538 



GLEANII^GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



in the garden, and take care of the blue-eyed baby; 

 and at my spare time I i3ut starters in my pa's hon- 

 ey-boxes. The bees are doing- well. Pa toolc off 70 

 boxes of honey to-day. I tliink your Home Papers 

 are very nice. We have to go a mile and a half to our 

 Sunday-school. I hope these few lines will find you 

 as well as they left me. Melinda Newman. 



Glenn, Allegan Co., Mich., Sept. 1. 1881. 



Well done, Melinda. You know the Bi- 

 ble says, when one is faithful in the few 

 things he has to do, God will give him 

 more to do; and I should think, from your 

 letter, you have been very faithful indeed. 

 Kis5 that blue-eyed baby for me, and tell 

 her the kiss was sent by her uncle Amos. 



Well, Mr. Root, that was an oversight in me not to 

 give you my address. I will write to you again. We 

 have had a long dry spell of weather. Our bees 

 have had very poor pasture. My pa has been feed- 

 ing them this fall. You wanted to know if my bees 

 were yellow. My new swarm is just as yellow as 

 gold. That is the queen we got from you. She has 

 a hive full of bees. They are perfect beauties. Now 

 I will tell you the way my pa winters our bees, as 

 nearly as I can. He makes a platform oOx;56 inches 

 square. He makes them out of boards and 2x4 

 scantling. The bee-hive stands on the platform all 

 summer. He builds the house and cuts the slot for 

 the alighting-board to stick through to let the bees 

 come out and in as they please. He places a little 

 board with a block on each end of it between the 

 bee-hive and the rough bo.x on the alighting -board. 

 That little board is to leave the entrance clear so 

 the bees can go out and in as the weather permits 

 them. He tills in between the two boxes with straw, 

 and sometimes he puts old carpet and rags in. 



Julia Bannon. 



Archie, Venango Co., Pa., Oct. 5, 1881. 



Now I am pretty sure, Julia, you saw your 

 pa do all that, or you would not be able to 

 tell it so well. Perhaps you helped him. 

 At any rate, you have told it so plainly I 

 presume almost any one can understand it. 

 I believe it is a very good way to lix them, 

 where one has no chaff hives. Your ad- 

 dress is all plain this time. 



I am a girl 10 years old. I have never been to 

 school, except two or three months. I spell and 

 read in the Second Reader. I have a mother and 

 five brothers. My father is dead. He died when I 

 was three months old. My brother Jeff takes 

 Gleanings. He has 8 hives of bees. 



Clara E. Werner. 



Riverside, Wallace Co., Texas, Oct. 9, 1881. 



JSow, Clara, I am sure your brother Jeff 

 must have a great deal to "do, and I think it 

 will be just the thing for you to learn all 

 you can about bees, and help him all you 

 can. Who knows but that you may some 

 day be a great bee-woman, like Mrs. Lucin- 

 da Harrison, who writes to you children al- 

 most every month. 



years. He lost one last winter. He got a nice lot of 

 honey this summer. I am only 13 years old. Please 

 excuse this letter, as it is the first I ever wrote. 



John K. Brooks. 

 Conshohocken, Pa., Oct. 12, 1881. 



Your letter is very good, John, but I hard- 

 ly think 1 could say as much for your father's 

 smoker, if it goes out every time he sets it 

 down. What kind of a smoker is it, and 

 where did he get itV 



I have been induced to write to you through read- 

 ing the juvenile letters in Gleanings. My papa 

 keeps bees; he has 8 hives. I sometimes help him 

 with the bees. 1 keep the smoker lighted for him. 

 It goes out when he sets it down. I wear a bee-hat, 

 and don't get stung. My papa has had bees two 



CAM)Y FOR BEES OR QUEEN-CAGES. 



HOW TO MAKE IT WITHOUT HEAT. 



^=]PtIEND ROOT:— I give to the readers of Glean- 

 jSp INGS the modu.'i operandi for making candy for 

 ' — ' queen-cages like the samples I sent you (in 

 the cages). Take coffee A sugar, put in a dish or 

 pan; crush all hard lumps; add a little water, then 

 work with a thick knife or spoon, until the grains 

 are reduced, and the mess has the appearance of a 

 very thick paste, when it will be ready to put into 

 the cages. Caution: There are spurious brands of 

 cott'ee A sugar in the market, which will not make 

 solid candy, but crumble every time. Buy the 

 strictly standard coffee A sugar, from some reliable 

 dealer. Don't put all the sugar in the dish at your 

 first trial, because you are liable to get your candy 

 paste too thin; if so, put in the remainder of your 

 sugar, and make it just right. 



My bees have been adding to their stores right 

 along during this fine weather, but I have not had 

 time to find out from what source they get it. 



Marietta, O., Oct. 14, '81. R. Stehle. 



I think I would use granulated sugar in- 

 stead of the coffee, on account of its being 

 nearer chemically pure sugar. One impor- 

 tant part of the matter is the mashing of the 

 grains into a fine paste; and I am inclined 

 to think a little heat would facilitate the 

 process, if one had much to do. To have 

 this candy get hard quickly, it should be 

 spread on a board, or in some kind of a tray, 

 because the wood absorbs a large part of the 

 water. It should also be in rather thin or 

 shallow cakes. If not, it will dry over the 

 surface, forming a crust, while the inside is 

 soft. I presume advantage might be taken 

 of this fact, in using candy without water. 

 The above process makes it so easy for any- 

 body to make their own bee-candy, I think 

 I shall take candy out of our price list. One 

 great reason why I would advise you all to 

 make your own" candy, is to save the very 

 expensive express or freight charges, where 

 you have to send for it in such quantities as 

 is needed to feed bees. Sugar is shipped by 

 the barrel at a regular low rate of freight, to 

 all grocers and merchants; but candy in 

 small lots can not be shipped for any thing 

 like these low figures. Of course, you can 

 put the above candy in the wired frames, 

 just as well as if it was boiled in the usual 

 way, but you will have to wait a much long- 

 er time for it to harden. You can add flour, 

 if you wish, and it will not hinder the hard- 

 ening at all; but I do not think I would use 

 flour for winter use, especially while there is 

 such a great amount of prejudice against 

 pollen in the brood-nest for successful win- 

 tering. 



