1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



r41 



Bees are gathering: honey at a jrood rate now 

 from buckwheat, which is very i)leiitil'iil here. 



W. H. StKI'HKNS. 



Stephens Mills, N. Y., Aug-. 15, 1W7. 



I thouM'ht our season for honey was about over a 

 week ago, but it has broken out afresli. 

 Heatrice, Neb., Sept. 0, 1887. .). K. Cr.\ig. 



1 have taken 300 pounds of comb honey from 5 

 colonies of bees, increased to 13, and sold 2. How is 

 that for an A IJ C? Joseph B. Clark. 



Cornwall Landing, N. Y.. Aug. 4, 1887. 



We have had four years' scarcity of honey, but 

 thi(< .\('ar is some better than the three years before 

 this. W. D. Thakp. 



Willjiuiisburgh, N. C. 



don't know of any one around here who did. I 

 know of a dozen or more swarms of bees starving 

 for m.v neighbors. F. V. HiSH. 



Hcnton, Ills., Sept. 19, 1887. 



Fiieud II., it is pretty hard to answer in 

 regard to the safety of lioney-dew for win- 

 ter stores. A j^ood many reports are to the 

 effect that it is sale for winter, while a good 

 many other rei)()i ts would seem to indicate 

 it unsafe. We shall have to bear in mind, 

 however, that, while the former is positive, 

 the latter is very uncertain, for it is ex- 

 tremely ditlicnlt to tell what killed tlie bees 

 and what did not kill them. If honey-dew 

 is comparatively clear, tastes well, and is 

 nicely sealed over. I think I would risk it. 



SOMETHING Tt) BE THANKFUL FOR. 



Although the honey season has been almost a 

 complete failure in this section, my bees have in- 

 creased from 23 colonies, spring count, to 36 colo- 

 nics, and have made me almost an average of 25 

 lbs. of comb honey to the colony, spring count, 

 which makes mo feel as though I can truly say that 

 1 have something to be thankful for, and feel as 

 though I can be modeled to fit the business, and 

 make it a successful occupation. T. T. (iortiD. 



Corunna, Mich. 



INCREASE A SUCCESS, BUT HONEY A FAILtJRE. 



My experience this summer has been a perfect 

 success in the accumulation of bees, but the honey 

 crop was a failure. I went into the winter with 60 

 swarms in chaff hives. I lost 2 and sold 24, leaving 

 36 to commence the season. M.v first swarm came 

 out June 3d, and 1 now have 88, besides losing a 

 good many. For one week I could not control 

 them. They had a mania for leaving. My experi- 

 ence was like M. E. Kimsey's, as stated in July 15th 

 No. The bees would leave the hive, after staying 

 three or four days, with considerable comb but no 

 brood. What surplus honey I have had was from ] 

 early young swarms. J. Delamater. 



Brooklyn, Mich. 



IU7CKWHEAT HONEV AND HONEY-DEW MIXED, FOR 

 BEE-FEED. 



The bees are booming here just now, and have 

 been for some time, on honey-dew and buckwheat. 

 I sowed about three acres of buckwheat the 15th of 

 August, and it is in full blast now. If the frost 

 stays off long enough it will make a crop of seed. I 

 have a small patch that I sowed early that is well 

 filled. I bought five swarms of bees the first of 

 August at 35 cents a swarm. They were about to 

 starve, i»nd the man said he wasn't able to buy 

 sugar to feed them. I fed them a few weeks and 

 then they had lots of brood started, and are boom- 

 ing now. Do you think the bees wilt winter on the 

 honey-dew they are gathering? It looks clear, like 

 the buckwheat honey. May be they are mixing it. 

 The honey-dew is only on the hickory -trees, for I 

 can not find any on any other kind of tree. The 

 drought has been severe here this season, and Is 

 not over yet, as far as water in the wells is concern- 

 ed. The creeks and small streams are all dried up. 

 Some have to haul water. I wish that man with so 

 much "energy" could have been here this season to 

 raise us some honey to eat with our buckwheat 

 cakes this winter. We shall have to buy sorghum 

 for a spread. I didn't get any honey this year, and 



]^EP0^Tg DigC0ai^^6iN(i. 



AN OFF YEAR, BUT HONEY UP TO 20 (^ENTS. 



fS* HIS has been an off year in nearly eveiy thing 

 §)'' here. There has been no honey since white 

 > clover, and but little then. There is no fruit. 

 Corn is hardly half a crop. There has been 

 no rain for two months. The grass is all 

 dried and burned up, and stock are suffering from 

 lack of water. Comb honey is worth 20 cents at re- 

 tail here, and none to be had at that. My bees have 

 been in a starving condition since the last of white 

 clover, and they would have starved had I not fetl 

 them. I commenced in the spring of 1S86 with one 

 weak colony of black bees in a box hive. I bought 

 a select tested (jueen of you, and divided, making- 

 two, which 1 wintered successfully. From these 

 two hives, spring count, I now have ten fair colo- 

 nies, all in L. hises, with Italian queens, but it took 

 work to do it. I am very anxious to winter all suc- 

 cessfully. <). T. Hansfori.. 

 Mt. Clare, W. Va., Sept. 12, 1887. 



This has been the worst year 1 ever saw. W. T. 

 Zink, of Junction City, Mo., was here a few days 

 ago, and told me he had good strong colonies thai 

 had not a pound of honey in their bi-ood-chamber, 

 and would get no surplus at all. S. S. La w i no. 



Henderson, Mo. ^____ 



DISCOITRAOING FOR TEXAS. 



Vou may put me in Reports Discouraging, foi- 

 my hopes are not (juite blasted, except lor this 

 year. I had 44 hives, spring count. 1 bought 25 

 empty double hives for the season, which cost me 

 $1.42 at home. I lost 6 colonies, and fed *8.00 worth 

 of sugar. About a third of my bees have no stores 

 on hand. I have not taken a bit of honey this 

 year. In some neighborhoods, bees have done tol- 

 erably well. The people will almost starve here, as 

 there has been nothing raised to live on, on ac- 

 count of drought, which still prevails. I can onl.v 

 I say, "God's will be done." I am trying to trust 

 i him for all, doing what my hands find to do. The 

 I two smokers came to Stringer and Koundtree. 

 The.v still stick to the pledge. May God bless you 

 and the Home of the Honey-Bees, and its inmates. 



J. H. MORKOW. 



Dripping Springs, Hays Co., Texas. 



NOT ONE DROP OF HONEY. 



j My bees have not furnished me one drop of honey 

 ; this year; and the prospect now is that I shall have 

 1 to feed all through the coming winter. I suppose I 



