822 



(iLEAIS'i^GS IN JiEii; (JULTUUK. 



OV. 



l.irtNr. IN HOPES OF BETTER SITCCRSS NEXT 

 SEASON. 



1 commenced the season of 1H87 with II colonies in 

 fair condition in the spring-. The spring- was cold 

 and backward, being rather dry. The drought con- 

 tinued through June, .fuly, and till the middle of 

 August. After the rains commenced in August, 

 the bees began to get some honey; and with smart- 

 weed or blackheart, and other fall Uowers, I think 

 they are in good shajie for winter. I got no sur- 

 plus at all, or not to exceed a pound; but my colo- 

 nies are strong and clean, all in L. hives, !'» story. 

 I pack them in chall' at sides and top, and winter on 

 summer stands. I am an .V B (' scholar, also a 

 reader of Gleanings. You need not put me in Re- 

 ports Discouraging, but as living in hopes of better 

 success ne.vt year. There is little or no honey in 

 this section; and what there is, is retailing at 30 cts. 

 in 1-lb. sections. .1. A. Campbell. 



Delaud, 111., Oct. 17, 1887. 



A KAILUOAK .MAN. .-VND HOW HE .MAKES BEES A 



SUCCESS. 



1 am railroadiug- for the C, M. \ St. P. K. R. Co., 

 who send me from State to State, and my mail fol- 

 lows me from place to place. I have a few coki- 

 nies at Wilton, Wis. My friend, <'harles Todd, looks 

 after them, and I send Gleanings to him. I start- 

 ed in the bee-business last spring, buying- one 

 swarm and two nuclei. We have now i:{ good colo- 

 nies, with stores enough to winter on; but we have 

 only honey enough for family use, as it was a very 

 dry season; but you see the investment was a good 

 one. We are both satisfied; and if a good season 

 follows a poor one, wo shall get good interest on 

 the investment, and well paid for the work. jNIr. 

 Todd says jou are the S(]uarest man he has dealt 

 with yet; and what little dealing I have had with 

 you, 1 am very much pleased with. Oi o thing I am 

 sure of: If all of your advertisers were as square 

 and as honest as you are, your sales would be less, 

 on account of distance o1 i)ui'chasers. 



R. W. St'MMKHVItiLE. 



Merrill, Wis., Sept. ".iK, 1S87. 



l^EP01^Wf5 DlJ5C0ai^7I6IN6. 



ONLY 800 LBS. OF HONEY FKOM .53 COLONIES. 



fHE honey crop was a faihire in this locality. 

 We have 5") colonies of bees, and got 800 lbs. 

 of honey, which was a groat deal better than 

 most of the bees averaged. The honey was 

 only half a crop. Ghack Horton. 



Smithboro. N. V., Oct. 10, 1887. 



HAl.t' THK BEES DEAD FROM STARVATION, AND 

 MOUE TO FOLLOW. 



Bees have starved all this season, and nearly half 

 about me have died, starved out, and flown off, or 

 tieen doubled up to save the combs. I think half of 

 what remain here will die this winter. No one here 

 feeds stock, much less bees. ■\. W. Bkvan. 



San Marcos. Texas, Oct. 5, 188'.. 



IS .\ L.VHGE .\PIAUY DETRIMENTAL TO SMALL API- 

 ARIES IN TnEIR AltlNITV'' 



The season lor bees has been very poor this sum- 

 mer; and the consequence is, a small crop of sur- 

 plus honey. My average crop of surplus comb 



honey is about 15 lbs. per hive. My bees are in 

 good shape for winter. My neig-hbor's bees, close 

 by, had the benefit of the same fields, but did not do 

 so well by far. My nearest neighbor thinks my 

 bees hindered bis smaller apiary from going- after 

 honey. Can this be proved by experience"::' I have 

 never seen this. G. W. 



Marietta, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1887. 



Friend W., it is no doubt true that a small 

 apiary would do much Itetter somewhere 

 else than in tlie immediate neighborhood of 

 ;i large apiary; but tlie difference would be 

 sliglit, unless you have a great many bees — 

 say 100 colonies or more. As you don't tell 

 us how many you keep, we can't give you a 

 very positive answer. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



IIONEY-DEW NOT NECESSARILY FATAL AS A 

 WINTER FOOD ; SWARMING NOT PRE- 

 VENTED A LA FRANCE. 



HAVE noticed there is quite a discussion about 

 honey-dew for wintering. Now, I will give you 

 a little of my experience, and you may have it 

 for what it is worth. In Sept., 1886, one of my 

 neighbors cut two bee-trees and gave me the 

 bees; and as 1 had quite a lot of full combs of hon- 

 ey-dew I gave them that and nothing else. It was 

 in nice new combs. 1 took the same care of each 

 one, and in the spring- one colonj^ was dead, and it 

 was in a //iw.ss, I tell you. The other one came out 

 as nice and clean as a new swarm in June. I could 

 not help noticing how sweejt they smelted. Then 

 another colony had nice white basswood honey all 

 capped over in new comb, and they died with diar- 

 rhea, and were like the first I mentioned. Now. 

 why were they so V I can not think Mr. France 

 would make a success of taking- away the (lueens to 

 prevent swarming, if they did with him as they 

 have with me. AVhen I took the queen away I 

 found that the twelfth day there would another 

 queen hatch, and almost every time they would 

 swarm. Some might say, " Why did you not cutout 

 the queen cells? " Well, I have done that, and then 

 I have had them swarm out till there was not a 

 quart of bees left, and they have acted so persist- 

 ently about it that I thihk they might swarm if 

 they had no queen. There is no complaint here 

 about what to do with the surplus honey this year. 

 I hear there is a man in this county peddling his 

 last-year's honey-dew (extracted) at 13^2 cts. per lb. 

 I have nearly 300ii lbs. from 101 colonies, spring 

 count, all extracted; but a good deal of that was 

 from buckwheat. This is the first year for some 

 time that buckwheat has produced any honey. 

 Bees are in good condition to winter. 



T. 1). Wallar. 

 Port Andrew, Wis., Sept. 38, 1887. 



Friend W., you have given us a valuable 

 fact indeed ; for we now know, at least pret- 

 ty positively, that stores are not the sole 

 cause of diarrhea. If the two colonies have 

 exactly the same kind of food and the same 

 protection, as nearly as we can tell, it is a 

 very hard matter to see why one should 

 winter beautifully, and the other be dis- 

 eased so badlv. i suppose you have exam- 



