572 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Sept. 



the window. She re-cag:ed her, and put her in the 

 hive again, and in 24 hours they gnawed her out. 

 We are proud of her; she keeps the hive full of 

 bees. I am learning a few things about their won- 

 derful ways. ZELtiA Cutting, age 14. 

 Courtland, Ont., Can., Aug. 25, 1883. 



IDA S LITTLE BEE-HIVE THAT HER UNCLE HENRY 

 MADE. 



My uncle Henry called to see us, and made a box, 

 or nailed 4 boards together, and called it a bee-hive. 

 He made a bottom to it, and just set it on a board, 

 and made light frames for it. He and my pa broke 

 one of the bee-boxes open, took the honey-comb, 

 and tied it in the frames with wire, and put it in the 

 box he made for the bees. All went in and fastened 

 the comb to the frames. Uncle gave us children a 

 a heap of things. The bees did not sting any but my 

 brother Frank, for he was afraid of them. He says 

 you give little girls and boys a pretty book. I live 

 away off from any big town, and can not write very 

 good letters; but I like pretty books as well as any 

 little girl in town. Ida D. Woodside. 



Carman's Mills, Pa. 



BEES IN OREGON. 



I live in Oregon with my papa, mamma, and three 

 sisters. We moved to this place two years ago. 

 When we came here we didn't have any bees. About 

 three months ago pa found a swarm in the field. It 

 was about noon when he found it, so he took a sheet 

 and threw over them till evening, when he took a 

 hive and smeared it with syrup, as we had no honey. 

 He then put it close to the swarm. Early next 

 morning he took some mud and blocked the en- 

 trance, and carried the hive up into the yard, and 

 put it in a warm corner. I have been watching 

 them anxiously, and see they have filled the lower 

 story and half of the upper. Papa thinks that buck- 

 wheat makes the best honey. The honey that is 

 made of the honej suckle is a little sour, and has a 

 tinge of bitterness. Lena Lokentzen. 



Denmark, Oregon. 



a visit to friekid doolittle; a HINT on auto- 

 matic SWARMING. 



Last spring pa had 56 colonies of bees; now 125, 

 and many of them are in Simplicity and chaff hives. 

 Some of the bees in box hives are making more hon- 

 ey than those in frame hives. Pa went a short time 

 ago over If miles to see Mr. Doolittle and his bees, 

 and came back pleased with his visit. A man near 

 here had two hives of bees sitting quite close to- 

 gether on a plank; one of them was a small swarm, 

 and the other very strong, and a large portion of the 

 bees left the strong colony and went in with the 

 smaller one. The strange part of it was, they did 

 not fly, but just walked on the plank from one hive 

 to the other. Nina Kothwell, age 11. 



Austinville, Pa. 



Thank you, Miss Nina, for the important 

 facts you give. I know bees will sometimes 

 occupy a hive sitting close to the parent 

 hive ; and I liave been told they went in on 

 foot, as you describe. Now. who can invent 

 a way to get them to do this every time, 

 without swarming out in the air? 



SOME facts and SOME QUESTIONS FROM A 9-YEAR- 

 OLD BEEMAN. 



I am all the baby papa and mamma have got. I 

 bought a colt of papa last summer. I value him 

 very highly. He is a sorrel, with a white 6tripe in 



his face. His name is Tinker. I go to Sabbath- 

 school. We have been having Advent meetings. 

 Which do you think is the right day to keep? I 

 don't want you to think I am an Adventist because I 

 ask this question. My uncles. Bright Bros., keep a 

 good many bees. Their apiary and bee establish- 

 ment is about 54 of a mile from where we live. They 

 make lots of little boxes, which make nice play- 

 things for us little folks. They cage their bees up 

 like canary birds, and send them otf to sting folks. 

 I guess T like the honey better than the sting of the 

 bee. Please tell me how it is with you. 

 Mazeppa, Minn. Cecil Baughton. 



And so, friend Cecil, you think our friends 

 Bright Brothers send off the bees in those 

 boxes that look like bird-cages for the pur- 

 pose of stinging folks, do you V— In regard 

 to which day is the proper one for Sunday, 

 it seems to me if none of our people were 

 guilty of any worse sins than making a mis- 

 take in regard to which day should be kept 

 sacred and holy, I think we should be pretty 

 near millennium. I should by all means ad- 

 vise keeping that day as the Sal)bath that is 

 generally kept by the people in whatever 

 country I was in. " The letter killeth, but 

 the spirit maketh alive." 



FROM 5 TO 1, AND THEN FROM 1 TO 5 AGAIN. 



Our bees did not winter very well. All of them 

 were alive when we took them out of the cellar, but 

 not very strong. Some way or other they all died 

 but one, and they went through the rest of the 

 spring all right. We have now 5 good stands from 

 that one. Isn't that pretty good? One swarm came 

 out early Monday morning and settled low on a 

 quince-bush. The swarm was about two feet long 

 and about six inches through. We could just set 

 the hive under them. We had five stands last fall, 

 and now we have five this fall. I do not know 

 whether we shall prosper very well or not. We 

 wanted to move a hive the other day with the top 

 box off, and pa picked up the lower part to where 

 he wanted it, without veil, and he said that you 

 could not have got him to do that last summer for 

 live dollars. He said if he had a veil over his face 

 he was not afraid of them. I go out among them, 

 and never get stung. I never had a veil over my 

 face about the bees. I do not do much with them, 

 though, but I expect to be a bee-man some day. Do 

 you think bees that swarm the last of August will 

 make enough honey to ktsep them through winter, 

 if they have no queen? We have not looked in the 

 old hi ve for a queen yet. Our bees seem to be bring- 

 ing in lots of honey and pollen. They seem to be work- 

 ing on smartweed now. Pa thinks it is too late to 

 transfer the combs to Simplicity hives. Pretty 

 nearly every one around here keeps bees. Two of 

 our hives have glass in the back, so we can look 

 in. I went out to one of the hives to-day, and took 

 away the board we had over the glass, and the bees 

 did not come about me any; but I went to the other 

 hive, and they did not like it very well. They came 

 around the hive and told me to get out of there, and 

 I did; but they did not sting me, though. What 

 makes the bees go off and leave no queen? ours did. 

 Walter G. Comin. 



College Springs, la., Aug. 28, ISS^J. 



Friend Walter, I do not believe the bees 

 do go off and leave the queen. The queen 

 oftener goes off and leaves the bees. But if 



