1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINiGiS. 



4l9 



honey ; 3G0 gallons would be over a ton and 

 a half. I suppose you will all keep sweeten- 

 ed at your house, won't you V 



KITTENS, BEE-HIVES, AND PEACDES. 



I am a little girl 7 years old. My old cat has 5 kit- 

 tens. Pa has 40 beehives, and lots of peaches. 

 BrooUston, Tex. Dollie Fitzgerald. 



STRAWBEimiES, WITH SUGAR AND CREAM. 



My papa keeps bees. We wintered 11 swarms in 

 chaff hives. They swarm nearly every day. I have 

 a swarm. Mamma has to watch them. Wo have 

 strawberries, sug^ar, and creum, for supper. 



Fannie Mathews, age 7. 



Kinsman, Trumbull Co., Ohio. 



I am a little girl. 1 have three si.stcrs and one lit- 

 tle brother. I still bake for mamma. Mysisterand 

 I sometimes wash. My pnpa has six stands of bees. 

 I still live at grandpa's in the summer. I have no 

 bees, but pnpa says that on my birthday he will give 

 me af.wnnn for a present. 



Newburg, I'a. Flora S. Brechbiel. 



It has been quite a while since I wrote to you; It 

 was in the fall. Papa had 8 stands of bees in the 

 fall, and ho brought only two through, very light. 

 He bought C and now has 12. They are doing pretty 

 well now. They are working on white clover most- 

 ly, now, as there is lots of it here. Papa is thinking 

 strongly of coming over in the fall to visit you. 



Alma Matthews, age 13. 



Kinglake, Can , Ont., June 25, 1883. 



We shall be glad to see him, Alma. 



-1 saw your kindness in giving the little folks books 

 for writing letters, and I thought I would try to earn 

 one too. My father had three stands of bees last 

 fall, and this spring they were reduced to one, on 

 account of not having honey enough. The swarms 

 were too late in the season, and they did not gather 

 enough to winter them; so the earlier they swarm 

 the better for the bees and me, for I love honey. We 

 have had two swarms this spring, and they are doing 

 finely. Robert G. McClellan, age 13. 



Tussej ville. Centre Co., Pa., June 28, 1883. 



BELL-RlNGlNG TO STOP SWARMING. 



My father has three stands of bees in the new pat- 

 ent hives, and when they swarm wo take pans and 

 hammer on them so that they can not hear the noise 

 of the queen, and then they will settle on the first 

 tree or bush they come to; and if the limb is high 

 that they settle on, wo saw it off, and then we take 

 them to the hive. Elmer U. McClellan, age 11. 



Tusseyville, Pa., June 28, 18S3. 



Well, Elmer, I do not see but that we shall 

 have to give up, and let bell-ringing and tin- 

 pan beating go on. After what friend Vir- 

 gil tells us about it, I suppose we can call it 

 a sort of celebration, to welcome in the 

 swarming season. 



AN OBSERVATORy-niVE. 



Pa made me a hive with two sides that let down; 

 and on each side, where it let s down, is a glass so wo 

 can see the bees and queen on cither side, for there 

 is but one comb in it. The queen has been out to- 

 day. Why do the bees hold her fast when she comes 

 back? Willie P. Moorehouse. 



Mombaccus, N. Y., June 25, 1883. 



Your question is a hard one to answer, 

 friend Willie. It has been suggested, that 



when the queen goes out and meets the 

 drone she acquires a different scent, and the 

 bees therefore sometimes grab hold of her as 

 an intruder; but I believe that, as a general 

 thing, she is not harmed, unless it be during 

 a great dearth of honey, when the whole 

 hive seems to be in a demoralized condition. 



ELl'S UNCLE. 



Now I am going to describe one of my uncles, and 

 the luck he has in raising bees. He h;is always lived 

 with us. He is getting along in years, and he thinks 

 it is best to keep bachelor's hall. He has two stands 

 of bees. They swarmed last summer; we all got out 

 in the yard, and boat the dish-pan and all the tin 

 pans we could get hold of. They alighted on a small 

 plum-tree, close by. We laid a sheet down on the 

 ground, sawed the small limb off, and put them into 

 another hive, without any trouble. This last win- 

 ter he stood up fodder all around them; and if there 

 came a warm sunshiny day he would take the fod- 

 der away from the entrance so they could fly out. 

 They kept nicely all winter. 



Wilmirgton, O. Eli L. Babb, age 11. 



nONEY-COMB WITH THREE LAYERS OF CELLS. 



I have a little brother about 2 years old, and an- 

 other 3 weeks old. Papa has 19 hives of bees, and I 

 have one. He had 9 hives last spring; he had 13 in 

 the fall, and lost 3 by wintering. A mouse got into 

 the other. They increased to 19 by natural swarm- 

 ing. They made 1500 lbs. of extracted honey and 

 200 lbs. of comb honey. My little brother Harry is 

 an awful mischief. He knows all his letters. Did 

 you ever see a comb of honey with 3 layers of cells, 

 one between the other? I never saw more than one. 

 Here is some poetry I wrote about Harry, last sum- 

 mer. 



BABY - BROTHER HARRY. 

 A rOEM BY HIS II-YEAR-OLD SISTER. 

 I have a baby-brother, a darling little elf; 

 He is busy ail the day, a playinff by liiiuselt'. 

 And, oh! it's cute to i-ee him eat, light out the nugar-bowl. 

 And now I 'spect he's mining, out in the bin of coal. 

 He'll go into the pantry, and drag down from the shelf 

 The oat-meal, graham, buckwheat, and mix to suit himself. 

 He went out to the bee-hives, when no one else was nigh, 

 And, oh ! it was pitiful to hear his piercing cry. 



Kempton, 111. C. B. Morrill, age 11. 



now TO MAKE A CAPON TAKE CARE OF CHICKENS; 

 BY ONE OF THE JUVENILES. 



My mother lets her chickens stay three days with 

 their mother, then she takes a capon and pulls the 

 feathers from his breast, and then stings the place 

 with nettles until it is red, and then wets it with 

 strong salt and water. This is done after dark. She 

 then sets him in a dark place, and then puts the lit- 

 tle chickens under him, and keeps him there until 

 he clucks like a hen, then takes him out, and puts 

 him into a coop, and treats him just like a hen, and 

 he will raise them better than a hen. 



J. P. Israel, Jr., age 12. 



Point Loma Light-House, San Diego, Cal. 



Very well told, my little friend. I am not 

 much posted on capons, but I suppose the 

 idea is to keep one of those big fellows car- 

 ing for the chickens, so the mother may 

 make herself useful by raising more chick- 

 ens, or laying eggs. I have heard something 

 of the kind before, but I confess I do not 

 quite see what pulling off those feathers, 

 etc., has to do with the matter. Won't he 

 take care of the chickens if this were not 

 done? You see, my little friend, that you 

 know all about something of which those 

 ever so much older are entirely ignorant. 



