June 7, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOUPNAU 



357 



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drizzly, and they become chilled and do not return ; but the 

 worst part of it is, if the drizzling' rain is warm, and then 

 between 2 and 4 p.m. the wind turns to the north or west. 

 At such times I have seen logs, trees, fences, etc., all cov- 

 ered with chilled bees so that the colonies that have but 

 little brood are " g-one up " for the season, while those with 

 lots of hatching brood make prosperous colonies, so we need 

 lots of brood at this time of the year, and must feed early. 

 If the rainy spell doesn't come until late, we are prepared 

 for it, as the bees will be very strong, even to swarming, 

 the last of April and along to May 9. 



When I sold bee-supplies, different ones would come for 

 hives the last week in April, saying that their bees had 

 swarmed. Instead of deserting, as some may say, they 

 were not deserters, but good, big, natural swarms, and 

 would build or draw out worker-comb, sometimes getting 8 

 frames nearly full of comb and brood in a week's time. I 

 have noticed that the comb drawn out at this time of the 

 season seems to be of different color, and of coarser work 

 than that done later in the season, as tho they had workt 

 rotten wood of pine logs in. 



We have read the discussions over pollen-feeding, some 

 using flour, and others something else, while here there are 

 very large logs of pine everywhere lying on the ground, 

 and in spots they are very rotten. The bees go to them 

 sometimes by the hundreds, and kind of dig away until they 

 get quite a load of the fine, rotten pine wood on their feet, 

 and then away they go. Another man and I watcht one 

 place on a log where there were from 400 to 500 bees at work 

 carrj'ing the rotten pollen of the pine log for a week, even 

 after the alder and willows, acres of each of which are quite 

 near, had begun to furnish pollen plentifully. From this it 

 would seem that it would pay all bee-keepers to feed pollen 

 where the bees did not have it natural as here. 



It is almost disgusting to look below where the country 

 is old, tho probably once when it was new large yields of 

 honey were secured from it, while to-day the bee-pasturage 

 has mostly "played out." But no matter how poor it seems, 

 there are a great many that seem to think it good, and 

 ciowd in a lot more bees by the side of other apiaries located 

 there long before. If such wish to keep bees they can do it 

 successfully in just one way, which I will name here. 

 While on some one else's overstockt field, neither of them 

 will make a profit out of bees, but if they will move north 

 with the bees there are miles of good bee-pasture that is 

 not occupied. Clark Count}' is not the only county in which 

 bees will do well. 



It is true that our willow-herb belt is not very wide ; 

 some places it is 18 to 20 miles wide, while in other places it 

 is up to ISO miles in width. But I think the length of it ex- 

 tends from below Split Rock in this State thru to Minne- 

 sota, while the aster belt reaches thru to the Lakes. I be- 

 lieve that 200 miles north of here is the most northern api- 

 ary in the State, consisting of 60 colonies ; one might as 

 well say two apiaries of 30 colonies each, as the man and 

 his wife could not agree, and so divided the colonies — one 

 lives on each side of the road, and each year they both get 

 a large crop of very white honey. I visited their apiaries 

 in 1897, and saw some of their honey, and it looks like the 



very whitest lard when candied, and 

 when in the liquid state it looks clearer 

 than water. 



Now for bee-pasture : All of the 

 200 miles between here and the north- 

 ern part of this State is unoccupied by 

 bees, with the exception of a yard scat- 

 tered here and there every 7.5 or 100 

 miles. lietter honey, better yields, etc., 

 are secured than in almost any other 

 places in the lower States. Asters grow 

 on every hillside, also thousands of 

 other flowers. 



Of course Clark County varies to 

 a certain extent in bee-pasture. About 

 18 to 20 miles south of Greenwood the 

 pasture gets very poor, on account of 

 the large belt of almost worthless 

 sandy land, where willow-herb or the 

 basswood will not thrive. Nothing but 

 blueberries, jackpine, cranberries, etc., 

 thrive on it for miles. 



As to being cold in Clark County, 

 it is not as bad in the winter or in the 

 summer as in lower Wisconsin, North- 

 ern Illinois, and in that vicinit}'. Here 

 in the summer the air is still, while 

 there on the prairie there are steady cool breezes. In the 

 winter here there is not much wind, and the air is drier, 

 while there the snow drifts high, and there is a steady, 

 cold, sharp breeze. 



Our bee-pasture will be getting better as the land is 

 cleared up, as we now have more basswood than the bees 

 can handle while in bloom. Also, as the land is cleared up 

 clovers are sown. In the meadows five years ago there was 

 not the first acre of alsike clover grown. To-day there are 

 acres of alsike sown, and the farmers are encouraging it to 

 be grown for seed, as it fills well here, and they are now 

 talking of getting in a huUer and raising the alsike for its 

 seed. 



Another advantage in Clark County is being in direct 

 line to the large markets for shipping honey. We have the 

 west very handy, also all the north, besides any amount of 

 large consuming towns thru the county. Bee-supply fac- 

 tories are near at hand, lumber is cheap, clover and hay 

 grow two or three tons to the acre, oats and peas 65 to 75 

 bushels to the acre, and oats have in exceptional years 

 grown 100 bushels to the acre. This shows the condition of 

 the soil. 



We put the bees out on the summer stands in this 

 climate about the last of March or the first of April, and 

 put them into winter quarters from the first of November 

 up to the middle of December. 



We can not have failures here if bees are strong, still 

 we can, and have lost lots of nectar by having the bees be- 

 gin breeding as the new nectar came in, and as the honey 

 harvest was past and the bees put in shape by the majority 

 of bee-keepers. 



It is estimated by Ruf us Barman that there are from 300,- 

 000 to 400,000 feet of basswood (three trees to the thousand) 

 within two miles of me. J. C. Miller, a big logger, esti- 

 mates that there are 4,000 trees that are fit for lumber, be- 

 sides the crooked and small ones. After the bees quit work 

 on the maple sap they go to work on the willow and the 

 two kinds of alder, then come the pin-cherry, choke-cherry, 

 etc., besides gooseberries. After these are the wild plum, 

 maple, box-elder, elm, etc.; then the thorn-apple, wild pea, 

 and the dandelion; then come wild myrtle (which lasts 

 three weeks), white clover, raspberry, willow-herb and bass- 

 wood ; next, thorowort, motherwort, wild catnip, wild anise, 

 spike sumac, buckwheat, mints, heartsease, goldenrod, and 

 lastly the asters. Clark Co., Wis. 



Belgian Hare Breeding is the title of a pamphlet just 

 publisht, containing 10 chapters on " Breeding the Belgian 

 Hare." Price, 25 cents, postpaid. It covers the subjects of 

 Breeding, Feeding, Houses and Hutches, Diseases, Methods 

 of Serving for the Table, etc. It is a practical and helpful 

 treatise for the amateur breeder. (See Prof. Cook's article 

 on page 292.) For sale at the office of the American Bee 

 Journal. For $1.10 we will send the Bee Journal for a year 

 and the 32-page pamphlet on " Belgian Hare Breeding." 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



