1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



341 



FRANCE'S REPORT FOR THE LAST FIFTEEN 

 YEARS. 



AN INTERESTING SERIES OF FIGURES: THE PAST 



SEASON SO POOR THAT. INSTEAD OF FEEDING, 



THEY KILLED THE BEES. 



By E. France. 



In glancing over my records for three or four 

 years I find that we have not done as well as 

 we did in former years. In looking back I find 

 I have records back to 1877. We always got 

 some honey — enough to winter the bees, and 

 some to sell. 



In 1880 we had 124 colonies; extracted 6000 

 lbs., and called that a poor year. We let out on 

 shares about 50 colonies. In the spring of 1881 

 bees wintered very badly, for it was a very hard 

 winter. The partnership yard went down from 

 €0 to 3 weak colonies. The cause of the loss was 

 a location too windy, a long winter, and a too 

 free use of the extractor. We got, however, 

 that year, 4000 lbs. extracted. We had, in the 

 fall of 1880, all told, 220 colonies, but all were 

 extracted too closely; and, having had a hard 

 winter, we were obliged to feed heavily in the 

 spring of 1881. We saved only 7.5 colonies, and 

 increased to 1.57 in the fall. We extracted 2000 

 lbs., but were careful to leave the bees enough 

 to winter on. By this time we had learned 

 that it did not pay to extract too closely. About 

 this time we began to get our bees Into chaff- 

 lined hives, and we packed all the bees with 

 chaff cushions and straw to the best of our 

 knowledge, all out of doors. 



In March, 1882, the weather was open, and up 

 to that time bees had wintered well. My rec- 

 ord does not say how many colonies we had 

 that spring; but we took 13,fX)0 lbs. of extracted 

 honey, and went into winter quarters with 295 

 colonies. 



In the winter of 1882-'83 we lost very few; but 

 they deserted badly in the spring. We got into 

 working order with 211 colonies. That was a 

 rainy spring. White clover was a big crop. We 

 commenced to extract June 26. Basswood be- 

 gan to blossom July 1, and was done the 23d. It 

 rained so much during the basswood flow that 

 all the bees got from it was a winter supply. 

 The amount of surplus was 22,059 lbs. I have 

 no record of the number of colonies in the fall. 



In 1884-'85 the number of colonies was 291; 

 fall count, 455; extracted honey, 31,283 lbs.; 

 comb honey, 206 lbs. This season was followed 

 by a long and cold winter, during which there 

 were 40 days of zero and below. It was first 

 below zero Nov. 24; 12 below the 25th. The 

 coldest day was Jan. 22, which was 34 below. 

 January was a very cold month— 15 days below 

 zero. Bees had their last fly Nov. 15. Feb. 3, 

 the temperature at noon was 40. Bees came 

 out some, and many fell on the snow. We got 

 through the winter and spring of 1885 with 321 

 colonies out of 516 — good, bad, and poor. Sur- 

 plus extracted was 30,079 lbs. 



The winter of lS86-'7 was a pretty cold one — 

 much snow, followed by rainy spring and mud- 

 dy roads. We sold one apiary of 50 colonies, 

 shipping them to Broadhead. Wis. From these 

 .50 colonies was taken 10,000 lbs. of honey that 

 summer. We started in the spring with 395 

 colonies; increased to 507 in the fall, and ex- 

 tracted ourselves 42,489 lbs. After the honey 

 season we had dry weather, which killed out 

 the white clover except in low ground, and but 

 little left there. In the fall of 1886 we had .507 

 colonies, of which we lost 97 as follows: 



Total - - - 507; " 410; 97 



We had, therefore, 410 colonies to commence 

 the spring of 1887. 



From the above report it will be noticed that 

 there was a great difference in the winter loss. 

 This was caused by extracting too much from 

 the Adkins, Watters, and South yards. Those 

 three yards were extracted the fourth time. No 

 other yard was extracted more than three 

 times. There was taken from the Adkins yard, 

 June 26, 1464 lbs.; South yard, June 25, 1368 

 lbs. ; Watters yard, June 24, 1829 lbs.— making a 

 total of 4661 lbs. It is plain that we lost the 

 bees by extracting too late, as it was just at the 

 close of the basswood season. But after all 

 that, 4661 lbs of honey was worth, at 6 cts. per 

 lb., .S279.66. How much more would the bees 

 have been worth ? We got the cash for the 

 honey, and had 410 colonies of bees left, and the 

 seasons have been very poor since, so I think we 

 are just as well off. But it was bad manage- 

 ment that caused so great a winter loss. Bees, 

 to winter well, must have plenty of good feed. 



Owing to the dry weather in the latter part 

 of 1886 we got only 5000 lbs. of honey from our 

 410 colonies, spring count. We went into win- 

 ter In good shape. 



In the spring of 1888 we had 431 colonies. It 

 was wet; but owing to the dry weather the pre- 

 vious year, we got only 11,()29 lbs. of extracted, 

 195 comb, and increased to 588 colonies. 



In the spring of 1889 we had 531 colonies, and 

 secured 26,070 lbs. of extractea honey. This 

 was a dry summer, and there was no white clo- 

 ver for the next year. 



In the spring of 1S90 we had 649 colonies. The 

 winter was mild, and bees wintered well. It 

 was warm in March and April, and cold and dry 

 in May. The last of May and first part of June 

 was wet and cold. White clover was scarce. 

 June was a wet month, and no clover honey, 

 and very little from basswood. We extracted, 

 however, 3125 lbs. Of colonies, fall count, we 

 had 661. 



March, 1891, was a cold month, with a foot of 



