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JUVEKILE GLfiAKlKGS. 



KoVi 



LETTEB FROM AN ENGLISH BOY, AND SOMETHING 

 ABOUT ENGLISH BEES. 



My father gave me one stock of bees last spring, 

 and they swarmed, so I have 3 stocks now. I sent 

 some honey to the show, and got 2 prizes for it. My 

 father does not like the Ligurian bees; he has killed 

 my queen, and given them a black one. He has 

 proved that the English black bee gathers more 

 honey than the Ligurian. It has not been a very 

 good season here for honey; it was only for a week 

 or two in July that they gathered any; then the 

 strong stocks did work. I go to school at Henning- 

 ham. It is a mile away from our house. I have a 

 rabbit. I have my holidays now, so I thought I 

 would write. Bernard Percy Walton, age 8. 



Honey Cott, Weston, Leamington, Oct. 34, 1883. 



Y"ou see, we are all bound to live for others ; 

 and it is certain that if we do, we can not 

 be in danger of getting selfish. 



RAISING WILLOWS FOR BEES. 



I saw in your journ althat a man had pussy-willow 

 cuttings to sell, and father says that I can have all I 

 make selling them. They grow very plentifully 

 here. By sticking them into a potato, and planting 

 them in moist ground, they will take root and grow. 

 They blossom out very unevenly. Some are in blos- 

 som now (February), and some have not started. 

 The first things our bees work on in the spring are 

 the swamp alder and the pus^y willow. I will 

 furnish six cuttings for fifteen cents. We live 

 ia latitude 44°. We keep part of our bees in the 

 bee-house, and part are buried up under the snow. 

 There came a thaw a short time ago, and one of the 

 hives got uncovered, and father opened it, and the 

 bees were all right. The first thing our bees get 

 honey from is where men have cut "down maple- 

 trees, and where gray squirrels have tapped them 

 and the sap has run out on the limb, gave you got 

 any Bibles for Sabbath-schools? 



Lisbon, Me. Ralph E. Gould, age 10. 



Yours is a very good letter, Ralph, and we 

 are very sorry that it got in a hea^) of other 

 letters, and was overlooked until just now. 

 Thanks for the idea of sticking the sprouts 

 into a potato. I should think it would be 

 just the thing to give them a start. — And it 

 is the gray squirrel, is it, that starts the sap 

 from the maple-trees in spring?— Yes, Ralph, 

 we have Bibles for Sunday-schools, and you 

 will find them on the 25-cent counter. 



taking the "starch" out. 



Since your Juvenile came to hand that pa sub- 

 scribed for, I have been much interested in reading 

 the letters of the children. You say, that for a long 

 time you had i-efused to wear a neck-tie. Pa said 

 we should tell you that he has not put on a neck-tie 

 nor a collar since the war. He says the war took all 

 the "starch" out of him. Pa had 35 stands of bees at 

 home last fall ; but two have died, I think, of neg- 

 lect. Pa and one of my uncles have commenced 

 another apiary about 3 miles from here ; they have 

 18 stands of bees there. Bees gathered but little 

 surplus honey last season. The late-gathered honey 

 they failed to seal, and they seem to die off very fast. 



Moretz Mills, N. C. J. W. Davis. 



l»Iow, my young friend, in one way it does 

 not make any difference whether your father 

 wears a neck-tie or not ; but perhaps your 

 mother, or some of your grown-up sisters, 

 and may be some other folks too, would be 

 much gratified and pleased by seeing him 



Eut on a neck-tie and collar, and then per- 

 aps it would be better if he should do so. 



150 LBS. OF HONEY FROM 150 SWARMS OF BEES. 



My pa has 150 swarms of bees, and has had about 

 150 lbs. of honey. This season is one of the worst 

 we ever knew. All the bee-keepers around us com- 

 plain of having no honey. The spring was wet and 

 cold, the summer dry. We had no rain for six 

 weeks; and after it rained, the cold wind set in, 

 and the bees could not fly. Ea^ly in September we 

 had a big frost, which destroyeWhe corn and grapes, 

 and almost all the plants, and what goldenrod is 

 left, there seems to be no honey in it. 



We see in Gleanings that some of the bee-keep- 

 ers have had a good yield of honey, and I am glad to 

 hear it. I saw in the Juvenile, that you have a lit- 

 tle boy-baby, and I hope he will grow and give you 

 much joy; and if you have not named him, I will 

 send you two names — Oscar and Arthur. 



Melinda Neunan. 



Glenn, Mich., Oct. 10, 1883. 



HOW archie TOOK THE PREMIUMS AT THE FAIR. 



I thought perhaps you would like to hear how one 

 of your ABC scholars was getting along in Canada, 

 so I will now tell you what kind of luck I have had 

 with bees. A friend of my father sent me a swarm 

 as a present in July, 1880, and I managed to keep it 

 through the winter all right in a Richardson hive 

 that father bought for me, and the bees came out 

 in the spring as lively and nice as any one would 

 want. During 1881 1 took from my bees about 95 lbs. 

 of honey. I showed my honey at our county fair, and 

 took first prize for strained and comb honey. I 

 have now three good colonies of bees put away for 

 winter, and my father and I have got five new hives 

 made and ready for next season, and we intend 

 making some moi-e hives before spring. Now, Mr. 

 Root, don't you think this is pretty good for a boy 

 13 years old? I don't know how I should have got 

 along had it not been for your ABC book and 

 Gleanings. My father paid for Gleanings last 

 year; but as I get all the money the bees make, I 

 now inclose $1.00, for which you can send it to me. 



Ayr, Ont., Can. Archie G. Watson. 



HOW lizzie's papa packs his bees fob winter. 



My papa has ten colonies of bees, which made 

 about 350 lbs. of section honey. One colony made 

 100 lbs. of section honey; average per colony, 35 lbs. 

 Papa sets out turnips in the spring for the bees. 

 Our chief honey-flowers are Spanish-needle, golden- 

 rod, and white clover. I like Spanish-needle honey 

 the best. I help papa take care of the bees. I like 

 to work among bees. I get stung sometimes, but 

 not as often as papa. He lausrhs at me when I get 

 stang; but when they sting him on the nose, I laugh 

 at him. Perhaps it will interest some of the juve- 

 nile readers to know how papa packs his bees for 

 winter. He stands his bees in a row by the side of 

 the fence, and packs straw all around them, 

 except in front. He hangs a carpet in front of them, 

 and lays a wide board on that; and on a nice sun- 

 shiny day he lifts the carpet up and lets the bees 

 have fresh air and a fly. The coldest day we had 

 last winter, go and rap on the hive, and the bees 

 would come down to the entrance to find out what 

 was the matter. Our bees came out strong in the 

 spring, packed this way, Lizzie Barnes. 



Pana, 111., Oct. 83, 1883. 



