154 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Jan. 



to brush them into the hive they began to cluster 

 on her hands as if the queen might have been there, 

 but every one stung her hands. 



Abner Stuong, age 9. 

 Millington, Mich., Dec. 32, 1883. 



I think, Abner, that it was the kirl gloves 

 that made them sting so viciously, but the 

 coal oil on her hands may have had some- 

 thing to do with it. I am very sorry she got 

 stung so badly. 



I came home to spend Thanlssgiving. I have been 

 away to school, and I found Albert and Gertie had 

 been writing for a book, and I thought 1 would. I 

 wrote once before and got a book. I will tell you 

 how strangely our bees acted last summer. Pa put 

 a swarm of bees into a nev hive, with the fdn. all 

 in, and they stayed about two days, and then left 

 and went to the woods. Pa went away from home 

 one day, and there was a swarm which came cut, 

 and mamma put them into the same hive, and they 

 went away, and then pa said he would examine that 

 hive and see what the trouble was, and he couldn't 

 find any thing wrong, except that the fdn. was cut 

 so the honey-cells were crooked, and he thought 

 they were disgusted, and so they left. Do you think 

 that would make any difference? Pa has been very 

 particular since then to get it straight. My sister has 

 a little bantam hen, and it is very tame. 



Edith M. Hall, age 12. 



Northfleld, Minn., Dec. 3, 1882. 



LETTER FROM FREDDY CRAYCRAFT. 



We have two colonies of bees. They are fed and 

 packed up for winter. We had a very nice Christ- 

 mas. There was a Christmas-tree at the church, 

 and papa made me a present of a nice watch. Our 

 greenhouse is full of flowers, and they are in bloom. 

 1 wish you a happy Christmas and a merry New 

 Year. Please find inclosed the specimen of a patent 

 Kentucky bee-hive. Freddie Craycraft. 



Salem, Ind., Jan. 1, 1883. 



With the above letter Freddie sends a cir- 

 cular which is headed as follows : — 



THE UNMEDDLID, 



SELF-PROTECTOR, MOTH-ROLLER BEE-HIVE ! 



INVENTED BV JOHN PHILLII'S. 



I suppose the "unmeddled"' means the 

 hive is not to be opened and the frames 

 taken out ; and there is very good reason in- 

 deed for it, for it is a box hive, and there- 

 fore has no frames to take out. The " moth 

 roller " is some kind of a " patent " to roll 

 the moths out of the hive themselves. 

 Would not that be funny, children, to see 

 the moths keeling over backward out of the 

 hive, when they couldn't help themselves? 

 Patent moth-trap hives are rather behind 

 the times now, and we guess friend Phillips 

 must live back in the woods somewhere 

 where they don't have bee journals. 



GERTIE'S LETTER. 



My pa has 63 colonies of bees, all in Langstroth 

 frames. I have a colony. It has 15 frames, and has 

 made the most honey for the last 2 years of any in 

 the lot. I don't know but I cheated myself, I gave 

 pa all the increase and honey, except one section 

 every lime a crate is taken off. I help take care of 

 them, and put the sections together. This has been 

 a poor year for honey here. The old swariji has 

 {iiade only about 40 lb?. 



QUEEKS FLYING FROM A COMB WHEN THE HIVE IS 

 OPEN. 



Pa and I went out to clip the wing of a Holy-Land 

 queen which we got of Mr. Alley last summer. 

 When we took the frame out she flew and did not 

 come back. Do you think she has gone back to the 

 Holy Land? 



LONG TENEMENT HIVES. 



Pa thought he would see how bees would do 

 in long hives close together, and so he made two 

 chaff hives. He put 4 swarms in one hive on 13 

 racks each, and on the other he put 8 swarms hav- 

 ing 6 racks each, divided by division-boards down 

 between the frames. Half fly out one side, and half 

 the other side, and each hive is painted a different 

 color. They look nice. This is my flrst letter. H 

 you think I deserve a book, please send me Ten 

 Nights in a Bar-Room. 



Gertie A. Williams, age 13. 



Lottsvillc, Warren Co , Pa., Jan. 1, 1883. 



I don't think it was a very bad " cheat," 

 Gertie, if your father was the gainer?— No, 

 I don't think the queen flew across the ocean 

 to Palestine, but I do think she went back 

 and entered some hive pretty close to her 

 own, within 15 minutes or half an hour. 

 I don't think I ever had a queen fly in that 

 way without finding her pretty soon, either 

 dead or alive, in front of some neighboring 

 hive, if she didn't come back to her own 

 home. I would always leave the hive open, 

 and the frame as near where it was when 

 she went off as I could, until she was found. 

 — Long tenement hives are an old idea, but 

 I believe almost every one gives them up, 

 sooner or later. — Your letter is well worth a 

 book, friend Gertie. 



'gdpMi §n§curaQmQ. 



FRIEND LAY, AND HIS ANTICIPATION FOR THE NEW 

 YEAR. 



UR Cincinnati visit was an exceedingly pleas- 

 ant one to myself, and it seemed that all en- 

 joyed themselves very much. I indeed con- 

 sider it a rare treat to listen to the very pleasant 

 and highly interesting talks from such eminent men 

 as were assembled on that occasion. 1 shall never 

 forget the genial spirits whom I met there. Let's 

 have another. The winter so far has been mild and 

 pleasant; the mercury reached 28° above zero Dec. 

 16. Bees are in flne condition; they have not been 

 confined longer than 3 days at a time, They will be- 

 gin to get pollen in about 1.5 or 20 days. 



Will you be kind enough to say to the boys up 

 in your part of this great national apiary, not to let 

 horsemint and Cyprians trouble their dreams, but to 

 wait and listen? for ere the 4th of July guns boom 

 upon midsummer air we are going to send up some 

 bee and honey reports that will startle the natives 

 from Maine to Wisconsin, and then, leaping the 

 Rocky;Mountain?,will cause a mighty rattling among 

 the white-sage bushes of old California. Under the 

 genial warmth of our bright skies, and nursed by 

 sea-born zephyrs, our honey-plants are already 

 springing into life. Give a Texas hoosier plenty of 

 horsemint honey and milk, and you can not keep 

 his tongue stilL J. H. L ay, M. D, 



Hallottsville, Tcjfas, Pec. 37, 1888. 



