never known bees to fail 

 to make plenty. Mj- bees are all common. I have 

 taken as much as 35 lbs. of comb honey at one time 

 out of a single hive. The bees get a good deal of 

 honey from the willow-trees on the banks of the 

 river. I want to get me some good hives for my 

 bees next year. I wish you would please tell me the 

 best hive for comb honej'. I take Gleanings, and I 

 like to read it very much. I have four brothers and 

 one sister. I am the youngest boy. My father is 

 dead; he died when I was 1 years old. I like bees 

 very much. Bees always winter well here. Last 

 winter was the worst I ever saw. I never lost a 

 hive. I don't put my bees In any house. I just 

 leave them out in the yard. Jeff. D. Werner. 

 Riverside, Walker Co., Tex., Sept. U, 1881. 



Pretty good, friend Jeff. Since you speak 

 of it, it seems to me I would like very well 

 to live where bees would (dicays winter. I 

 really do not know that I can tell you what 

 hive is best for comb honey, but I rather 

 think the chaff hive has given as many good 

 reports as any, in the hands of all kinds of 

 people. The orders for them now are larger 

 than they have ever been before. 1 rather 

 think we shall ■' just leave " our bees '• out in 

 the yard " too, this winter. 



LETTER FROM A SIX-YEAR-OLD LITTLE GIRL. 



SEND ME A TOY PIANO. I HAVE A SWARM 

 OF BEES. THEY MADE ONE BOX OF HONEY, 

 AND HAVE NEARLY MADE ANOTHER. I AM 

 SIX YEARS OLD. MY NAME IS 



EMILY M03ELY. 



Mr. Root:— My little girl has written to you to 

 send her a toy piano. She has never been taught to 

 write or to read. I taught her her A B C's, and she 

 has taught herself to read In easy lessons; and when 

 she wishes to write she prints. E. J. Moselv. 



Oyster Creek, Texas, August 9, 1881. 



AVell, now, Emily, that is first rate. The 

 letter is plain, and to the point ; and the 

 way in which you tell a great deal in a very 

 few words, would make a good lesson for a 

 great many of us who are five or ten times 

 as old as you are. I guess you must have a 

 pretty good father or mother— may be both. 

 Have I guessed rightly? 



I am a little boy 10 years old, and go to school. I 

 have got one hive of bees. My stepfather, G. Phil- 

 lips, has 3 colonies. He told mo if I wanted to save 

 all of my pennies I could buy me a hive of bees, so I 

 went and picked strawberries, and got money, and 

 sent to Dan White, of New London, Ohio, for a nu- 

 cleus. The bees did not come, so I got discouraged; 

 told my stepfather my money was lost; he said no, 

 and told me that I could have one of his, and he 

 would take my chances. The money came back all 

 right, and I own the best colony of hybrid bees in 

 this town. They sting hard, though. I would rath- 

 er it would be you to handle them than me. My 

 stepfather takes charge of them for me. I shall 

 soon learn, I hope. He takes Gleanings, which he 

 is very fond of. Ma calls him her bee-man, he is so 

 fond of bees. I send j-ou some fire weed seed, buds, 

 and leaves, mentioned in some back number of 

 Gleanings. There is one acre or mOre growing 

 near our house. It is roaring with bees from morn- 



