1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



349 



henry's old black hat. 



My pa has 7 stands of bees. I help work with 

 them. When the bees swarm I hang my old black 

 hat on the fence. But there is nevei- a bee goes 

 about It. There, now, you may have it at what it's 

 worth. My pa was going to send you a letter, and I 

 thoug'ht it best to put mine in with it. 



Sands, N. C. Henry C. Hayes, age 8. 



That's right, Henry; I am glad you did. 

 Is it the black hat I may have, or the letter? 



OETTINC. THE HONEY ODT THE OLD WAY. 



My father found a swarm of black bees in an old 

 oak-tree. In the latter part of September ho took 

 the honey out. In the evening, after they were all 

 in the tree, he smoked them with tiour of sulphur, 

 melted, and fastened to a pole with a cloth on the 

 top of it, and on the cloth he put the sulphur; he 

 then set it ablaze, and put it in the entrance of the 

 tree. That killed them all. The next morning he 

 climbed up the tree and cut a hole into it, and then 

 took out the honei\ This Is my first letter. 



Creston, Ind. John 11. Eiebe, age 1.3. 



JENNIE AND HER MOTHER. 



My brother has about 16 hives of bees, and he got 

 a great deal of honey. He got the first premium at 

 the State Fair twice, and at the County Fair once. 

 I have an elder sister, but she is going to school, 

 and there are none but mother and I to do the work. 

 We are cleaning house now. We take all the things 

 out of a room, and clean them and the room, and 

 then put them back again. I feed the chickens, and 

 gather the eggs. We have a fruit-drier. I wonder 

 if it would not do for an incubator. 



Jennie McBurney, age 11. 



Primrose, Pa., Apr. 20, 1883. 



HOW DORA'S FATHER MADE AN ARTIFICIAL SWARM. 



I like you, for I think you like little children. I 

 have two little sisters; we have 18 colonies of bees; 

 we winter them in a cellar; this is the second win- 

 ter we have kept bees. Our cellar is quite damp. 

 Last summer we had a colony that swarmed out 

 three times, and went back every time; then papa 

 examined them, and he found that they had four 

 queen-cells just ready to hatch; then he divided 

 them, and took one of the cells and pulled the top 

 oflf, and let her out, and then put her into the new 

 hive, and they did well. Dora Stout, age '■). 



A SWARM COMING OUT IN THE RAIN. 



Dora has written such a long letter, I think she 

 needs a red light held up to her. I am going to help 

 papa tend to his bees this summer. One day our 

 bees swarmed when it was raining; and before we 

 could get them in a hive it rained quite hard. I 

 guess my papa will send to you for an-extractor. 

 Leonora L. Stout, age 7. 



Richland Center, Wis., March 30, 1883. 



I am glad you remember the ^'rcd lights,'' 

 Leonora; but I bardly think Dora needs 

 one, for she has given us a good plan to di- 

 vide a hive ; and then you know, too, she is 

 an especial friend of mine, isn't she? 



an important (?) fact for bee-keepers. 

 I read in the JuVenile that you would give a book 

 for any fact in bee culture not generally known. As 

 my pa did have some bees, I asked him if he knew a 

 fact not generally known, and he said he did, and it 

 was this : "If jou do not take good care of them In 

 the cold winter the y will all die, just as mine have 



this winter, because I did not take care of them and 

 tlx them for winter." lam not yet fifteen years old, 

 but shall be soon, so I sund j'ou five cents for a book; 

 and if my fact is of any use to bee-keepers, you will 

 please print it and send me two books. 



Bertie Tillingrast. 

 La Plume, Pa , March II, 1883. 



Sure enough, JJeilie, the fact you give is 

 an important one; but I am not'(|uite suni 

 it is not generally known. 1 rather think 

 your father smiled a little when he gave it 

 to you, did he not? Never mind ; it is good, 

 any way. 



LETTER FROM A FIVE-YEAROLD LITTLE GIRL. 



I help papa clean off old section boxes, and pick 

 up the scraps of wax when he is making comb fdn., 

 and put them in the wax-extractor. I help him all I 

 can. Ella B. Kincade, age 5. 



HOW MINME HELPS HER PAPA, AWAY DOWN IN 

 ARKANSAS. 



I sec you are so kind as to give the children a 

 book, and so I thought I would write to you. I like 

 to help papa with his bees. He has about 80 swarms. 

 The bees are working very fast oa willow and col- 

 tonwood trees and wild fljwers. 1 help papa clean 

 off section boxes, and help put In fdn. guides in sec- 

 tion boxes, and also help make fdn. on plaster mf)ldj 

 of papa's own construction. The next day after he 

 made his plaster molds ho saw some advertised in 

 Gleanings, just like them, only yours are made of 

 metal. Papi ordered a $:.'5.00 fdn. mill of you on the 

 first of March, and waited until the first of April, 

 and it never came, and so he had to make some fdn. 

 on his old molds that he had last year. The bees 

 were so near swarming that he had to have some to- 

 put in his new frames for this year's swarms. 



Minnie L. Ki/cadb, r.geS. 



Sterling, Ark., April 4, 1883. 



a CAT STORY. 



This time I write about a cat belonging to the 

 snmf^ neighbor as the dog which I wrote about in my 

 first letter. The cat was watching a rat which was 

 in between the lining and the siding of the barn. 

 The crack through \\hich the cat saw the rat was 

 not big enough for the cat to get even its head 

 through. The man stood and watched it for quite a 

 while. He expected to sec the cat bump its nos^^, 

 but it did not. When it got ready it gave a spring 

 and stuck its paw in and knocked the rat out and 

 then killed him. Ihvin Adkins. 



A HORSE STORY. 



My uncle, who lives in Omaha, once had a horse 

 which was very knowing. One day the horse went 

 down to the blacksmith's, and hold his foot up to bo 

 shod, and would not go away until he was shod. So 

 the blacksmith shod him, and then he went home, 

 and his master had the bill to pay, 



Altie V. Adkins, age 10. 



La Porte, Ind., April 7, 1883. 



Well, now, Altie, that is a wonderful case 

 of intelligence in the horse ; but if you will 

 excuse me, I am almost inclined to think it 

 sounds a little more like a tisli story than a 

 horse story. Did you hear your nhcle tell 

 that, and are you sure he did not tell it for 

 fun? 



minta's letter. 

 Well, Uncle Amos, here I am again, trying to write 

 another letter, but am not at all pleased, because 



