188§ 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



54? 



report this fall, but have signally failed, by not 

 weighing the honey just at the time it was taken 

 from the hive. We increased from one to three col- 

 onies, and I suppose made an average of 60 lbs. of 

 honey to the hive. I know I am within bounds in 

 saying this much. The season has not been as 

 favorable as might be — so many cold rains and 

 very windy weather. Our bees appear very strong, 

 and have brood and plenty of stores for the winter. 

 Neighbor John McElwee has engaged in bee culture 

 for a couple of years now. He has some twenty or 

 thirty colonies in Simplicity hives, and other fixtures 

 for working them to advantage, and has gathered a 

 pretty nice crop of honey this season. I shall have 

 to start to school now in a few days, and tljen for 

 five months I shall not have much time to attend to 

 the bees. Papa requests me to thank you for the 

 nice cards you sent for the Sabbath-school. I have 

 attended every Sabbath this summer, except the 

 last, when I was not able to go. Papa hobbles along 

 and gets there somehow every Sabbath; and when 

 he gets to work in the school he appears for the 

 time to forget his misery. V. J. Fields. 



Valley Point, Pa. 



BEES AND CHICKENS. 



My pa has nine swarms of bees; they are making 

 honey fast. Pa will have some honey to sell this 

 season. Our bees are Italians. I had an old hen 

 that stole her nest uuder a bee-hive, laid 14 eggs, 

 and hatched them all. One morning I heard a most 

 pitiful noise under that hive. It was those little 

 chickens. I reported the same to my mother; she 

 told me it was the bees stinging them, and that I 

 must see to them immediately, or the bees would 

 kill them. Accordingly,' my little brother donned 

 pa's bee-veil and mother's gloves, made a dive for 

 those little sufferers under the hive, handed them to 

 me, and I went to work picking out stings. 1 found 

 their little feet just as full of stings as one could 

 stick by the side of another, and even in their eyes 

 were stings. It was a horrible sight to see, and hear 

 the cries of those poor little chickens. I picked the 

 stings all out. My apron was covered with them 

 when I got through. Four of them died soon after. 

 I don't like bees now. 1 think they are heartless 

 wretches, to kill little chickens. Siill, I like honey. 



Zearing, la. Addie King, 



Do not be too hasty in condemning the 

 bees, Addie. A great many quarrels come 

 about from misunderstandings, and I guess 

 that was the case with this one. You see, the 

 bees did not understand what business the 

 chickens had under that hive. They doubt- 

 less supposed they came there to steal their 

 honey, so they just went for them as they 

 would go for a bear or a skunk, or any other 

 natural enemy. It seems pretty hard to have 

 them sting those pink-footed chickens ; but 

 you know when bees get a going they just 

 pitch in with all their might. They are like 

 a raven Mr. Dickens tells about. Every little 

 while he would cry out, ''Never say die 1" 



Please allow me to write again. Our bees have 

 not done so well this year, on account of dry 

 weather. We have not had much honey to sell this 

 year, and no swarms. But our bees are strong and 

 heavy. They built up on poorland, parsley, and 

 tangle-foot. The latter is now in bloom. Have you 

 either of these great honey - producing plants in 

 your country? Pa and I Introduced an Italian queen 



about 10 days ago, by uniting the nucleus and the 

 other hive; caged up the queen, and let her remain 

 so for five days. When we released her the bees 

 would not receive her, but balled her up; so we 

 tried them with smoke. It made them turn her 

 loose; but in a few minutes they had her again, so 

 we had to cage her again. We kept her two days 

 longer, and turned her out, and they let her alone. 

 Then pa gave me the colony. So you will please 

 enroll my name on the bee-keepers' list, and I will 

 report how I come out. If you know what makes 

 our bees do so badly, please let me know. Pa says 

 every thing is decidedly in favor of the Italian bees, 

 and intends to buy an imported queen of you be- 

 fore long, and is delighted with Gleanings. I love 

 to read the Juvenile, and wish good luck for all its 

 little writers. Nettie Bryan. 



Rome, Ga., Sept. 30, 1883. 



HOW LULU GOT THE SWARM SHE FOUND IN THE 

 WOODS. 



My papa has nine colonies of bees. Last summer 

 in my rambles through the woods after flowers 1 

 found a swarm of bees hanging high on a limb. 

 Papa was too busy in the harvest-field to hive them, 

 and mamma is not much of a climber, but I could 

 not think of letting the little fellows leave, so I got 

 one of papa's bee-caps and climbed the tree, and 

 crawled out on the limb, and raked them into the 

 box with my bare hand; as I could not climb with 

 my bonnet on, I also laid it aside. I then climbed 

 down with my box of bees, and took them home 

 without getting a single sting. My pa takes Glean- 

 ings. 1 claim " baby Gleanings." If you think I 

 deserve a book, please send me Ten Nights in a Bar- 

 Room. Lulu May Tyler, age 13. 



Knob Noster, Mo. 



Why, Lula, you are almost worthy of being 

 called a bee-woman already. I am afraid 

 there are not many girls, or boys either, for 

 that matter, among our readers who could 

 have done what you did. Were you not a 

 little tired when you got down with them V 



We have raised some queens by curious methods. 

 One hatched in my father's pocket, and several 

 under a sitting hen. One hatched in bed with me. 

 The queen-cells wei'e in little bottles, attached to 

 the cork with wax. I thought, one night, I was 

 hurt by some one's foot when asleep; but I suppose 

 I was lying on the bottle. When I got up in the 

 morning, the queen had hatched, and we soon had 

 her in a hive. One of those from the hen's nest be- 

 came a drone-layer — the only one we ever had. 

 Our apiary has not produced much honey this year; 

 but somehow the following verse has been produced 

 while taking off boxes that should contain honey: 



Hark I from the tombs when papa knocks his 



Knuckles on the empty boxes. 



They only give a hollow jar. 



And seem as light as A. I. R. 



Still, my papa took the premium on honey and on 

 his extractor at the county fair. 



Addie C. Barber, age 9. 



Lancaster, Wis., Sept. 30, 1883. 



ORANGE-TREES, ETC. 



My sister Mary wrote to you, so I thought I would 

 write too. I can't write very well as I have to walk 

 two miles to school, which is kept only eight months 

 in the year. We have oranges on our orange-trees, 

 but they are not ripe yet. We haA'e apple-trees and 

 wild blackberry bushes with blossoms on them. 



