1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



677 



REPORTS Encouraging. 



My bees are doing splendidly this season. 

 Little Elm, Tex., Aug. 7. Poke Martin. 



Bees in this section have not done so well in 

 ten years as they have thus far this season. 

 Canastota, N. Y.. July 3. A. H. Root. 



Reports Discouraging. 



I am well pleased with Gleanings, but my 

 bees have not done any thing this year, and I 

 am not able to take it at present. It has been 

 the worst honey season this year I have ever 

 seen. I have .50 hives, mostly Italians, in a 

 house 8x3() feet. J. W. House. 



Hollins, Ala., July 23. 



Friend Root:— I am glad to hear of so many 

 good reports this year from neighboring States; 

 but we here have to record this the poorest of 

 this series of very poor seasons. I got, on an 

 average, a little more than a pound to the hive; 

 but I may get some honey this fall. 



A. T. McKlBBEN. 



Flag Spring, Ky., Aug. 10. 



A large district in this part of Colorado, and 

 how much more of the State I do not know, 

 has very little honey. The good reports have 

 been coming in. The bad will be along by and 

 by. For two years now Colorado has been be- 

 hind in honey, and can not send a respectable 

 exhibit to Chicago. I did want so much to be 

 at the meeting in Octoberl but it looks now as 

 if we should have to walk if we get there. 



Loveland, Col., Aug. 8. R. C. Aikin. 



DISCOURAGED. 



I shall have to request you to stop Glean- 

 ings. Bees have made a failure this year. I 

 am discouraged. We got no clover honey, and 

 what honey we did get is very dark and hardly 

 fit to eat. 1 can't imagine what was the mat- 

 ter with the clover. It bloomed well, but it 

 was a month late, and gave no honey. 



Springfield, Mo., Aug. 13. W. H. Ritter. 



POOR SEASONS IN INDIANA. 



The Progressive Bee-keeper says, " Hope, the 

 bee-keepers' bank account, is often over- 

 drawn." Well, the name of the bank here has 

 been " hope " for four or five years at least; 

 and at last thei-e has been a run on the bank. 

 The bank is " busted," and not likely to re- 

 sume: but we are a little better off tlian S. E. 

 Miller, for we have enough to spread our bus- 

 cuit— providing we don't use too many buscuits, 

 and spread the honey a little thin. I have kept 

 a strict honey-account for the last four years, 

 and have keptsupplies (from you) for sale all the 

 time, to help out. I have had each year about .50 

 colonies. I never lost any colonies except those 

 that became queenless or did not gather enough 

 honey to build upon, and had to be doubled up. 

 I had .50 colonies in the spring of 1S9.'}; bought 

 ?3().00 worth of sugar, and commenced to feed a 

 pint a day about April 35th (scarcely any thing 

 from outside) in evening to each colony. I had 

 them in very fine shape. I read, " Prepare for 

 the honey-shower." Hope brightened and I 

 took courage; invested $15or.'?30'more in Root's 

 Dovetailed hives. Well, one consolation— when 

 I read next year, " Prepare for the honey- 

 shower," I shall have 20 dollars' worth to fall 



back on that have never been opened. Well, I 

 increased from .50 to 70, and did not get 300 lbs. 

 of honey — did not get half as many pounds of 

 honey as I fed sugar. As a result of the four 

 years, I shall have, say, .50 colonies, and may 

 have to feed to winter yet some 30 or 40 empty 

 hives; an extractor (no use for), a sun wax- 

 extractor (for sale cheap), and about $40.00 of a 

 balance on the credit side of the account. So I 

 shall step over into the ranks of blasted hopes. 

 Atherlon, Ind., Aug. 7. G. F. Ayres. 



Notes of Travel 



ON THE WHEEL, AUGUST 5. 



Happening to be in the neighborhood of Mr. 

 Wilbur Fenii"s. whom I mentioned visiting on 

 page 533, I thought I would take a look at his 

 potatoes. You will remember that, about June 

 1, I saw his potatoes that be intended to plant 

 spread out in his cool cellar, with scarcely a 

 sprout on them; and on this present visit, Aug. 

 5, we had just been having a nice rain, and I 

 supposed he would be out among them. On 

 inquiry I learned that such was the case. A 

 bright little girl and a couple of boys volun- 

 teered to take me down to the field where their 

 papa was at work. As we passed through the 

 garden I began to make exclamations of sur- 

 prise to see it looking so well during our severe 

 drouth. The children, I found, knew all about 

 it. They could tell me just where the Snyder 

 blackberries were, the Agawam, and all the 

 other varieties. My youngest brother, who 

 was just then paying me a visit from his far- 

 away home in Tempe, Arizona, declared some- 

 thing as follows: 



" Why, brother Ame, I believe I am more 

 interested in looking at the blackberries than I 

 shall be with the potatoes. Perhaps you had 

 better go on, and leave me here for a little 

 while." 



I accordingly did so. Of course, I enjoyed 

 the blackberries (in two ways); but when I got 

 to where I could see around the rank growth of 

 canes. I did indeed enjoy a glimpse of that po- 

 tato-field. The hundred bushels of seed had 

 been spread over about nine acres, and it was a 

 great deal like friend Terry's clover. There 

 were no bad spots, and very few extra good 

 spots. The foliage was rank and green, and 

 the cultivators' were just stirring the soft fine 

 soil in a way that ought to make any one who 

 loves farming feel happy. There were a few 

 weeds scattered here and there; but my friend 

 said the cultivators would destroy the greater 

 part of them. Said I: 



■' Why, look here, Wilbur, where are the 

 bugs? What have you done to get rid of 

 them ?" 



" I haven't done any thing." 



"But haven't you had any bugs at all ? has 

 your potato-patch looked just like this all 

 through this season, when everybody else has 

 been having such a terrible time with the old- 

 fashioned kind and the new-fashioned kind 

 too ?" 



" No. we did not have any; and, what is more, 

 I did not expect to have any." 



May be you think this pretty cool, dear 

 reader; but I t((ll you, a farmer who has studied 

 into the matter, and has become acquainted 

 with nature and nature's laws, can often pre- 

 dict a successful crop in just this way. I did 

 not have time to get at the full particulars; 

 but I think his success in evading bugs is. first, 

 by planting late; then by having .soil and 

 every thing else in such shape that he can get 

 such a rank growth that the bugs do not relish 



