1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



589 



Our cushions are about four inches thick, and last 

 winter, when the thermometer ranged from 10° to 

 20" for weeks at a time, they would have frost on 

 the upper surface, while next to the bees they were 

 drj- and warm, and the bees and <• nnbs dry. 



I have not found it neccessary lu have any open 

 space above the frames. " If you want to know how 

 that feeU to the bees, just hang your bed-clothes on 

 the bed-posis some cold night." 



Asking pardon for saying so much on this almost 

 threadbare subject, may I suggest, friend Boot, that 

 if we would all faithfully follow your timely advice, 

 and attend to our bees in September, just as you di- 

 rect, making them breed up well by thorough feed- 

 ing, and at the same time supply them with ample 

 stores of good honey or syrup, that no dead bees 

 would be reported, even if wintered in single-walled 

 hives and on summer stands? 



E. M. Hayhurst. 



Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 15. 1881. 



To those who are unacquainted with friend 

 IL, 1 would say, by way of adding weight to 

 his advice and instruction, that he is, and 

 always has been from tlie hrst, one of the 

 successful ones. Not only does he succeed 

 in raising and wintering bees, but he suc- 

 ceeds in raising fine queens, and getting 

 them safely to their destination. More than 

 all this, he succeeds, year after year, in doing 

 business with a large number' of people in 

 such a way that none of them ever have any 

 fault to find ; at least, so far as my knowledge 

 extends. 



iu%mil^ §^liarbij(inh 



Every girl or boj-, under 12 years of aee, who writes a letter 

 for this department will receive one of Uavid Cook's excellent 

 5-cent Sunday-school books. Many of these books contain the 

 same matter that jou find in Sunday-school books costing from 

 $1 00 to $1 50. 



S LIKED my book real well. I have read it 

 thmugh, and have laid it away, to read when I 

 — ' get larger. 1 do not go to Snuday-school, for it 

 is too far away, but 1 go to district school. I study 

 the Fourth Ktader, geography, grammar, spelling, 

 and writing. Pa has kept bees for 13 years; he has 

 never lost many until last winter. This is theiirst 

 year pa has taken Gleamngs, and he likes it very 

 well. Pa has got 2« swarms of bets now; he had 33 

 swarms last fall, and lost them all but 9. I have 4 

 brothers, but no sisters. My little brother, 4 jears 

 old, likes bees; when they come into the house he 

 takes them on bis fingers and carries them out- 

 doors. His name is Amos. Pa bought 4 queens this 

 year; he bought 3 of them from you, and 1 from Mr. 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. The one be got from Mr. 

 Hutchinson was a $1.00 queen; ehe was all white, 

 and sbn has her hive full of nice light bees now. 

 The $3 00 one you sent us is nice too. There are not 

 mauy of her bees out yet. If you will open the hive 

 you will see some of them. I do not think much of 

 bee-Slings as a cure for rheumatism. 



Jennie E. Stoner. 



Merrimac, Sauk Co., Wis., Oct. 15, 1881. 



A very good letter, friend Jennie. And 

 so your brother's name is just like mine. 

 Isn't it funny that it happened so V AJay be 

 you haven't had the rheumatism yet. Little 

 girls don't often have it. 1 am glad to hear 

 your queens turned out so well. 



My pa finished packing his bees to-day. Thoy 

 crowded on six and eight frames, with division- 

 boards on each side of the brood-nest, one-fourth 

 inch from the bottom ; upper story filled with dry 

 forest-leaves. I assist my father a great deal with 

 his bees. I am a schoolarirl. Isabella Wier. 



South River, Anno Arundel Co., Md., Nov. 4, 1881. 



I am a little girl ton years old. My papa keeps 

 bees. He has about 50 hives, and about 1500 lbs. of 

 box honey. Papa takes Gleanings, and I like to 

 read it. I have got one sister and one brother. My 

 brother is three years old, and my sister is eight 

 years old. Nellie Wortd. 



Reading Centre, Schuyler Co., N. Y., Nov. 5, 1881. 



Thank you, Nellie. That is a very good 

 little letter. 



This is the first letter I have ever written, though 

 I am eight years old. I have two sisters and one 

 brother. My pa has kept bees for 15 years, and the 

 most that he owned at a time was 40 colonies. Last 

 fall he had 3, but lost 1 last winter. My pa takes 

 Gleanings, and I like to read it. I think the pic- 

 tures of Mr. Mcrrybanks and his neighbor are very 

 funny. Eva Dehr. 



Indian Falls, Genesee Co., N. Y., Oct. 25, 1881. 



I am a little girl 10 years old. I have three sisters 

 and two brothers. Mj- elder brother keeps bees. 

 He had 40 swarms last summer, and lost 15 last win- 

 ter. He gave my sister two swarms. His bees 

 made 1400 lbs. of honey this summer. He got lao 

 per lb. for the comb honey; 17 for that in sections, 

 and a shilling for the extracted. My sister has the 

 picture of Blue Eyes. My brother takes Glean- 

 ings, and I like to read the Juvenile Department. 

 He bought twelve glasses to put honey in, and gave 

 me ten cen»s for washing them. I read in the Fourth 

 Reader, and study geography, grammar, spelling, 

 practical and mental arithmetic. 



Emm.4 VTaoner. 



Calamus, Clinton Co., la., Oot. 2S, 1881. 



Very good, friend Emma, but wasn't that 

 a pretiy big price ; almost a cent apiece for 

 washing the glasses? 



MRS. HARRISON TALKS TO THE CHILDREN ABOUT 

 CHRISTMAS. 



I know what the juveniles are thinking abotit, and 

 shouting out through your happy throats. "Christ- 

 mas is coming! Santa CLius will soon be here 1" 

 The boys are wishing for sleds and skates; the girls, 

 for dulls, books, and pictures. But there is one 

 thing that boys and girls want just alike. Isn't it 

 funny? It's money. Many of you are wishing, " Oh 

 if 1 could only earn some money !" Yes, that is the 

 way to enjoy It; earn it. I see some of you own 

 hives of bees, but none of you have erer told us 

 how much money you have made from them. I'm 

 afraid that papa does the work, sells the honey, and, 

 I'm almost afraid to say it, puts the money into his 

 own pocket. If you are real bee-keepers, you will 

 do the work for the bees, and sell the honey your- 

 selves. You want to give presents, don't you? If 

 father or mother gives you the money to buy with, 

 it is they, and not you, who give it, is it not? You 

 should keep a book account of your apiary, and tell 

 us all about it, so we will find out whether bee-keep- 

 ers are like farmers — " sonny's pig, but daddie'a 

 pork." 



If you have money to spend, ooosjder well befor© 



