AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



441 



BP~ Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper wltn business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart withou 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Report for the Season. 



My honey crop this year was 2,800 

 pounds from 43 colonies, spring count. 

 H. E. Ballou. 

 Ellicottville, N. Y., Sept. 20. 



in Good Condition. 



We had a fine prospect for a big fall 

 flow of honey, but it lasted only ten 

 days. My bees are in fine condition for 

 winter. There is a fine prospect for 

 white clover in 1895. Clover is coming 

 up nicely this fall. Some clover is in 

 bloom now. We are having a fine rain 

 this morning. We had good crops of 

 wheat and oats. The corn crop is fair — 

 it will yield from 45 to 50 bushels per 

 acre. Irish potatoes are about half a 

 crop, but sweet potatoes are good. We 

 have about half a crop of apples. The 

 hog crop is rather short, with cholera 

 raging. C. V. Mann. 



Riverton, 111., Sept. 22. 



Splendid. Season for Bees. 



We have had a splendid season for the 

 bees. The horse-mint was better than 

 for years, commencing to bloom about 

 May 1st and lasting till the middle of 

 July, which gave surplus of about 60 

 pounds to the colony. We are having 

 nice rains, which give us a good fall 

 crop. Honey is coming in very fast 

 now, from cotton blossoms. My bees 

 are all blacks but two colonies. I pur- 

 chased three five-banded queens this 

 fall, and lost one in introducing; the 

 other two are doing nicely. The beauti- 

 ful golden bees are making their appear- 

 ance in large numbers. 



Although times are hard, give us the 

 Bee Jouknal, for I could not well do 

 without it. Jas. W. Hodges. 



Rockdale, Tex. Sept. 12. 



Bees Didn't Do Well. 



Bees did not do well this season. 

 They wintered well last winter, and the 

 first of May were very strong, then cold 

 weather set in so they stopped breeding, 

 and on May 25th they had scarcely any 

 brood and were some weaker. It took 

 till June 20th till they got strong again, 

 then dry weather began, and it did not 

 rain any more till Sept. 3rd, when we 

 had enough. My honey crop is small, 

 as I did not get more than 20 pounds 

 per colony. It was basswood honey. 

 No bees did any better in an area of 20 

 miles around, while some have no honey 

 for table use. 



Bees did not swarm much, and those 

 that did swarm are worth but little. Old 

 colonies are in poor condition to winter. 

 I have 112 colonies, and I think I shall 

 unite some this fall, or I will have to 

 feed them, as there is nothing to do now 

 but try to rob each other. 



M. J. KiSTLER. 



Colllngwood, Ind., Sept. 17. 



A Fine Honey Exhibit in Minnesota. 



The Minnesota State Fair closed Sat- 

 urday, Sept. 15th. It was a good one, 

 and one of the finest exhibits (so said 

 one of the Fair Association), was the 

 Minnesota honey exhibit. We have as 

 good honey as any State in the Union, 

 but the fine, large exhibit was largely 

 due to the never tiring work of our 

 worthy Superintendent — Mr. J. P. West. 



H. G. ACKLIN. 



St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 18. 



Queer Way to Get Surplus. 



I have visited a great many bee-keep- 

 ers in this State the past summer. 

 Down in Goodhue county I met a farmer 

 that kept bees. A friend of mine intro- 

 duced me to him as a bee-keeper, and the 

 farmer asked me how much I would 

 charge to look at his bees. I told him I 

 would not charge anything to look them 

 over. The next morning I went there at 

 T o'clock, and looked at his bees. He 

 had about 14 colonies, using mostly the 

 Langstroth hives with those deep, heavy 

 covers. The first hive I came to I took 

 the cover off, and was surprised — it was 

 so heavy. All the bees were in the 

 cover, and none in the brood-chamber, 

 only those that went through, as there 

 was no cloth or board on top of the 

 brood-frames. 



I went to the others, and found all 

 were the same. "My friend," I said, 



