788 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Dec. 



and he picked up a dead queen on the outside of the 

 hive, and gave her to me. I took her in the house, 

 and I saw her kick, and then I went and got a little 

 honey, and put on her mouth, and she came to, and 

 then I went out and showed her to papa, and put 

 her in the hive, and then he gave mo that stand of 

 bees. I have two big brothers, but they don't like 

 to tend to the bees, for they don't like to be stung. 

 I don't like to be stung either; but I have to help pa 

 feed the bees every time. He feeds them in little 

 feeders he got of you. I wish Blue Eyes could come 

 and see me. I know I should love htr. 

 Mattoon, 111. Laub.v E. Baldwin, age 8. 



HOW AUIiKEY GOT STUNO BY A DEAD (?) BEE. 



Pa bought a colony of bees the 23d day of last May, 

 and they swarmed twice this summer. I read about 

 your b.Tby, and I am much interested in it. We 

 have a baby named Stella. Ma put her by a chair, 

 and she stands by it. 1 found a dead bee; and as 1 

 was showing ma the scales of wax, I happened to 

 press on it, and it stung me. One day I tried to 

 catch a bumblebee. It was in a bloom of snake's- 

 head, and I tried to catch it with a leaf, and it stung 

 me. It did not hurt much at first, and 1 hiughed; 

 but directly it commenced to hurt, and I did not 

 think it was so funny. Pa put his bees in boxes, 

 and piled straw in around them, and put boards on 

 to keep thom from being rained on. He has hives, 

 and a great many frames and sections ready for 

 next summer's use. He has a turning-lathe and jig- 

 saw, acd he made him a smoker, and it did not suit 

 him, so he made another. He took about 50 lbs. of 

 honey this season. 1 forgot to say that Stella is on- 

 ly five months old, and that is the reason I told you 

 about her standing by a chair. Can your boy beat 

 that? Ann^EY BowEHS, age 10. 



New Koss, Ind., Nov. 12, 1883. 



1*^0, Aubrey, our boy can not beat that, 

 but he can do as well, although I did not 

 know it until I got your letter. I took him 

 and stood him up by a chair, and tried him, 

 and he stood up very well ; but as he began 

 to scold quite lively pretty soon, I rather 

 think it was hard on his chubby little ank- 

 les. Our boy is six months old. But that is 

 nothing strange. You know that girl-babies 

 are always a little smarter than boy-babies ; 

 but, you see, when we get older we get ahead 

 of them. 1 think it was really naughty of 

 that dead bee to sting you. Dead bees sure- 

 ly ought to know how to behave belter than 

 that. 



OLIA AKD HER TEACHEK. 



My pa has 20 hives of bees. He got a great deal of 

 honey this summer. He takes Gleanings. I read 

 it, and see many letters in it. I go to school. My 

 teacher is a good one when she is not mad; but 

 when she gets mad we have to looK out for her. Pa 

 has an extractor he bought from you. Ho says he 

 would not take $25.00 lor it, if he couldn't get one 

 like it. Olia Bannon, age 12. 



Venango, Pa., Oct. 10, 1883. 



My little friend, I want to caution you 

 somewhat, about getting in a way of finding 

 fault with your teacher. It is a very bad 

 thing for girls and boys to do, and the of- 

 fense ought to be a very great one before 

 the child is allowed to talk about his 

 teacher. Are you not mistaken, in thinking 

 your teacher gets madV Children often use 



the term '^ mad " when the parent or teach- 

 er is simply using proper discipline. Sup- 

 pose your teacher could not make you mind, 

 and in a sort of helpless way allowed every 

 scholar to do as he pleased ; or suppose she 

 did not have firmness and decision enough 

 to keep you straight, would you have any 

 respect for herV When you come right down 

 to it, now, do yon not think more of a teach- 

 er who makes you "toe the mark," as the 

 expression goes, even lliongli slie sometimes 

 has to be severe and stt-in lo do it, than yon 

 would of a teacher who was afraid ot the 

 scholars, and couM not manage them at idl? 

 What becomes of (diiUlren who arc never 

 made lo niindV 1 think, if you look about 

 you, you may lind some such in your neigh- 

 borhood. I have sometimes thought it was 

 as gieat a misfortune as if they had been 

 crippled for life; for if it results in letting 

 them grow up to be bad men and women, it 

 is the worst sort of crippling that ever hap- 

 pened to any human being. 



STELLA'S REPO.'tT : FROM ULASTEH HOPES TO RE- 

 PORTS ENCOURAGING. 



Pa got some Simplicity hives constructed; got a 

 friend to put swarms into two of them; went into 

 winter with plenty of honey; g.ive bees no protec- 

 tion; came cut in the spring with about one quart 

 of bees in one of the hives. He then bought anoth- 

 er colony of my uncle; got .50 lbs. of comb honey 

 and one new colony, making three in all. This win- 

 ter, 1879, he gave bees protection. They came out 

 in the spring as strong as they were when put away 

 for winter. 



During this season he increased to five. In 1880 

 pa purchased an extractor, smoker, and some hives 

 ot you; extracted only one gallon of honey; took no 

 comb honey. He had now spent lilty dollars; had 

 got CO lbs. of honey, all told. Tbis winter he put 

 away his bees with cushions on top and each side. 

 Bees all died before winter was half gone; had not 

 consumed half of their stock of supplies; so in 1881 

 he was in Blasted Hopes. In 1882 pa purchased two 

 new new colonies of my uncle, one of which he put 

 in our hive the 28ih of May; the other the 15th of 

 June. During this season he extracted 150 lbs. of 

 honey; wintered by filling top boxes with cut straw, 

 and then hanging horse-blankets over the hives, let- 

 ting them hang down all around nicely, leaving room 

 for bees to pass in and out. They came through 

 all right, and this season we have taken from the 

 two colonies, 310 lbs. of extracted, and 10 of comb 

 honey, and got three new colonies, one of which he 

 gave to my brother. This is my first letter. 



Stella Brandon, age 13. 



Laura, Ohio, Nov. Hi, 1883. 



Thank you, Stella, for your very kind and 

 complete report. There are several lessons 

 to be learned from it. For instance, during 

 the lust few yeais your \r<i kept bees it 

 would look very much as if yours was a very 

 poor locality ; but the conclusion shows ft 

 must be a very good locality, to getSOUlbs. 

 of hotiey from only two colonies. It also il- 

 lustrates the importance of not being dis- 

 couraged by one, two, or three failures, and 

 that a bountiful flow of honey will be al- 

 most certain eventually, if the bee-keeper 

 tries to inform himself, and keeps on year 

 after year. 



