July, 1910. 



American Hee Journal 



Miscellaneous News-Items 



Heartsease at Marengo 



On page 101. C. P. Dadant quotes me 

 as saying that in 1902, for the first time 

 in my observation, heartsease was 

 busily worked on by the bees, and says, 

 "This is certainly not a very good rec- 

 ommendation." A little explanation 

 will show that I meant nothing to the 

 discredit of heartsease as a honey-plant. 

 It was not that heartsease had been 

 plenty for years and had yielded noth- 

 ing, but I think that previously the 

 plant had been so scarce here that it 

 was not worth considering as a honey- 

 plant. I think it is on the increase, 

 and now of considerable importance, 

 especially as I think the honey from it 

 is very light in color. C. C. M. 



A CaU ftoiu Dr. Phillips 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of Api- 

 culture, Bureau of Entmology, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. 

 C, called at the office of the American 

 Bee Journal early last month. He was 

 on a tour in the interest of foul 

 brood. The Government is taking 

 hold of the diseases of bees in a sys- 

 tematic, thorough manner that should 

 yield good results in time. It is a tre- 

 mendous undertaking, to cover the 

 whole of the United States, but when 

 accomplished it should be productive 

 of much good to th& whole bee-keeping 

 industry. 



Dr. Phillips, with his assistants, is 

 doing things for bee-keeping, and if all 

 interested will co-operate, the work 

 being done, and in process, will yield 

 large returns. 



♦ 



Houev Prospects and Bee-Supply 

 Trade 



About the middle of June we sent 

 several questions to some of the lead- 

 ing bee-supply dealers, asking as to the 

 honey prospects for 1910, and also con- 

 cerning the demand for bee-supplies. 

 Some of them did not respond, but the 

 following have been heard from : 



The C. M. Scott Co. 



The bee-business is on the boom. Every- 

 thing goes out at once. Everybody, it seems, 

 has waited until the last minute, and now 

 they can not set the goods fast enough. The 

 prospect for honey has never been better 

 for many a day. There are fields of white 

 clover in bloom that remind one of snow in 

 the summertime, as it is practically white. 

 If the weather continues as nice as it is now. 

 we will certainly have a better honey crop. 

 The C. M. Scott Co. 

 per E. A. Dittrich. 



Indianapolis. Ind.. June 17. 



Dadant & Sons 



Editor American Bee Joirnal— 



Dear Sir:— Ovrins to the cool weather in 

 May and the early part of June, the bee-sup- 

 ply business has been very slow locally. 

 Wholesale dealers and jobbers have been 

 stocking up heavily, owing to the good pros- 

 pect for white clover. 



The crop started here June nth. and since 

 that time bees have been storing honey rap- 

 idly. With enough rain theru should be a 

 good clover crop, and it should run pretty 

 well into July. There is plenty of clover. 

 and it is blooming profusely. 



Truly yours. Dadant & Sons. 



Hamilton. III.. June 17. 



Walter S. Pouder 



Indiana bee-keepers are rejoicing because 

 we are in the midst of one of the best white 

 clover flows that we have ever known. Old 

 and experienced bee-keepers express sur- 

 prise'at the way honey is coming in. Weather 

 conditions seem to be exactly right— very 

 warm— and comb-building seems easy for 

 the bees. The weather in May was not 

 favorable, but bee-keepers have not been 

 discouraged at any time. Many winter losses 

 have been reported, but the owners have 

 profited by their experience in many cases, 

 and are building up again with better mate- 

 rial. We can not tell how long this flow will 

 last, but with favorable weather it should 

 extend into July. Much nectar is going to 

 waste in some localities because there are 

 not enough bees to take care of the bloom. 

 Walter S. Pouder. 



Indianapolis. Ind., June Z3. 



Minnesota Bee-Supply Co. 



Editor American Bee Journal— 



Dear Sir:— Bees in this locality wintered 

 very well, and up to the end of April were in 

 fine condition — better than we have ever 

 known them to be any year before. After 

 that it turned cold for over 6 weeks, which 

 set them back a little, but apparently did 

 not do much harm. White clover came out 

 fine about lu days ago. but as we have not 

 had any rain here for over a month, every- 

 thing is dried up. and the bees are not get- 

 ting any honey at all just now. Basswood is 

 budding out pretty well, and it is possible 

 that we will get a crop of basswood honey. 



The bee-supply business has been very 

 slack all spring, and is now almost at a 

 stand-still. We have a large stock on hand, 

 and are filling orders just as fast as they 

 come in. Yours very truly, 



Minnesota Bee-Supply Co. 

 Minneapolis. Minn.. June 22. 



C. B. Lewis Company 



Editor American Bee Journal— 



Dear 5;>.— Replying to yours of June 13th. 

 referring to the bee-supply business and 

 trade in general, we will say that the Colo- 

 rado trade has been very good, and we un- 

 derstand the prospects for honey are very 

 favorable. 



We are just in receipt of a report from 

 Iowa, from which we quote as follows: 



"The prospects for honey are good. Win- 

 ter loss is the cause of poor trade." 



Another one from Illinois as follows: 

 " Weather has finally turned warm, and bees 

 are beginning to get busy." 



Another one from Michigan, as follows: 

 "We are having bee-weather now; oceans 

 of honey, but very few bees in the hive to 

 gather it. Very few bees in the country are 

 working in the supers when they should be 

 at it full blast. As a result, no swarms, sec- 

 tions are not being filled up, and no demand 

 for goods. This was all caused by the cold 

 and bad weather during April and May. 

 when there were weeks at a time when the 

 bees could not leave the hives. When the 

 honey-flow opened up a few days ago. bees 

 were in a weaker condition, not nearly as 

 strong as they were April ist. During the 

 bad weather the queen quit laying, so they 

 are short of workers now when the harvest 

 is on." Very truly. 



Geo. C. Lewis. 



Watertown. Wis.. June 17. 



A. C Woodman Co. 



Editor American Bee Journal— 



Dear Sir: — In reply to your favor of recent 

 date, relative to the honey crop, I will say 

 that perhaps the following letter, just re- 

 ceived from Mr. S. D. Chapman, of Mance- 

 lona, Mich., one of Michigan's best and most 

 extensive honey-producers, will explain 

 matters best: 



Mr. IV'oodman:—! guess it is time to order 

 a few cans. You may send me 100 cases. 

 This is the most singular season I ever saw. 

 Bees wintered splendidly, and built up very 

 early in the spring. I had more than 50 colo- 

 nies start queen-cells the last of March, but 

 early in April it turned cold, and for about 

 60 days the bees hardly had a flight. Rasp- 

 berry and all the fruit-buds were frozen, no 



pollen came in during all this time; the bees 



rot out of honey, and I let 14 of the best 

 had starve to death. I was right after them 

 all the time. I fed 251:0 pounds. No brood- 

 rearing was going on until June 8th. Now 

 my bees are growing lighter every day. but 

 in a week the first young bees will begin to 

 come on. Ninety-five percent of all the 

 raspberry was frozen; all that escaped has 

 been in bloom two weeks, and all that froze 

 will come on all right; it will be in bloom in 

 S or 6 days. The bees are more than making 

 a living now. Basswood is budding full: 

 willow herb is plentiful, and the prospects 

 are good for honey; but we will have few- 

 bees to gather on raspberry. 



S. D. Chapman. 

 Mancelona, Mich.. June 20. 



Our trade was excellent up to about May 

 20. at which time it dropped off considerably 

 on account of bad weather conditions; but 

 things are now booming again. The above 

 letter explains conditions exactly as they 

 existed over the entire State of Michigan, 

 and undoubtedly other parts of the country. 

 There is now a most excellent honey-flow— 

 oceans of it to be gathered; what few bees 

 were in a condition togather when it opened 

 up are securing a fine harvest. Conditions 

 are now as favorable as they were discour- 

 aging during May. A fair crop is assured, 

 and with rains to prolong the flow, a good 

 crop should yet be secured this season. 

 Yours truly, A. G. Woodman Co. 



P. S.— Michigan is a solid mat of clover. 

 An engineer that runs between Grand Rap- 

 ids and Detroit, says that the air is heavy 

 with clover fragrance at night, and he never 

 before saw so much of it. A. G. W. 



Bees— Farmers' liuUetin No. 397 



This is a new publication issued by 

 the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington, D. C. Its aim is to give 

 briefly the information needed by per- 

 sons engaged in the keeping of bees, 

 and to answer inquiries that are fre- 

 quently received from correspondents 

 of the Department. It discusses the 

 location, equipment, and stocking of 

 the apiary, the habits of bees and their 

 manipulation, the production of honey 

 and wax, wintering, and diseases and 

 injuries. It also gives such general in- 

 formation as how to obtain and intro- 

 duce queens, laws afifecting bee-keep- 

 ing, and journals and books on the 

 subject. This publication can be ob- 

 tained free as long as the supply lasts, 

 by applying to the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C. ; it may also 

 be secured from Senators, Representa- 

 tives, and Delegates in Congress; and 

 the Superintendent of Documents will 

 sell it at 5 cents per copy. 



" Der Bien Und Seine Zucht " 



This is the name of a text-book on 

 bee-culture that has been received at 

 this oflice. It is written by Rev. F. 

 Gerstung, editor of the German bee- 

 paper. Die Deutsche Bienenzucht. The 

 work contains nearly 500 well-printed 

 pages, with 230 illustrations, many of 

 them full-page. A little more than 100 

 of these are representations of apiaries, 

 mostly house-apiaries, or pavilions, as 

 they are called in Germany, for an api- 

 ary with the hives separately placed out 

 in the open is as rare in Germany as a 

 house-apiary in this country. The au- 

 thor says : 



" We are convinced that Americans, also, 

 will introduce our wonderfully beautiful 

 pavilions as soon as they learn their practi- 

 cal advantages over having hives placed 

 singly." 



He perhaps does not know that 

 house-apiaries were more in vogue in 

 this country 40 years ago than at pres- 

 ent. 



