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Vol. XXIV. 



JULY I, 1896. 



No. 13. 



Dandelions have kept right along blooming 

 till the middle of June. Stop before Christmas, 

 I s'pose. 



Sweet clover showed first bloom June 6. 

 Every thing seems in a hurry this year. Lin- 

 den started to bloom June 13. 



Never saw clover bloom more abundant, but 

 up to the middle of June bees need overcoats to 

 work in. Too cool and cloudy. I'm hoping for 

 hot weather. 



I didn't know crimson clover would contin- 

 ue in bloom so long. Some that was sown 

 more than a year ago is not quite out of bloom 

 the middle of June. 



Only 24 colonies out of 140 have started no 

 queen-cells up to the middle of June, with the 

 future to hear from. Of those that started no 

 queen-cells, most were among the weaker; but 

 a few were among the strongest. They had, 

 however, 16 combs each. 



C. Davenport, page 456, challenges any T- 

 super filler in the world— beat him two to one 

 with the section-holder. Now, C. D., please 

 give us something relative, not absolute. Say 

 just how many seconds it takes you to fill 240 

 sections in section-holders ready to put on the 

 hive. 



Sweet-clover honey is very distinct in fla- 

 vor. I've been eating it daily for some time, 

 and can speak with some authority. Some like 

 It, some don't. But I think it improves on ac- 

 quaintance. You can recognize it by the smell. 

 It smells like sweet-clover seed; just a little 

 muddy in appearance. 



Those Dadants are wizards. They give 

 their bees plenty of room, and only three to five 

 colonies out of a hundred swarms. I give my 

 bees more room than the Dadants, and they 

 swarm right along— swarm with 16 frames and 

 some of them empty combs. Is it " locality "? 



[When we give our bees plenty of room it seems 

 to work as the Dadants say. See editorials. — 

 Ed.] 



I'll hold up both hands for any organiza- 

 tion, new or old, that promises benefit to bee- 

 keepers. I'm not set on amalgamation, but I 

 like to see people reasonable; and when they 

 object to a thing I like to see them give their 

 reasons; and the first reasonable reason against 

 amalgamation remains yet to be given. 



Hot water may be an excellent thing to 

 take, but for those unaccustomed to it it's a 

 pretty hard dose. Lately I've been taking off 

 the raw edge with a spoonful of honey. It goes 

 down easier, and I doubt whether the honey 

 does any harm. Honey is a different thing 

 from sugar. [The honey will do no harm in 

 your case; but for some others it would open 

 the gates wide for more honey and more sweet 

 of every kind. — Ed.] 



I've denied being a contractrionist, but I am 

 not sure I can continue the denial. This year 

 my colonies had 16 frames in two stories, and 

 on giving supers I contracted most of them to 8 

 frames. I believe it was a good thing to give 

 them lots of room before harvest. One colony 

 had 14 frames well filled with brood. Whether 

 it is best to come down to 8 frames at harvest I 

 don't know. [I wish you did know, for that is 

 just what I'd like to know.— Ed. J 



The other day I left some old black combs 

 out in the rain. When I shook the water out 

 of them it was almost black as ink. If water 

 dissolves the color out of the combs, why vvom't 

 honey do it in a less degree? I suspect you'll 

 get lighter extracted honey if you keep a set of 

 extracting combs that have never been bred in. 

 [Yes, I believe it is generally understood that 

 old black combs darken the honey somewhat. — 

 Ed.] 



The Coggshall bee-brush is a grand thing 

 for a standby. You can brush the last bee off 

 a comb without injuring a queen-cell if you 

 lightly use the tip of the brush. Of course, you 

 can smash with it any queen-cell if you apply 

 the brush flat against the comb. [You are 



