174 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 12, 



BEE-SUPPLIES! 



Address, 



We have the best equipped facto- 

 ry in the West. Capacity, one car- 

 load a day; and carry the largest 

 stocli and greatest variety of ever- 

 ything needed in the apiarv. assur- 

 ing BEST goods at LOWEST 

 prices, and prompt shipment. 



Illustrated Catalog. 80 pages, Free 



E. KRETCHMER, RED OAK, IOWA. 



duces some of the finest honey in the vForld : 

 and it has for several years been shipped 

 by the carload from regions where alfalfa 

 Is largely grown." 



From the above one would suppose that | 

 alfalfa may be grown anywhere with the 

 same results. Ten years ago I invested in 

 alfalfa seed, and up to the present time I 

 have never seen a bee upon it. This coin- 

 cides with several prominent bee-keepers 

 at the recent Illinois State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention. I am of the opinion that there 

 is a large belt of territory on the North 

 American continent where alfalfa is grown, 

 and it is of no use whatever as a honey- 

 producing plant. For the benefit of bee- 

 keepers it would be well to have its limits 

 defined, so that those wishing to try it may 

 not waste tbeir money upon it and meet 

 with disappointment. 



I hope this may open the way to a 

 friendly discussion on this subject for the 

 benefit of bee-keepers. 



Toronto, Ont. John McAkthur. 



Report for 1895— An Old Elm. 



I commenced the spring of 1895 with 1.5 

 colonies, having no loss in wintering. They 

 did quite well the first part of the season, 

 especially on raspberry. White and Alsike 

 clover furnished a moderate amount, but 

 did not last long; after those we usually 

 have more or less basswood, but it was less 

 last year— none to speak of, with scarcely 

 anything from fall flowers. They showed 

 little propensity for swarming, but in- 

 creased slightly by dividing, but united in 

 September to the original number. My 

 yield, per colony, was 40 pounds of comb 

 honey and 10 pounds of extracted. I fed 

 mostly sugar syrup to winter. Altogether 

 it was a rather poor season. 



About the large honey yields, I will say 

 that the most I ever knew of being taken 

 from one colony, spring count, was 172 

 pounds; the parent colony was allowed to 

 swarm once, and the new swarm furnished 

 the 100 pounds. That was nearly 20 years 

 ago. and before I had any bees. I think it 

 could hardly be done around here now. 

 The most I ever got from one colony was 

 72 pounds of comb honey and 20 pounds of 

 extracted. The colony did not swarm, or 

 seem inclined to. 



I have just finished cutting up an elm 

 tree, which I think is perhaps the oldest 

 tree in this portion of the country. If the 

 rings or circles around the heart are reli- 

 able indications of the age— and they un- 

 doubtedly are— it was 350 years old, and 

 must have been quite a tree when the Pil- 

 grims landed. There were the remains of 

 two different swarms of bees in the tree, 

 but for some reason they failed to survive 

 long. It was an enormous tree, measuring 

 41 inches in diameter inside of the bark, at 

 a height of 7i.,' feet from the ground, and 

 made, when worked into cord-wood, 3Ji 

 cords. It was nearly sound, the circles in 

 some places indicating very hard seasons. 

 Frank Champeon. 



Exeter, Maine, Jan. 24. 



A Report— Kobbing— Frosted Plums. 



I began the season of 1895 with 13 colo- 

 nies, having been reduced from 58 to 13 by 



the previous dry year, and the past was not 

 a real good honey season, but pretty good, 

 at least towards the close. My bees aver- 

 aged about 77 pounds per colony, and a 

 good quality of honey. About 300 of this 

 was from basswood, but it is not so good as 

 clover honey. 



I am trying to learn something every 

 year, and when able to be out I try to gain 

 some practical information every day. One 

 new feature that I have tried and succeeded 

 in, is to have two laying queens in one col- 

 ony at the close of the season. I put away 

 three colonies with two queens in each, so 

 as to have queens to supply any deficiency 

 that may occur in that line in the spring. 

 Should none occur, I have a good laying 

 queen to sell to some of my less fortunate 

 neighbors. 



I also learned how to prevent robbing, 

 and it may be a very old method for ought 

 I know among the fraternity. Neverthe- 

 less, I will give it: After having opened a 

 hive, I found the robbers entering both at 

 the top and bottom. I took the paint brush 

 and painted all around the top where they 

 crawled in under the lid, then took a bunch 

 of grass and laid it in front, and made it 

 thoroughly wet, so that all bees crawling 

 through became quite wet. This put a stop 

 to the robbing, instanter. 



Last spring my 20 plum trees set very 

 full of fruit, and I intended to .spray the 

 trees the day following, but that night it 

 was very cold, and when 1 got up in the 

 morning I found the plums all frozen hard. 

 I had heard mother tell about putting cold 

 water on garden plants to draw the frost 

 out, so I took the spray pump, and water 

 from the well, and sprayed the trees until 

 the water dropped from the leaves. After 

 having done tliis, I went to the house feel- 

 ing very blue, for I had great hope for my 

 plums, as this was the first crop that I bad 

 on these trees. I awaited results, but ex- 

 pected when the sun came up to find all my 

 plums on the ground, as others had done, 

 but to my surprise and delight they were 

 all right, and the trees were full of as nice 

 fruit as I ever saw, while my neighbor near 

 by had none. Whether the water did it or 

 not, I don't know. O. P. Miller. 



Glendon, Iowa. 



Not a Failure Last Year. 



Through the Bee Journal I learn of the 

 success or failure of bee-keepers from 

 nearly all parts of North America, except 

 northwestern Minnesota. There are a num- 

 ber (mostly farmers) that keep bees in this 

 section of the State, and some of them take 

 the Bee Journal— and they all ought to 

 take it — but as I see no communication 

 from any one in this part of the State, I 

 will give a brief account of my own and 

 my neighbors' success. (We had no use for 

 the word "failure" last season — if there 

 was failure it was the fault of the man, not 

 of the season.) 



Last spring I had 4 colonies, and one died 

 after I removed them from the cellar to the 

 summer stands, leaving me 3 good colonies. 

 I had 6 swarms issue ; one absconded one 

 day during my absence, and I united 2 

 small swarms ; this gave me 7 colonies to 

 put into the cellar last fall. Bees were not 

 put into winter quarters until the last of 



November here ; I put mine into the cellar 

 Dec. 3, and they had a flight only a few 

 days before. I took 150 pounds of honey 

 in one-pound sections, or 50 pounds to the 

 colony, spring count.. I find a ready sale 

 for all the honey I have to spare, at 17 cents 

 per pound. 



My family can all handle bees without 

 gloves or veil, except one daughter, who 

 can't go within sight of bees without get- 

 ting stung. I was obliged to be absent a 

 few days during the swarming season, and 

 I told this daughter to watch the bees, and 

 call her brother if any swarms issued. She 

 wanted to know if I would give her a 

 swarm if she would hive them. Certainly, 

 I would. Well, the day I left home a 

 swarm came out, and she hived them, and 

 they not only filled the brood-chamber, but 

 stored 28 pounds of surplus honey in one- 

 pound sections. My daughter has married 

 since then, and of course she will take the 

 Bee Journal. 



Some of the bee keepers here have taken 

 from 75 pounds to 85 pounds of surplus 

 honey per colony last season. Taking some 

 of the correspondents of the Bee Journal as 

 authority, there are no apiarists here — they 

 are only bee-keepers. I do not know of any 

 one that keeps more than 8 «»• 10 colonies 

 of bees. They are kept mostly by farmers, 

 not for profit, but for the honey for family 

 use. S. B. Smith. 



Keeville, Minn. 

 ■^^^ ^ ^»^^^«^«»*^*^*^***^*^>^ 



Honey & Beeswax Market Quotations. 



CHICAGO, III., Feb. 28.— White clover and 

 basswood comb is sought after In preference 

 to any other, and commands a better price 

 and now sells at 15c. for clover and 13@14c. 

 tor basswood. Other white comb honey sells 

 atll@12c.; dark, 8@0c, amber, OQlOcand 

 very slow of sale. Extracted is unusually 

 dull, with large amounts on sale. White clo- 

 ver and linden, 6@Tc. ; dark and amber grades, 

 4S4@5c. 



Beeswax. 28@30c. R. A. B. & Co. 



PHILADELPHIA. Pa., Mar. 6.— Honey has 

 been SPlllng freely, there being considerable 

 call lor comb honey, and the war in Cuba has 

 made extracted honey sell to the baking trade 

 who previously used Cuba honey. We quote: 

 Fancy comb. 15c. ; fair to good, 11®13.; fair, 

 9c. Extracted, 4 H@5^4c.; pure white clover, 

 10c. Beeswax, 30c. W. A. S. 



NEW YORK. N. T., Feb. 24.— Market quiet. 

 White comb in fair demand at ll@14c. Very 

 little demand tor buckwheat comb at 8(gl9c 

 Extracted selling fairly well, priuclpally Cal- 

 ifornia, at 5i-4@59.iC , and some buckwheat 

 moving at 4@4V4c,; Southern, 500550, per 

 gallon; white clover and basswood, 5!4@6c. 



Beeswax unchanged. H. B. & S. 



CINCINNATI. O., Mar. 7.— Demand is fair 

 for choice comb honey, at i2@14c. In a job- 

 bing way. Extracted Is slow at 4@7e. 



Beeswax is in good demand at 25@30c. tor 

 good to choice yellow. C. F. M.&S. 



KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb, 19.— The demand 

 for comb and extracted is fair. We quote: 

 No. 1 white, l-lbs.. 13@14c.; No. 2. ll@12c.; 

 No. 1 amber, 10@llc.; No. 2. 8@10c. Ex- 

 tracted, white. 5'/j@6^o.; amber, 5@5i4c. 



Beeswax, 20@25c. C. C. C. & Co. 



List of Honey and Beeswax Dealers. 



Most of whom Quote in this Journal. 



Chicago. Ilia. 



a. A. BURNETT & Co.. 163 South Water Street. 

 New Vork, N. Y. 



HiiiDBETH Bros. & Segelken. 



120 & 122 West Broadway. 

 CHA8. Israel & Bros., 486 Canal St. 



Kansas City. Mo. 



O. G. CLEMOM8 & Co.. 423 Walnut St. 

 Bnttalo, N. V. 



BATTERSON & Co., 167 & 169 SCOtt St. 



Hamilton, Ills. 



CHA8. Dadant & Son. 



Ptalladelpbla, Pa. 



Wm. a. Selser. 10 Vine St. 



Cincinnati, Oblo. 



C, F. MuTH & son, cor. Freeman & Central ava. 



