652 



AMERICAN BEE JOUKlMAL, 



Oct. 10, 190.. 



Bees in Fine Condition. 



The honey season is over, and the bees are 

 in fine condition for winter. Our crop was 

 23 tons from liOO colonies, spring count, and 

 increased to 425 colonies. Two of us did all 

 the work, and found time to do considerable 

 on the farm besides. L. L. Andrews. 



Riverside Co., Calif,, Sept. 11. 



Bees and Pear-Bliglit. 



I notice in the American Bee Journal an 

 item in regard to bees spreading- pear-blight. 

 I see some think the bees spread it, and some 

 think they do not. I am of the latter opin- 

 ion. I have an apiary of 11 colonies in the 

 orchard. Last year the blight appeared on 

 every pear-tree I had but the Bartlett and 

 another late pear; this year some of the 

 trees died almost to the roots, while some of 

 (he Bartletts blighted just a little. What 

 makes me think the bees do not spread the 

 blight is a tree that stands close to others 

 that died, docs not show a bit of blight, and 

 is loadi'd with fruit; and a tree of the same 

 kind, aliout 20 yards away, died clear down. 

 Another instance is a seedling- 1 let grow some 

 distance from the others; it did not have a 

 blossom, and never did. It took the disease, 

 and died. Now, if the bees spread the blight 

 why did this tree and any other Bartlett, not 

 lake it { All were loaded this spring, even 

 to those that died, showing the bees had 

 worked on them, if it is true about fruit 

 needing bees to cross-pollinate. And why did 

 the seedling take it ? Can you answer that '. 



Cutting off the diseased parts seems to stop 

 the disease to some extent here. 



Latah Co., Ida. F. C. Holbkook. 



Poorest Honey-Year in Nine. 



We have no surplus honey here this season, 

 but bees are doing well now. It is the poor- 

 est honey-year we have had in central Cali- 

 fornia in the nine years I have lived here. 



J. W. Steele. 



Merced Co., Calif., Sept. 1. 



Troubled With Gpasshoppers. 



The bees in this part of California have 

 done no good, hardly made a living. In fact, 

 I fed mine until the latter part of June, but I 

 am pleased to say they are doing well now, 

 and tilling up with brood. They did no good 

 until the latter part of August. The cause, I 

 think, was grasshoppers on the alfalfa fields; 

 the fields were literally covered with the lit- 

 tle jumpers, and the bloom blasted. The bees 

 would sit out on the alighting-board and act 

 as if they were looking for a job. But now 

 that is all changed ; they are out by the time 

 the sun is up, fiying hither and yon, gather- 

 ing the nectar from the alfalfa and carpet- 

 plant. Most of the grasshoppers have disap- 

 peared. 



I have just received the American Bee Jour- 

 nal ; it is full of good things for the bee men 

 and women. I like it very much; in tact, it 

 is almost indispensable. I have tried the 

 straw for robbing, and find it very good. It 

 has stopped it every time for me. 



Mrs. Artie Bowen. 



Merced Co., Calif., Sept. 2. 



The Seasons of 1899 and 1901. 



I wish to remind the bee-keepers of the 

 Mississippi valley what educators to us the 

 years 1899 and 1901 have been— 1899 with no 

 surplus honey from clover, but plenty to keep 

 up good strength from July 1 to "late fall, 

 which gave us about 40 pounds of nice comb 

 honey from heartsease — a plant which thrives 

 .so well here, and nearly always yields nectar 

 plentifully. This fine crop was gathered all 

 because the colonies were strong at just the 

 right time. 



Because of a severe drouth, 1901 has yielded 



Diltmer's Foundation ! 



Retail— W holesale— Jobbing. 



I use a PROCESS that produces EVERY 

 ESSENTIAL necessary to make it the BEST 

 and MOST desirable in all respects. My PRO- 

 CESS and AUTOMATIC MACHINES are my 

 own inventions, which enable me to SELL 

 FOUNDATION and 



at prices that are the lowest. Catalog g'r 



Full Line of Supplies, 



GUS, DITTMER, Augusta, Wis, 



IT IS A FACT 



hat poultry pays a Inrgrer profit 

 iir the iiionev invested than any 

 ther business; that anybody may 

 I success of it without long 

 ig or previous experience; 

 thattheReTinWeI>iciibiitor-an.l ICrooilerswill^ive 

 the best resultsiiialleases. Ouraoth Century Poultry 

 Book tells just why. and a hundred other things you 

 should know. We mail the bonk for 10 cents. vVrite 

 to-day. We have 115 yards of thorou-rhbrt'd poultry. 



BELtABLE INCUBATOR & BROODER CO., Box r.2. Quincy. 111. 



Please mention Bee Journal when -writing 



BOUIGS, 



Honey 

 Dealers.... 



G. G. STUTTS GLASS GO.. 



Manufacturers, 

 145 Chambers St.. NEW YORK.N. Y. 



Write for illustrations. 

 Please mention Bee Journal -when ■wntiiifi'. 



A Good Wagon 



F Y<M' ISl V TIIK 



ELECTRIC STEEL WHEEL 



ELECTRIC WHEEL CO. 



Boi Hi QIINCY. ILL. 



flea.sc mention Bee Journal -wncu vrntius 



reK-ardin(f 

 the oldest 

 and most 



Send for circulars 



improved and orig-inal Binybam Bee-Smoker. 

 For Z3 "Veaks the Best on Earth. 

 25Atf T. F. BINGHAM, Farwell. Mich. 



Please mention Bee Journal when -writing 



"CET A DANDY" 



I 30 days trial. 85 up. Catalogue fret-. /\\ J^'c: 



Stratton Mfg. Co.. Boi 21, Erie, Pa. ' 



please mention Bee Journal ■when "writinp^ 



THE NICKEL PLATE ROAD 



will sell tickets each Tuesday, Thurs- 

 day and Saturday during^ October to 

 Buffalo Pan-American Exposition and 

 return, at $6.00, good in coaches, re- 

 turn liinit S days from date of sale. 

 Tickets with long^er limit at slightly 

 increased rates. Three through trains 

 daily. Chicago Passenger Station, Van 

 Buren St. and Pacific Avenue. City 

 ticket office, 111 Adams St., Chicago. 

 36— 41A4t 



(.)nly a light orop from (.-lover, eudinj^ two 

 weeks earlier than usual, leaving nothing of 

 much at'Count for bees to work on from July 

 l."> to Aug. .5, a period of 20 days, when very 

 few eggs were laid liy the (|ueens — a period 

 just when all queens should have been tilling 

 every available cell with eggs. So our bees 

 came up to an abundant How from heartsease 

 with only a little over half the strength main- 

 tained in 1899, which has been, to me, a loss 

 on every 100 colonies of at least ?800, which 

 could have been remedied it foreseen. Stimu- 

 lating to activity from July lr> to Aug. 5. 

 would have done the job, and with little ex- 

 pense, as I believe tlie feeding could have 

 been done outdoors in paraHined troughs at 

 intervals of three days, and a substitute for 

 pollen given. However, some honey has been 

 obtained wherever colonies showed fair 

 strength, and where anj- colony was very 

 strong 40 pounds of nice honey in the comb- 

 is the result anywhere among my yards. 



Who will be the first to inform us of a cer- 

 tain race or strain of bees that will always be 

 strong and ready for gathering honey from 

 Aug. 15 to Sept. 20 >: Frank Covekdai.e. 



Jackson Co., Iowa. Sept. 12. 



Fleabane— " Old Grimes." 



1 send a sample of a plant on which the bees 

 arc now \vorl;ing. It is of low, bushy habit, 

 u(it unlike our common sagebrush. 



Tlie h<uiey crop here is decidedly short. 



I wish •• Old Grimes " would take up his 

 pen again ; his articles were practical. 



E. r. Atwater. 



Ada Co., Idaho, .Sept. 18. 



[Perhaps "Old Grimes" will take your 

 hint, Mr. Atwater, and " wake up " again. 

 Our botanist reports as follows: — Editor.] 



Here is another good honey-plant, the flea- 

 bane, belonging to the famous Composite 

 familj*. If this and many other plants hail- 

 ing from this justly prized family were scat- 

 tered freely over the State of Idaho, our good 

 brother would never complain about the 

 honey crop being " decidedly short.'' — C. 1.. 

 Waltox. 



Short Honey Crop. 



The honey crop here is small this yeai-. f 

 wish all bee-lvcepers could be induced to take 

 the American Bee Journal, as they are not 

 informed on the honey market, and ruin the 

 market for me. But, you see, those are some 

 of a bee-keeper's pleasures. 



Clyde Cahy. 



.lackson Co.. Mich.. Sept. 23. 



A Fairly Good Bee-Season. 



This has been a fairly good bee-season here. 

 I started with 20 colonies in the spring, and 

 have increased to 50. I have just talien oft" 

 about 400 pounds of honey. 



There is quite a large acreage of red clover 

 in this section, wliich affords good bee-pas- 

 turage. I appreciate the American Bee Jour- 

 nal very much, and owe much of my success 

 with bees to knowledge gleaned from it. 



J. A. Watkins. 



Latah Co., Idaho, Sept. 15. 



Of ttie Evening Primpose Family. 



I send a sample of leaf and blossom of a 

 weed that grows sparingly a'round here, oa 

 which bees work profusely, and from which I 

 believe they gather both pollen and honey. 

 1 do not know, and have found no one who- 

 does know, what it is. It grows about like 

 goldenrod in size. My attention was first 

 attracted to it by the hum of the bees on it. 

 It is undoubtedly a fine bee-plant, and I would 

 like you to tell me through the General Items 

 coluura of your excellent paper what the 

 name of the weed is, and your opinion as to 

 its value, as I wish to save seed if it is con- 

 sidered a good honey-plant. 



I have kept bees myself for five years, my 

 father keeping them till 1 commenced, and 

 my grandfather always kept them. 1 have 



