422 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



July 



GETTING DOWN A feWARM OF BEES BY SHOOTING OFF 

 THE LIMB. 



Pa has had very good luck with one hive of bees 

 this spring. They swarmed twice in one week. He 

 put them in what he calls patent hives. One hive 

 had comb in it that the bees made last year. Do you 

 think it is a good plan to put bees in a hive where 

 comb is? One of our neighbors had a swarm that 

 settled on a branch of a tall sugar-tree. He f hot the 

 branch off with his gun, and hived the bees. 



Shcrmanvillc, Ky. Anna B. Butt. 



I should lliink lliat was pretty sharp 

 shooting, friend Anna. I have heard of 

 bringing down swarms of bees by shooting, 

 but 1 always thought it was a sort of "■ yarn." 

 1 suppose you wouldn't tell us a yarn, would 

 you, Anna? — Use the old comb always. 



LAMP NUnSEUY AND THE TELEPHONE. 



My brother takes Gleanings, and keeps bees; 

 he hatches queens in a lamp nursery. Ho went 

 away on a month's visit last September, and left me 

 in charge of the lamp nursery, and partly in charge 

 of his apiary. We had some trouble with fhe bees 

 coming out and leaving some of the hives. We have 

 a telephone which extends from our house to my 

 married brother's, so when the bees swarmed out I 

 could call hira to hive them. One day when he was 

 in town the bees swarmed, and there was no one to 

 hive them but myself. When they settled I took a 

 queen-cage, and asked my mamma if she would not 

 hold it for me. I hunted among the bees luitil I 

 found the queen; then I caught it, and put it in the 

 cage and mamma shut her up; but the lid did 

 not tit tight, and the queen flew out; but after some 

 trouble I caught her again, and put her in another 

 cage, and put her in a hive that did not have any 

 queen. Maggie Duvall, aged 12. 



Spencerville, Md. 



HELP FROM the JUVENILES ON THE TOBACCO COL- 

 UMN. 



My papa keeps bees; he has 5 swarms of blacks. 

 He is going to get some Italian queens, and put with 

 them. He has chewed tobacco 40 years, and has now 

 stopped and is not going to use any more. I want 

 him to have a smoker, so that he won't have to 

 smoke them with tobacco, for fear that he will get to 

 using it again. Papa is not very well, and I have to 

 help him all I can. Maud A. Bacon, age 11. 



Brookfleld, Madison Co., N. Y., June 29, 1883. 



That's right, Maud. Why! I shall be real 

 happy to think that the children all over our 

 land are going to turn in and help in this 

 tussle with tobacco-using. May God bless 

 your good old papa, Maud, and help him to 

 feel tbat, although he has used tobacco for 

 40 years, he has done a grand good thing in 

 leaving it off. We have sent him a smoker, 

 and have plenty more to send in the same 

 way. (Surely no one would ever break a 

 promise made to " one of these little ones." 



THE QUEEN THAT WAS LOST, AND WHERE SHE WAS. 



My father had three stands of bees last fall; he 

 had them all in chaff hives; lost one Italian stand. 

 He had one Italian and one black swarm in the 

 spring. The Italians swarmed the first day of June. 

 They are waiting tor a pleasant day to swarm agaiu. 

 He sent to you for one untested queen. He intro- 

 duced her, and let her out of the cage. He went out 

 at night to look after her, and he saw a bee In a 



drone-cell; he didn't know that it was the queen; he 

 thought his queen was gone. He said he felt pretty 

 blue; but two days alterward he found her crawling 

 around on a frame. He supposed that it was she in 

 the cell. He told mo to tell you to put him in the 

 Smiler}'. I am at work washing dishes for mamma 

 for ten cents a week. When I get money enough I 

 am going to buy a pound of bees. I am going to be 

 abcc-man, like you. I have a corset lamb and two 

 sheep, and a black hen and a black chicken. 

 Clinton, Me. Geo. F. Greely, age 11. 



I think, friend George, the queen crawled 

 into the drone-cell because she was fright- 

 ened, or afraid of the bees. I have often 

 seen them crawl into a deep cell and stay some 

 time when they had been just let out of the 

 cage. I wonder how many of the children 

 can tell what George means by a " corset " 

 lamb, and why is it so called? 



HONEY FROM THE FUCHSIA. 



Mamma, my sister Nellie, and I, have some house- 

 plants; and among them a little red fuchsia, whose 

 blossoms dripped with honey all summer. Nellie 

 caught a bee and put it on the blossoms, and it sip- 

 ped eagerly. Our Warrior and Anabella fuchsias 

 have honey also, but not so much as my little red 

 one. 



Papa sometimes gets in a hurry, and then the 

 "Trio," as mamma calls Nellie and me and my 

 brother Johnnie, help him wire frames, and put to- 

 gether sections. We each had a wooden mallet for 

 the sections; but one is broken, and I don't know 

 where the other two are; but papa is not going to 

 raise any more comb hor.ty, so wc shall not make 

 any more. 



We have seen the bees come in with honey and 

 pollen; and when they had pollen they would dance 

 on the comb to shake it off. We saw a bee .'ast sum- 

 mer with eight flakes of wax oozing from the seg- 

 ments of its abdomen. Nellie and Johnnie can catch 

 a bee on the window, but I can't, for they always 

 sting when I trj'. Nellie is 12 years old, Johnnie 7, 

 and I am 14. Effie J. Olsen. 



Nashotah, Wis., Feb. 1, 1883. 



Thank you for the facts you furnish, Ef- 

 fie. I think your papa might feel happy for 

 having such a trio. 



BEES AND STRAAVBERRIES. 



Our bees wintered very badly. We lost 5 out of 54 

 stands. The remainder came through very weak; 

 but now they are in fine condition. One day we had 

 five swarms, one right after the other. Pppa clips 

 the queen's wings, so when a swarm comes out he 

 goes to the hive, catches the queen, puts a cage over 

 her, and puts her in the hive again. Papa has a lit- 

 tle pair of scissors to clip the wings, in the shape of 

 a crane. In its eye Is the Lord's Prayer. Papa 

 makes ever so much fdn. He got his mill from you. 

 He has got nearly one barrel of clover honey this 

 season, 50 lbs. of locust, and 100 lbs. of comb honey. 

 Papa and I have been so very busy packing straw- 

 berries that we can hardly tend the bees. We pick- 

 ed about about 100 gallons. Oh how our backs did 

 ache ! During the last two weeks, it has been lain- 

 ing almost every day, so that the bees could hardly 

 work. Carrie S. IIartman, age 14. 



New Harmony, Ind. 



That must be a funny pair of scissors your 

 pa has, to have the Lord's Prayer in it. I 



