1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



493 



work on the fruit, and as there is no 

 hopes of there being any different con- 

 ditions in the years to come, it is a seri- 

 ous question whetheror not we are doin^ 

 right by our frnit-growinft neighbors, in 

 keeping bees that are of no profit what- 

 ever to us, and are a detriment to them. 



Mr. Schartz says, give bees plenty of 

 forage and there won't be any trouble 

 with their puncturing fruit. In that we 

 perfectly agree, but will he tell us how 

 to produce that forage in paying quan- 

 tities on land that is worth $75 per 

 acre ? We have tried buckwheat, and 

 it is only about one year in five that it 

 produces any honey here. We have 

 basswood, but this year while the bass- 

 wood trees were loaded with bloom our 

 bees worked on the ripe strawberries, 

 there being no honey in the basswood. 

 What is it that we must plant that will 

 produce honey and pay us for our time 

 and labor, and the use of our land ? 



There is not an acre of land within 

 reach of my bees that is not either culti- 

 vated or else pastured. Even our tim- 

 ber lands lack forest conditions. The 

 mulching of leaves that characterizes 

 timber lands in a state of nature have 

 been burned off, and all the brush and 

 underwood cut away, and a coat of blue- 

 grass now occupies the ground. The 

 dairy proved to be more profitable than 

 the apiary, and the milk cow has 

 crowded the honey-bee to the wall, and 

 will eventually crowd it out of existence 

 here. W. S. Fultz. 



Muscatine, Iowa, July 18. 



Not a Very Good Season. 



I am working for comb honey only. 

 We think it a big crop if we get as much 

 as 50 pounds from a colony, but the 

 majority bring only 25 pounds. But in 

 return we get from 15 to IS cents per 

 pound. Home consumption has been 

 about equal with the production. My 

 father has been tending the bees for a 

 number of years, and this year I was 

 going to take charge of them, and just 

 as I was ready to put the first supers on 

 all the strong colonies, the doctor put 

 me to bed, and will likely keep me there 

 for several weeks on account of lung 

 trouble. So father will have to take 

 charge of the bees again. 



We get our honey from wild fruit, 

 such as gooseberries, plums, and others; 

 also a lot of basswood, but there have 

 been several years of drouth, which have 

 brought no honey. Last year was a fair 

 one — we got some 800 pounds. This 

 year will be less, I think. 



L. A. SrvERUD. 



Canton, S. Dak., July 15. 



Hunting Wild Bees in Louisiana. 



I had never hunted bees until last 

 winter and spring. It amuses me to 

 read the trouble people go to to find a 

 bee-tree. Henry Hooks, from Texas 

 (now a resident of New Orleans), and 

 myself found and cut last winter and 

 spring 72 bee-trees. Every colony found 

 was in cypress trees. Two trees had 

 each two colonies. One hollow had the 

 skeletons of- five little squirrels, three 

 hollows had skeletons of old squirrels, 

 and one hollow contained nine duck 

 eggs. In one hollow we found two large 

 king snakes. 



Our 72 trees were cut in 33 different 

 days. The greatest number of trees we 

 cut in any one day was si.x, and six trees 

 was the greatest number I found in any 



The Bee-Keepers' Guide: 



Or Manual of the Apiary, 



By Prof. A. J. Cook. 



This loth and latest edition of Prof. Cook's 

 magniflceut book ol 460 pages, in neat and 

 substantial cloth binding, we propose to give 

 away to our present- subseribera, for the work 

 of getting NEW subscribers for the American 

 BeeJournal. 



A description of the book here is quite un- 

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 out "The Bee-Keei'Eb's Guide." 



Given For 2 iVew Subscriber§. 



The following offer is made to present sub- 

 scribers only, and no premium is also given 

 to the two new subscribers— simply the Bee 

 Journal for one year : 



Send us Two New Subscribers to the Bee 

 Journal (with i'3. 00), and we will mail you a 

 copy of Prof. Cook's book free as a premi- 

 um. Prof. Cook's book alone sent forSl.'^o, 

 or we club it with the Bee Journal for a year 

 —both together for only $1.75. But surely 

 anybody can get only 2 new subscribers to 

 the Bee Journal for a year, and thus get the 

 boob as a premium. Let everybody try for it. 

 Will you have one ? 



GEORGE W. YOBK & CO., 



' CHICAGO, ILLS. 



A Barffain-EARLY QUEENS. 



119 Colonies Italian Bees in Chaff Hives: two 

 acres land: good house; excellent well. 



Early Queens— Tested, $1.00 ; Untested, 

 50c. Sent by return iuail. 



IS. L. 0\RKINGTON, 

 IGAtf PETIUS, Bee Co., TEX. 



Reference- 1st National Bank of Beeville. 

 M'.nlion the American Bee Journal, 



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Mention the Aiiierican Bee JoumaU 23D9t 



HAEDY-&- PROLIFIC 



QUEENS 



^^Gray C'arnlolai.is or Golden Italians 



bred In separate apiaries— One Untested 

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Meiuwu utc yAiiyir-ican Bee Jaunwui, 



10 per ct. Off to Kcdiice Stock 



on all kinds of SXJPPLiIElS, except 



—COMB FOUMDATIOM - 



which will be sold in lots of 10 lbs. or more as 

 follows: Medium, 3.1 cts.; Light. :36 cts. ; Thin 

 Surplus, 40 cts.; E.stra Thin, 45 cts. 

 Queens— Warranted, 50c.: Tested, 75c. 



:Z W. J. mm, Jr., ^'•"'.I'L^f'^''" 



Mention tlie AincHcun Dec Journal. 



Of tills Journal vstEdo 

 ivrlte to any of out 

 advertisers, eltber to 

 ordering, or asking about the Goo&s 

 alTered, will please state tUat they saiV 

 ^be AdTerUseuieul in this paper. 



one day. Mr. Hooks found 13 the same 

 day. 



We estimated the value of the trees 

 cut as follows : Queens saved with bees 

 at 50 cents ; combs transferred, at 10 

 cents ; wax at 26 to 29 cents per pound 

 (the prices we obtained) ; honey at 50 

 cents per gallon. Our best tree figured 

 up .$3.94. Three trees figured nothing, 

 being young swarms that were either 

 lost or united. 



We saved 50 colonies of bees, and 

 transferred in the swamps 261 combs. 

 We made 152 pounds and 6 ounces of 

 beeswax, and took 29 gallons of honey. 

 Everything is valued at .$110.31:. 



These numbers and figures are taken 

 from my record. We cut four more 

 trees on May 11 or 12, which are trans- 

 ferred and still in the swamp. One tree 

 gave us five gallons of honey, eight 

 pounds of wax, and five transferred 

 combs, and must have swarmed since. 

 Mr. Hooks has since cut over a dozen 

 trees with other parties. Of the trees 

 cut, I found 29. H. C. Ahlers. 



Lee, La., July 20. 



Best Season in 30 Years. 



My bees have not done so well in 20 

 years in gathering honey — perhaps the 

 best season so far in many a year. 

 There was an abundant bloom both of 

 white and Alsike clover, and both seemed 

 to secrete honey plentifully. Basswood 

 was abundant in bloom, butdid not yield 

 the honey that it does in some years. 

 My bees commenced to swarm in May ; 

 the like I never had since I have kept 

 bees. One of the swarms that came out 

 in May, I have given them the fourth 

 case of sections to fill, 24 in each case ; 

 they have filled, I think, three of them. 

 Now the bees are busy working on buck- 

 wheat, and soon will be on wild flowers. 

 If they do as well this fall as they did 

 last, in gathering honey, they will bring 

 in and store as much in the month of 

 August and September as they have in 

 June and July, this far; we shall be 

 overstocked with honey. L. Allen. 



Loyal, Wis., July 18. 



mOERS 



Drones Mating with Worker-Bees. 



Do drones mate with worker-bees ? 

 Now some may say, why does that old 

 Missourian ask that question '? or, what 

 does it amount to if they do or do not? 

 I will say that it amounts to a good deal 

 with me, and I do hope that some of our 

 most experienced bee-men will speak up, 

 and then I will tell what I know — not 

 what I think, but what I know, and 

 how I know it. This question is linked 

 in with the question that I have asked 

 before, in regard to the number, or sup- 

 posed number, of eggs that have ever 

 been found in a queen. It seems that 

 this question, too, should find an answer, 

 as thousands of queens have been killed 

 for the purpose of requeening, and it 

 seems to me that some one would have 

 curiosity enough about the matter to 

 dissect a queen, and with a good magni- 

 ying glass, such as bankers use, examine 

 them. It is a very easy matter to count 

 every egg in a laying queen. I have ex- 

 amined live this season. Try it, and 

 you may bo surprised. I was. And you 

 may be when, sometime, through the 

 columns of the Bee Journal you see my 

 discovery on those two questions. 



I have been an invalid for several 

 years, and I spend hours after hours in 



