Iss7 



GLEA^1N(J8 IN |{i<:e cujyrtiiiK. 



()r„'5 



seed ? From what I know of the two plants, 

 T should say it can not. I may. however, be 

 mistaken. The Chapman lioiiey-plant also 

 requires two seasons, while tlax requires 

 only a small part of one season. If its hit- 

 ter quality can compete with (piinine, and 

 answer tlic same ])urpos(', there may be a 

 great opening' in this line ; that is, if qui- 

 nine is to be used to the extent it has been. 

 The yield of honey from our plants is about 

 the same this year as last. The blossoms 

 came fully two weeks earlier ; in fact, it be- 

 gan to blossom before the basswood yield 

 was over. Friend Chapman had a sample 

 of the oil at the Indianapolis Convention, 

 and he has also a home-made machine lor 

 extracting the oil. A small quantity of 

 seed gives a comparatively large quantity of 

 oil. 



REPORT FROM E. PRANCE 



SON. 



EXTKACTINO TOO CLOSELY IN THE FALI-. 



"^ AST j-car we got 4~,0fl0 pounds of honey; this 

 1^ year we got .5000 pounds, with a fail* prospect 

 <l*n' of having to feed it all back, or its equal in 

 ■^" something else, to winter the bees. We will 

 feed sugar if we can not get honey. All we 

 are trying to do now is to keep the bees alive 

 until another year. 



The following is the uumlier of colonies in the fall 

 of 18S6 and spring of 1887: 



Water's yard, fall 



South yard, tall 



Adkinson's yard, fall. 



Cravin's yard, fall 



Burney's yard. fall. . . 

 Home yard , fall 



. 89: .spring of 1887, 68; loss .21 



. 69; ■■ ■' 58; loss 11 



. 94; '■ ■' 45; loss 49 



113; " ■' 104; loss 9 



. 76; " •■ 74; loss 2 



. 66; '• " 61; loss 5 



Total, .507 410 97 



The spring of 1887 opened out well, and we expect- 

 ed to get a good crop of honey. We had every thing 

 ready. We moved bees from the Cravin yard to the 

 south j'ard, and to the Adkinson yard, to nuike 

 them more equal in numbers. We moved the whole 

 of the Burney yard two miles on to Mr. Gunlow's 

 place. 



We had kept bees at Burney's 20 years. Then 

 why did we move them? The timber had been cut 

 away since I first located the yard there, leaving it 

 too windy. But we lost only two out of 76— the best 

 showing of any of the 6 yards. I will tell how that 

 happened, further on. Another reason for moving 

 them was to get more room. We never had over .50 

 colonies, spring count, and at Burney's we wanted 

 room to keep 80. We can carry help to work 80 col- 

 onies in a day, and we want to work all our yards 

 up to that point. By the above report it will be 

 seen there is a big difference in the winter losses, 

 Burney's being the best and Adkinson's the worst. 



I think I know just where the trouble lies. We 

 went over all of our bees last year in just a week; 

 that is, all were extracted every week— just a week 

 from one extracting to the ne.xt— for each yard. 

 We commenced to extract first, from the Waters 

 yard; on the next day from the south yard; on the 

 third day from Adkinson's; on the fourth, from 

 Cravin; then from Burney, and last at home. 



HONEY-UEW A HAD WINTER F(JOD. 



We kept the same rotation through the extracting 

 season. We had here, just at the close of the bass- 

 wood run, a great flow of honey-dew— very dark, 

 thick, stickj- stuff'. Wlien the bees failed to obtain 



any thing from the basswood they commenced on 

 the honey-dew and filled all the empty room they 

 had with that miserable truck. Those that got the 

 most fared the worst. When wo commenced to ex- 

 tract the last time around, we thought the Pass- 

 wood was good for a week yet, during which time 

 the bees could fill their hives. To make sure, we 

 left in each hive two full combs of good basswood 

 honey in the Waters yard, for it is two miles from 

 basswood. They soon left the basswood for honey- 

 dew. By the 29th of January the bees in that yard 

 had a fly, and showed that they had the dysentery 

 badly. But from the fact that their location was in 

 a warm valley (which gave them a chance for a 

 cleansing flight quite often) they would have all 

 died. 



But, to return. The next day we extracted the 

 south yard. We left in about one-fourth of their 

 honey. They were well located in a warm valley, 

 with basswood all around them. But in that place 

 the basswood was earlier, and, as a consequence, 

 ceased yielding nectar early. But the bees which 

 were tilled up with honey-dew had dysentery bad- 

 ly, and ran down to very weak colonies, 11 of them 

 having died. The Adkinson yard was worked in 

 the morning of the same day as the south yard, but 

 we took out about all the honey. The celebration 

 for the ith of July was on the 3d, as the 4th came on 

 Sunday. We were making three days' work in two 

 days, so we traveled to get to the Adkinson yard 

 before daylight in the morning, and could not see 

 how far along the basswood was, and hence we 

 made a mistake. We took out too much of their 

 good honej', and left them to fill up with honey-dew, 

 which they did, and over half of the bees in that 

 yard died in consequence. Kight here we quit ex- 

 tracting, and see the results. Out of the Cravin 

 yard of 113 colonies in the fall, we lost nine, four of 

 them being queenless. Out of the Burnes' yard of 

 7*5 colonies we lost only two, and one of those was 

 queenless. The home yard, Cravin yard, and Bur- 

 ney yard all came through healthy and strong. 

 There was not a single case of dysentery in any of 

 the three yards. They all three had plenty of good 

 hasswood himeyto winter on. The other three yards 

 had but little good honey, and wintered mostly on 

 honey-dew. Some kinds of honey-dew honey may 

 be good for bees to winter on, but I am satisfied 

 that what we hnd here won't do. It was gathered 

 from the oak. Bees wintered about here in cellars 

 were no better off— nearly all died. One man had 

 37, and lost 30. Another had 50 and lost all; still an- 

 other had 30 or 40 in the cellar. He lost all. He 

 was extracting clean a week after we quit. They 

 filled up with honey-dew and died. E. France. 



Platteville, Wis., Aug. 11, 1887. 



Friend F., you give us a very valuable set 

 of facts indeed in regard to this matter of 

 extracting too closely in the fall. With the 

 number of apiaries you have to work, you 

 have an opportunity of getting results that 

 are almost without a possibility of mistake, 

 and correct in the deductions. I do not 

 think, however, it was entirely the fault of 

 the honey-dew. Many years ago we extract- 

 ed very closely, just as you mention, and the 

 bees died badly, although we had no honey- 

 dew at all. The next season we worked 

 for increase entirely, to build up our shat- 

 tered fortunes, or, rather, our dwindled col- 

 onies. Every pound of honey gathered was 



