March. 1915. 



j^Amcrican Tiae Joornal 



The reverse operation would work better, 

 and more than once I have united weal* 

 colonies early in the season. Please re- 

 member this: A colony of 2o.oo3 bees will 

 accomplish more, either at building up or at 

 storing honey than two colonies of lo.ooo 

 each, even if each of these two colonies has 

 as good a queen as that of the first colony. 

 So far as I can judge I would expect just as 



vigorous bees from a queen laying jdoo eggs 

 a day as from one laying looo. 



At or a little before the time the bees 

 have filled one story with brood in spring it 

 will work well to put a second story under, 

 but they will not work down any more rap- 

 idly into a shallow chamber than into one 

 of full depth. 



is off. We are getting locally for a very fair 

 grade of light amber only 4 to i'A cents 

 when we can find some one willing to buy. 1 

 averaged about 200 pounds per colony, ex- 

 tracted. I hope that conditions will im- 

 prove at least enough to enable me to take 

 all the bee papers that I want 

 Escondido. Calif. Chas. V. Schnack. 



Report from Mr. Doolittle 



We are having lots of snow here and 

 much zero weather, which, together with 

 high winds, has so piled up the snow that 

 our roads are almost impassible; but as the 

 bees are in the cell.'ir they are not harmed. 

 They seem to be wintering well 



Marietta. N. Y.. Feb. 5- 



(j. M. DoOI-lTTLE. 



Queens Already Laying in January in 

 Texas 



This forenoon I examined a yard of 5i col 

 onies. and found quite a few with eggs and 

 sealed brood. Last week I found several 

 colonies with hatching brood in them. The 

 winter has been very mild, and there was a 

 late fall honey flow, and my queens were 

 nearly all reared in the fall. 



Beeville, Tex.. Jan. 20. C. S Engle. 



Summary of the Season in Minnesota 



The spring of i«i4 was cold and rainy ; in 

 fact, during the month of June we had 17 

 days of rain, and on days it did not rain it 

 was so cool and cloudy that bees could 

 work but half the time, consequently when 

 white clover and basswood were at their 

 best, little surplus honey was gathered. 



Then after the rainy season was over, a 

 very dry and hot spell came which again 

 stopped the flow. I started in the spring 

 with 68 colonies, increased to 83. and had I 

 let all my bees swarm. I would have secured 

 but little surplus honey. However, by mak- 

 ing but little increase and attending strictly 

 to everything needed in a well conducted 

 apiary, we managed to secure a surplus of 

 2500 pounds of tine honey. 



We had a nice fall flow from heartsease, 

 goldenrod and other fall flowers, and the 

 bees filled their brood-chambers so that for 

 the first time in years I did not have to feed 

 one pound of syrup. , , , ,, 



We had a most remarkable fall. November 

 2b the bees still gathered pollen from dan- 

 delions, which were very numerous at that 

 time. My 75 colonies went into the cellar 

 Dec. 7. and so far have wintered perfectly. 

 The regular covers were all left off. but a Ji- 

 inch flax fiber cover was put on. The mak 

 ers claim that these flax covers will absorb 

 all moisture inside of the hive, and that no 

 moldy hives will be found in the spring. 



One inspector says that the outlook for a 

 good honey crop is very promising, so we 

 beekeepers are all hopeful, but we should 

 remember the old saying, that " There is 

 still many a slip yet between the cup and 

 the lip." G. A. Barbisch. 



La Crescent. Minn.. Jan. 14 



Sweet Clover in Montana 



The Planthead valley has been considered 

 a very poor honey country, but this season 

 we had about seven acres of sweet clover in 

 bloom; three acres we cut for hay after it 

 was about three weeks in bloom, the bal- 

 ance we let stand for seed and threshed 25 

 bushels of seed. This was the large bien- 

 nial vellow Meldotus offuiiialn. It makes a 

 better hay than does the white variety, and 

 is so much easier cured. It can be cured in 

 the windrow easier than alfalfa. The white 

 variety has to be cured in the swath, then 

 by that time the leaves all dropoff and there 

 is nothing left but a lot of very coarse leaves. 



The yellow makes a better quality of 

 honey, too. Our bees took advantage of the 

 situation and filled their hives with as nice 



a lot of honey as I e\er saw. 



We aimed to seed some 25 acres early this 

 year. The reason we will seed early is that 

 the seed has a very bard shell, and if sown 

 in the spring it sometimes doesn't sprout 

 until the next spring. By sowing it late in 

 the fall, if it is necessary to harrow it in the 

 soring it can be done. That will insure a 

 stand the first year. 



Some think that stock will not eat it; this 

 is a mistake. .\\\ our stock eats it. We 

 have an orphan colt six weeks old that eats 

 it in preference to bright clean oats hay. 

 and if any one wants a permanent pasture 

 let them plant sweet clover. Cattle and 

 horses will eat it down to within two inches 

 of the ground, and right there, next to the 

 ground, it will bloom and form enough seed 

 to reseed itself. 



When this plant is better known, it will 

 take the place of that treacherous plant 

 alfalfa for more than one reason. Firstly, it 

 doesn't bloat cattle nor sheep; secondly, it 

 will grow on wetter and drier soil than will 

 alfalfa, and it contains more protein than 

 alfalfa It is healthier andmore wholesome 

 feed for cattle and horses than alfalfa. 



On sheep and hogs I have never tried it. 

 It is not as palatable to horses and cattle as 

 is alfalfa, when they first have to eat it For 

 bees the two varieties ought to be planted; 

 the yellow will bloom two weeks earlier 

 than the white. By sowing both varieties 

 for bees, they would have pasture all sum- 

 mer. John D. Kaufman. 



Kalispell. Mont.. Nov. 2. loij. 



Exhibits in 'Washington 



Attached are photographs of bees and 

 honey. Number i is a part of my exhibit 

 for this year. I had a corner space 8 feet on 

 the end of the building arid ib feet of side 

 space; the I'l feet is all that shows in the 

 photograph. There is a gauge over the comb 

 honey so it does notshow as wellas it might 

 I had three observation hives; two show on 

 the ends, but you could not tell what they 

 are 



This was considered the best exhibit on 

 the ground. One feature was live bee dem- 

 onstrations by Master Koy Cox. my 3 year 

 old son. who worked without hat or veil of 

 any kind, and with his sleeves rolled to his 

 elbows. Of course, it was necessary for me 

 to stay in the cage with him. 



We had a queen's wing clipping contest 

 and a bee quiz. The quiz was won by a 16- 

 year old boy who scored g8 points. There 

 were 12 entries, and the lowest score was 48. 

 Those contests were all for school pupils, 

 'rhe premiums amounted to $20 



Number 2. is a home-made observation 

 hive; it was mine also. About S»5 in cash 

 premiums were paid last year. I was barred 

 from competing. 



I have 155 colonies. My best yielder this 

 year produced 180 sections. I had 26 colo- 

 nies, spring count, bought 125 this fall, I ex- 

 pect to increase to 175 in the spring. 



Porter. Wash. W. L. Co.\. 



Pollen in February 



Prospects look good to me for the coming 

 season. Last season's crop was an average 

 of 8 pounds of comb honey per colony. Lots 

 of pollen rolling in from maple. I enjoy read- 

 ing articles written by our able beekeeper. 

 Mr. (t C Greiner. which is well worth the 

 price paid for the Bee Journal, to me at 

 least. But I hope he will tell through the 

 Journal about half swarms (page 21). 



Rayville, La. W. R. Cunningham. 



Season Good But Market Off 



The season was fair here as regards the 

 amount of honey produced, but the market 



Flour for Early Pollen Substitute 



When giving flour or meal to bees in early 

 spring as a substitute for pollen, we pack it 

 with the hands into little mounds or lumps, 

 exposed in boxes in some sunny, sheltered 



LARGE OBSERVATION HIVE OF W. L, COX. IX WASHINGTON 



