564 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Sept. 



AN A B C SCHOLAR'S STORV. 



AND SOME KIND WORDS THROWN IN ALONG THERE- 

 WITH. 



J\ FTER respects to yourself. Blue Eyes, and 

 *^ those thousands of little workerss of yours, I 

 ~' ask you to accept my thanks tor Gleanings; 

 the foundation all came to hand nicely. In Feb., 

 1882, I concluded I should love to handle bees; and, 

 being ignorant of the manipulations, I sent to you 

 for the ABC book. It came, and I read and re-read. 

 In 30 days I concluded I was fully "fledged," and 

 offered ten dollars for a good colony. I could not 

 get one; bees are not plentiful here. Eventually I 

 found a man with two starved colonies. I took 

 them on halves. I fed sugar and unbolted flour. 

 Soon brood began increasing. In May I made one 

 " divide," and had one swarm ; June, 2 swarms; July, 

 made another divide; in Aug., had another swarm, 

 7 colonies to begin winter. I got slung everyday. 

 Wife, reasoning the case about those pesky bees, 

 said, "I thought if A. I. Root or any other man said 

 he divided, extracted, etc., without veil, coat, and 

 gloves on, went"— well, you may guess what. 



Spring came, and five colonies only left; but, hav- 

 ing launched my bark on the river that "flows with 

 milk and honey," I must extract some of the sweets 

 of life as I float down its plHcid current. I ordered 

 an extractor, 100 frames, 500 one-pound boxes, and 

 ■50 wide frames. I made 16 hives, Simplicity princi- 

 pally. Have extracted 336 lbs., and taken off 85 lbs. 

 comb honey to date. I shiill take off 100 lbs. more. 

 I have increased to 17, and lost 3 that left for parts 

 unknown; and— 



•' If anybody will them bind. 



And bring safely to the 'Sqiiire's, 

 Twenty doll trs they shall find. 

 And more if they require." 

 I quit extracting in time for bees to fill frames 

 with clover honey for winter u-=e. Cl')Vor seas'^n 

 closed 15 days ago; not much buckwheat, and but 

 little else for bees here this fall. Rees did well till 

 clover closed. Hundreds of colonies in this county 

 now, and for a while the market was glutted; but 

 now it is better. Market price, 15c for extracted; 

 15 to 25 for comb. I put my extracted in ^-Ib. tum- 

 blers, and quart glass, and sell at 17 to 20c; my comb 

 In 1-lb. boxes at 25c, and calls for more than I can 

 supply. Please tell our brothers that neatness of 

 the package we put on the market wins the day. 

 As I am a beginner, and this my first letter to you, I 

 must close, or you will think " talk is too cheap." 

 Selden, O., Aug. 14, 1883. L. B. Park. 



AN ENTHUSIASTIC ABC SCHOLAR. 



LET US CATCH SOME OF HIS ENTHUSIASM. 



*|^0W, Mr. Root, I will give you just a little de- 

 Jrfj scription of how I have succeeded with mj' 

 new luidertaking. I feel that I owe you a 

 debt of gratitude which it will be very hard for me 

 to pay. Your ABC book is certainly a perfect 

 guide for the beginner; and if a person of any judg- 

 ment whatever studies it carefully, he certainly will 

 make a success of his undertaking; and, with a little 

 of the practical part of bee-keeping, will soon be 

 taught to love the dear little fellows. I at once be- 

 gan to manufacture chaff hives for myself after I 

 received your ABC book; and after a long search, 

 and a number of tiresome walks, I succeeded In 



finding a man who was willing to sell me a colony of 

 black bees, for which I paid $5.00; and by another 

 diligent search I found two persons who were will- 

 ing to trade me a swarm for a hive. So I set myself 

 at work; and by the first of July I had three good 

 colonies, and 1 then bought an Italian nucleus, and 

 that i^ the extent of my undertaking thus far. As 

 soon as I arrived home with my old box hive and Its 

 inhabitants, I set myself at work and followed your 

 instructions in relation to transferring, and I made 

 a grand success from the first; and I find, by follow- 

 ing your teachings, it is a very easy task to per- 

 form ; but as soon as I undertook to transfer my 

 second colony I was beset by robbers. But I made 

 short work of them by keeping every bit of honey 

 out of the way under cover, and then there was no 

 trouble. I have now stuff on hand, all sawed, for 25 

 chaff hives, and I am busily engaged in working it 

 up, and getting ready for fall, as I expect to take 

 from my neighbors enough bees to fill them, as they 

 generally kill their bees in the fnll and take out the 

 honey; and, as you know it will be their best col- 

 onies that they will take up. I can get a good start; 

 and if I make a success of wintering, I will come out 

 in the spring ready for business. 



T must say, for one of my friends, that he is a man 

 of large experience in bee-keeping, and he has 

 promised to come and put my bees up for winter 

 quarters, and teach me the great secret of winter- 

 ing without loss. He has kept his bees in chsff 

 hives for two years, and I just wish you could see 

 the inside of his h>ves at present, and see the bees 

 and hone}^ He has 35 colonies, and by the first of 

 August he had 2000 lbs. of surplus honey. He says 

 he will put up my bees, and would not be afraid to 

 insure them for the small sum of 10 cents. Last 

 winter he did not have any loss; and there were so 

 many bees in his hives by the first of May that there 

 was scarcelj' any room for more, and you know that 

 that is just what we would all like when spring 

 comes, to have good strong thrifty colonies. He 

 lives about 10 miles from me, and I go up occasional- 

 ly to see him. It does me good to see his bees and 

 honey. 



My bees will give me a small surplus this season ; 

 but as it was very late when f commenced, I can 

 not expect much honey But I tell you, I have built 

 them up str.>ng, and have learned the art of hatch- 

 ing young bees, and how to keep the queen laying; 

 and thai is what we want — young bees crawling 

 out of the combs every day. It is a pleapant sight 

 to see them come out of the hive the first time, 

 and crawl around. 



I may be taking up too much valuable space in 

 your journal; but one word more, and I will close. 

 I must tell you about where I live. I live in the 

 Rondout Valley, as it is called, and it is a splendid 

 location for bees. Every month, from May until 

 frost comes, blossoms abound abundantly; and I 

 think, by skillful ra.anagement and close attention to 

 25 colonies, that I shall have next fall a good report 

 to make to you. Ed. Harnden. 



Kyserike, Ulster Co., N. Y., Aug., 1883. 



Friend II., I felt a little troubled when I 

 read that you were going to try to winter 25 

 colonies, and that the 2-5 are to be principal- 

 ly made up of bees that were to bebrimston- 

 ed ; but when you told me you had an ex- 

 perienced friend who would come over and 

 help you, I felt a little better about it. You 

 say, he says he will almost warrant them for 



