Dec. 27, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



823 



is added ; of course this brood is drawn from some colony 

 that can spare it. When the hives are tilled with brood, a 

 little warm syrup should be fed every nig'ht. The drone- 

 comb that was placed in the center of the hives will soon be 

 tilled with brood, which should be given to other colonies 

 just before it hatches, and the space tilled with other frames 

 containing- drone-comb. 



By not allowing any drones to hatch in these colonies, 

 we keep up their desire for drones. 



When the brood hatches in the frames tliat were placed 

 in other colonies, they should be returned to the drone-rear- 

 ing colonies, or placed in an upper story over a queen-ex- 

 cluder. If they should remain any length of time after the 

 brood hatcht, we would onl_v be encouraging the bees to 

 rear the very kind of drones that we are trying to suppress. 



Altho this plan maj' seem somewhat fussy, I am confi- 

 dent that the results will pay for the little extra work, espe- 

 cially where one is trying to improve his stock. 



Worcester Co., Mass. 



Report for the Season of 1900 Bee°Fora§e. 



BV WM. STOLLEY. 



THE year of 1899 was (as previously reported) a very poor 

 year for bees in central Nebraska. From September 

 ISth to (October 1st. I had to feed over 1,000 pounds of 

 honey and sugar syrup mixt, to provide ample winter stores 

 for my 30 colonies of bees, in double-walled hives, on the 

 summer stands in my open bee-shed. All wintered well, as 

 usual. 



During the winter of 1899 and 1900, bees flew freely — 

 three days in December, 14 in January, two in Februarj', 

 and 16 in March. Of zero days we had — three in January, 

 six in February, and one in March. The lowest point of 

 temperature reacht was 14 degrees, Fahr., below zero, Janu- 

 ary 30, 1900. I lost three old quefens in wintering, sold one 

 tine colony for $10, and also a few choice ijueens for SI. So 

 each, in earlj' spring ; and by uniting all queenless colonies 

 thus made, with the weaker ones, 1 had 20 colonies left, all 

 very strong, by the middle of June, when sweet clover be- 

 gan to bloom — this season being about two weeks early. 



M.'.rch 11th, soft maple began to bloom, and bees workt 

 on them on and off, up to March 22d. 



Next followed the buffalo-berries, which are, if plen- 

 tiful, a veritable boon to bees in early spring. The buffalo- 

 berry bloom lasts for 10 to 15 days, and is closel}' followed 

 by elm, box-elder, willows, cedar, Cottonwood, and matri- 

 mony-vine, in the order named, when, at the end of June, 

 fruit-bloom follows. By the middle of May raspberries, 

 black walnuts, spider-lilies, black locust, honey-locust and 

 wild grapes are in season, up to about June 1st. 



The month of June, and until sweet clover began 

 blooming, always used to be a time of want for my bees, 

 and they invariably drifted backwards, unless fed promptl)*, 

 until of late years, when I was successful in getting moth- 

 erwort and white clover to grow in such quantities, that 

 this annoying scarcity of bee-forage was bridged over. I 

 now have sufficient motherwort growing in the immediate 

 vicinity of my apiary to employ my bees fully, and thus 

 keep brood-rearing going on without interruption. This 

 plant (motherwort) blooms about four weeks and is, as far 

 as my experience goes, always to be depended upon. Bee- 

 keepers, whose localities, like my own, are not well supplied 

 with bee-forage in the month of June, should not neglect 

 sowing the seed of this valuable honey-yielder, together 

 with catnip, on all vacant and suitable places, in sufficient 

 quantities to meet the requirements. (I have no seed for 

 sale.) They will, if they follow my advice, be well rewarded 

 for so doing. 



Alfalfa would answer the same purpose, and is even 

 better if it were not generally cut down just about the time 

 when it begins to yield nectar. Some 15 years ago I first 

 started an alfalfa-field of about eight acres here, but it took 

 more than 10 years before other farmers in the neighbor- 

 hood followed suit ; but now this section of the country is 

 dotted all over with large tracts sown to alfalfa, of which 

 some fields every year are likely to remain uncut long 

 enough to become of great utility to my bees. 



As soon as sweet clover begins to bloom, my bees are 

 all right all around. I have the satisfaction of reporting 

 that within I'/i miles of my apiary, a young, progressive 

 farmer, who used to be very much opposed to sweet clover, 

 gathered the seed of it along the roadsides, and put ten 

 acres solid into sweet clover, for pasturing his sheep, after 



he learned to appreciate the true value of this plant, by 

 herding his Hock of sheep on the country roads. 



Sweet clover so herded oft' by sheep, throws out numer- 

 ous small branches close to the ground, which are white 

 with bloom late in the season. 



Of course, some of the old fellows whose minds are set 

 in opposition to sweet clover, persist in condemning it. 

 They are the old Israelites, who are destined to die in the 

 wilderness — surrounded, however, by lots of sweet clover, 

 notwithstanding their foolish opposition to it. 



Now, as to the result of this summer's work in my little 

 apiary : I obtained 1123 pounds of the very best of extracted 

 white honey from 20 colonies of bees (spring count); hence, 

 about 56 pounds per colony on an average, besides plenty 

 and to spare for winter-stores, without resorting to feeding 

 for winter. 



This result is quite satisfactory' to me, inasmuch as the 

 season, take it all around, was anything but normal. Ex- 

 cessive drouth in midsummer, together with damaging hail, 

 curtailed my honeycrop greatly. 



Besides my crop of surplus honey, I have increast the 

 number of my colonies from 20 to 30, by the nucleus plan. 

 While I bought five queens, for the purpose of infusing new 

 blood. I have reared 14 choice queens myself from ray very 

 best stock. 



I had but two swarms from the 20 colonies, and they 

 were hived back on the old stands. 



For the last two years I have had no fall honey from 

 wild bloom, owing, I suppose, to the drouth we have had ; 

 while in former years from August ISth to the end of the 

 season I got nothing but dark and rather rank honey, equal 

 in quantity to the crop of white honey obtained in the fore- 

 part of the summer. But this year, clear up to September 

 29th, when I extracted the last, the honey remained the 

 same excellent quality. 



October 12th. all my bees in the open shed were packt 

 for winter. Yesterday (November 19th), we had the first 

 light snow. 



I would like to say something about the introduction of 

 queens, and some other matters pertaining to the successful 

 management and working of bees, but I think that the fore- 

 going is rather too lengthy already, so I suppose I would 

 better stop. Hall Co., Neb. 



[Why not send us several articles on the subjects you 

 mention in your last paragraph, Mr. Stolley ? We are very 

 certain they would be eagerly read, and also prove profit- 

 able.— Editor.] 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 



the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 



Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 



thought by some to be the best bee-song j'et written by Mr. 



Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 



furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 



for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 



sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 



Bee Journal at Sl.OO. ' 



■*-•-*• 



The Chicago Convention Picture is a fine one. It is 

 nearly 8x10 inches in size, mounted on heavy cardboard 

 10x12 inches. It is, we believe, the largest group of bee- 

 keepers ever taken in one picture. It is sent, postpaid, for 

 75 cents ; or we can send the American Bee Journal one 

 year and the picture — both for $1.60. It would be a nice 

 picture to frame. We have not counted them, but think 

 there are nearly 200 bee-keepers shown. 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Upon receipt of $1.00 

 for your Bee Journal subscription a full year m advance, 

 we will mail you a Wood Binder free — if you will mention it. 



Please send us Names of Bee=Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



