484 



JtlVENILf) GLEANIKgS. 



Aug. 



and taste. Our home for this little worker is situat- 

 ed in Saline Valley, and, in its wild grandeur, is 

 beautiful throughout, with hills on one side and a 

 line stream of pure water on the other. The whole 

 vegetation seems to produce peace, sweetness, and 

 honey. The locust is abundant in the grounds 

 around the house, and this spring were a mass of 

 snowy-white flowers, thrilled by the hum of the lit- 

 tle workers. 



Just here I will say that my sister is contemplat- 

 ing cutting away these beauties, and replacing with 

 fruit-trees. But then, there is such an abundance 

 of honey-bearing plants they would be no great loss 

 in that respect. 



Paul wishes to have some honey on exhibition at 

 the Farington Fair in the fall, and would like to 

 know the most attractive shape in which to present 

 It. Will you be so kind as to instruct him? 



POISON HONEY. 



Is it not strange that bees will gather honey from 

 poisonous plants? We have none here, but I have 

 read of poisonous honey of the Southern States, and 

 the effect it produces upon those who eat of it, and 

 It is similar to that produced by the honey of many, 

 many centuries ago, and in a country far across the 

 seas. In Xenophon's Anabasis we read, " Having 

 passed the summit, the Greeks encamped in a num- 

 ber of villages containing abundance of provisions. 

 As to other things here, there was nothing at which 

 they were surprised ; but the number of bee-hives 

 was extraordinary, and all the "Soldiers that ate of 

 the combs lost their senses, vomited, and were af- 

 fected with pui'ging, and none of them were able to 

 stand upright; such as had eaten a little were like 

 men greatly intoxicated, and such as had eaten 

 much were like mad-men, and some like persons at 

 thepoint of death. They lay upon the ground, in 

 consequence, in great numbers, as if there had been 

 a defeat; and there was general dejection. The 

 next day, no one of them was found dead; and they 

 recovered their senses about the same hour that 

 they had lost them on the preceding day; and on 

 the third and fourth days they got up as if after 

 taking physic." This was in Colchis; and that there 

 was intoxicating honey in that country is attested 

 by the ancients, as also by modern travelers and 

 writers. Pliny mentions two kinds of it — one pro- 

 duced at Heraclea, in Pontus, and the other among 

 the Sanni. The first came from the plant tegole- 

 thron, or goat-bane, the other from rhododendron. 



One request more from Paul: It is cards — mot- 

 to cards. 



I can not begin to tell you the pleasure and com- 

 fort we find in "Our Homes." 



Mrs. L. B. Roote. 



Cofifman, Mo., July 13, 1883. 



Thank you, my good friend, for your very 

 Interesting sketch of one of our juveniles. 

 While the honey made by the black bees 

 may be whiter, in consequence of their not 

 filling their cells clear up to the caps, as the 

 Italians do, I never before heard that the 

 flavor of the honey was any better or richer. 

 Your idea, too, is a little singular, that the 

 blacks are better workers. I think it must 

 have been an accidental case. — Although 

 Paul succeeded in carrying the bees up 

 stairs during cold weather, I do not believe 

 such a course advisable, as a rule. — We sel- 

 dom have winds here that blow off the cov- 

 ers to the hives. Sometimes a thunder -gust 



in the summer time displaces the roofs of the 

 chaff hives ; but this happens so seldom 

 that we never think of fastening the covers 

 down in any way. When they blow off, 

 some of the boys put on a rubber coat and 

 go out in the rain and put them on again. — 

 I am sure there will be some smiling among 

 the juveniles when they read the names of 

 Paul's queens. My grateful thanks to him 

 for remembering the name of my wife. 

 Years a^o my heart learned to bound at the 

 sound of the simple little syllable, " Sue ; " 

 and God grant that the time may never come 

 when those same happy old associations fail 

 to spring up at just a sight of the name, even 

 in print.— Paul, you and I are bound to be 

 friends; and if we do not see and meet each 

 other face to face, I hope we shall hear from 

 each other often. — In regard to ventilation, 

 I, too, have decided many times that too 

 much ventilation was detrimental to rapid 

 storing and comb-building. I found that 

 the bees seem to crowd back to the corners 

 and the less exposed places.— Thank you for 

 your extract in regard to poisonous honey. 

 You will find something similar in the ABC 

 book. And is it really possible that the 

 honey from the beautiful rhododendron is 

 said to be poisonous V— I am glad to see that 

 concluding line that tells us that Paul loves 

 not only the bees, but the Sunday-school, 

 and, I trust, his Savior. 



ai ■■! ^ 



A YOUNG BEIL-KEEPER OUT IN THE 

 AVOODS. 



BEES, HONEY, RAIN, ETC., IN MICHIGAN. 



^Bg^EES have done well so far between showers. I 

 MM have extracted as high as 105 lbs. of white-clo- 

 ver honey from some swarms up to July 15. 

 After working two days on basswood they rested two 

 or three days during a shower; but this morning they 

 came in like a young robin alighting on the ground. 

 I like to see them do that; it makes a fellow fly 

 around and drive hoops, make bungs, and move 

 brood to keep them from swarming. I have had but 

 two Batural swarms this season, having increased 

 from 33 to 56, all in upper stories. Some fill two. I 

 have also 14 two and three comb nuclei to keep 

 queens in. I put these queens into hives that have 

 just cast a swarm after moving queen-cells. I think 

 I gain nearly a month. You see, they have a laying 

 queen all the time then, so the bees can't fill the 

 brood-nest with honey. When these nuclei get strong, 

 say about Ave combs, I fill them up with combs of 

 brood, and put on upper story all at once, making a 

 good strong swarm. I want to increase to about 100, 

 so you see I shall need that foundation-machine in 

 about two weeks. 



FERTILE WORKERS. 



In the swarming season I have a swarm in with 

 them, or change stands with them and some strong 

 swarm, and introduce a queen or cell. 



CHOOSING A LOCALITY. 



This is my first season here with my bees. I 

 moved 15 miles last August with 40 swarms, after ex. 

 trading nearly all the honey out of the brood-nest. 

 I got 1600 lbs. of honey after moving, and left hivea 

 full for winter — all fall honey. Thirty-three came 

 through strong, out of forty, all in chaff hives. The 

 deer-mice got in some and killed them, or disturbed 

 them. I am surrounded by timber; soft and hard 



