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JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Mav 



course, your pa has more than 35 bees, and 

 your ma more than one bee. I know that in 

 some localities they are in the habit of using 

 the term "bee" for bee-hive, bees and all. 

 80 long as we know what you mean, Nellie, 

 it is just as well, isn't it? 



SAMUEL'S APIARY. 



I go to school in winter, and work in the brick- 

 yard in summer. I earn thirteen dollars a month, 

 with which I keep myself in clothes. We have four 

 stands of bees. One warm day some others came 

 and robbed one hive. The rest are doing very well. 

 Samuel B. Huston, age 13. 



Somerset, Pa., Apr., 1883. 



Will you print some verses on tobacco if I will 

 send them to youV My pa keeps bees, and takes 

 Gleanings. 1 read his books too. I go to school. 

 This is my first letter. Carrie Shult, age 10. 



Viola, Wis., April 22, 1883. 



To be sure, I Will print your verses on to- 

 bacco, Carrie, if you will send them to me. 

 I suppose you help your pa with the bees, as 

 well as to read his books. 



harry s description of the home-made buzz- 

 saw. 



Papa is still making chaff hives. He is making a 

 new saw-mill. We have a saw-mill made out of an 

 old sweep thrashing-machine. The first bee-hive 

 papa made, he made it by hand, and then he went to 

 work and nailed a frame together, to see what he 

 wanted. That big flood in February came up to the 

 bees; and if we hadn't moved them they would have 

 been drowned. Harry B. Dotterreb, age II. 



New Town Mills, Pa., April 4, 1883. 



GRAPE sugar for SPRING FEED. 



I thought that I would write to you. We have 53 

 colonies of bees. Year before last pa took about 

 2000 lbs. of extracted honey, and about 600 or 700 lbs. 

 of comb. We have a barrel of grape sugar. It is 

 the boss feed for bees in the spring — better than 

 honey or sugar; no daubing, no robbing, and easy 

 to feed, and it makes lots of young bees. We have 

 Italians, Cyprian, and hybrids; also old bald honey- 

 gatherers that beat every thing in honey harvest. 

 Pa calls them '■ long livers." J. G. Fogle, age 14. 



Hartsville, Ind., April 6, 1883. 



KID GLOVES, BEE-STINGS, ETC. 



We had 13 colonies of bees last fall; 2 died of dys- 

 entery, and one strong hive died for want of food. 

 Abner Strong said in his letter, that he thought it 

 was the coal oil that made the bees sting aunt's 

 hands, and you said that you thought it was the kid 

 gloves; but mv sister tended our bees last summer, 

 and I was her assistant, and I wore kid gloves all 

 the time, and I never had my hands stung once. 

 The answer to Lucy Clark's question, "What is 

 sweeter to the mouth than honey," is " God's word," 

 Psalm 119:103. How many times 'is "yes" used in 

 the Testament, aiid where is it? And also, of how 

 many women does the Bible tell us their age? 



Annie Cameron. 



Anderson, Ont., Can., April 23, 1883. 



REUBEN'S DESCRIPTION OF HUNTING BEES IN THE 

 WOODS. 



We find where the bees drink at branches, and we 

 take some flour and drop it on their backs; then we 

 stay there until they go and come back, to see how 

 long they are gone, and then find how far home is 

 off. We course them every evening just before the 



sun goes down. We can see them a long distance, 

 and can see the gnats betwixt us and the sun. 

 When our bees swarm, we ring a bell, and some- 

 times we take a looking-glass and have the light 

 right on the bees, and they will alight, and some- 

 times we have to take our gun and shoot among 

 them. Reuben Day, age 10. 



Gary, N. C, April 10, 1883. 



Thank you, Keuben ; the facts you give 

 are quite important. As I understand it, 

 you sprinkle the flour on the bees, in order 

 to see about how far the bee-tree is off from 

 where you start them. Then you wait until 

 evening, tbat you may see the bees so much 

 better when the sun strikes their wings in 

 the right position. I presume most of the 

 children liave seen gnats and mosquitoes 

 sporting in the sunshine, and at such times 

 have noticed how plainly they can be seen, 

 even though quite a distance off. So your 

 folks ring bells, and flash looking - glasses, 

 and shoot guns, do they, Reuben, when they 

 want to make a swarm alight V 



THE BEES, THE ROOSTER, AND THE BABY. 



To-day is the 9th of April; the bees are busy 

 cleaning house, and are on the maple blossoms and 

 the maple stumps, where trees were cut down this 

 spring. They are good little house-cleaners, but we 

 intend going through the hives and helping them 

 where needed. The grass is growing fast now; the 

 farmers are starting to work in the fields to-day. 

 The baby is sleeping now. We have an old rooster, 

 and he comes and crows near the bedroom, and 

 keeps me chasing him while I am writing. The 

 more I chase him, the more ha crows. I believe he 

 does it on purpose. A bee got after him too, which 

 made him hop. We have six young chickens about 

 a week old. A. May Provan, age 11. 



Traer, la., April 9, 1883. 



Well, I declare, May, how vividly you 

 bring back old times. Sure enough, roosters 

 did wake up babies sometimes, didn't they V 

 And I have chased them just the same way ; 

 and the more I chased them, the more they 

 came back and crowed, and then the baby 

 woke up, and mamma had to stop her work, 

 all on account of an impudent old rooster. I 

 should like to see that baby. May I not, if I 

 come to see you V 



EilUX AND HER RESPONSIBILITIES. 



Father had 5 hives of bees last fall, and lost three 

 during the winter. They had honey enough to eat, 

 and we do not know what made them die, unless 

 they froze to death. Father fed the other bees with 

 the honey they had left. We wintered one swarm 

 in a chaff hive, and they are doing nicely. We had a 

 new bee-house built last fall. I had to do all the 

 chores at the barn this winter, while father and the 

 boys worked in the woods. 1 had the coK to train, 

 and one horse, two cows, and 3.5 sheep to take care 

 of. I can harness the horse, and drive It. I feed 

 the hens, and bring in the eggs, besides going to 

 school, and that keeps me pretty busy. We have 

 got 33 little lambs now. Emma Knightly, age 12. 



East W.iterford, Maine, April 23, 1883. 



Why, Emma, I should think you would be 

 real happy with the colts and the cows and 

 the sheep and the lambs and the hens, and 

 all the rest. It just makes me wish I were a 

 little girl, and lived on a farm, when I hear 



