476 



Tmm MMERICMIf BE® JQUMIfSI*. 



natured, and though hundreds of peo- 

 ple had gathered around, notwith- 

 standing the angry remonstrances of 

 the hack-driver. No one, I believe, was 

 stung, neither were the horses. The 

 driver, having procured a sugar-keg, 

 succeeded in housing the swarm with- 

 out accident, which he deposited inside 

 of his vehicle, and, mounting his box, 

 drove off with his novel fare, that 

 doubtless will not forget to richly pa}' 

 the bill for transportation when their 

 coupons mature in the fall. 



An Iinineii§e Honey.Flow — H. 



S. Hackman, Peru, Ills., ou July 16, 

 1889, says : 



There are now but a small number 

 of colonies of bees in this locality, but 

 the honey-flow is immense at present. 

 Bees have swarmed a good deal, ex- 

 cept mine (for a lack of honey-flow at 

 a certain time after fruit^blossom) 

 have failed to swarm, and are now 

 strong and doins well. 



Honey in California. — P. W. 



McFatridge, Ontario, Calif., ou July 

 8, 1889, writes : 



It seems that there will be a short 

 honey crop here this yeai". One of my 

 neighbors, three miles away, got 100,- 

 000 pounds of extracted honey last 

 year, which he sold at 6 to GJ cents 

 per pound at wholesale ; $6,000 is not 

 so bad from 600 colonies. I have 10 

 colonies, and expect to increase them 

 to 10 more before next spring. I think 

 that my bees brought in honej' and 

 pollen every day last winter. We do 

 not have to fuss with bee-cellars and 

 chafl' hives here. The cheapest kind 

 of hives with a board on top, with a 

 stone on to keep it from being blown 

 oft', is all that our bees ask of us. The 

 honey product of this county, last year, 

 "was 435 tons. How is that for 07ie 

 county ? 



Bec-Kceping in Florida.— W. 



S. Hart, Hawk's Park, Fla., on July 

 12, 1889, writes : 



In January and February the season 

 promised well, and the bees gathered 

 some hone}', but brood-rearing was 

 behind the a\erage year. In March 

 our usual drouth came, and stopped 

 the preparations for swarming, so that 

 very little increase by swarming was 

 made, and as the hives were full of 

 brood — 13 and l-t Langstroth frames 

 of it in several of my hives — the}' used 

 up honey very rapidly, and soon re- 

 quired feeding. I gave my 96 colonies 

 about 2J barrels of honey, saved over 

 for that purpose, which carried them 

 through. In May they began to gather 



from saw-palmetto, and other sources, 

 and on June 14 I began extracting, 

 and took about seven barrels. They 

 filled the hives about half full again, 

 and then the flow checked up, and has 

 been very light ever since. The black 

 mangrove is now opening, and al- 

 though it is very late for it, we still 

 hope for a fair crop from it, as it 

 promises a very full bloom. The bees 

 generally are hardly in as good condi- 

 tion to work upon it as usual — in fact I 

 know of no one within ten miles of 

 here who has taken any honey thus 

 far, besides myself. 



■ ■ ^m • . • 



Briglil Pro8pect§. — John Kralil, 

 St. Joseph, Mo., on July 10, 1889, says: 



My 50 colonies of bees are doing 

 finely, and the prospect is bright for 

 sometime to come, as we had a good 

 rain last night, which will put new 

 vigor into white clover and other 

 flowers. 



Less tliaii Half a Crop — B. H. 



Standish, Evansville, 'Wis., July 16, 

 1889, says : 



The white honey harvest is practi- 

 cally closed here. We had a full 

 bloom, but of short duration, and 

 little honey. Comparing it with 1886, 

 I find tiiat then I extracted eight times, 

 and this year but three times. 

 The comb honey product doubtless 

 will not compare as favorably. So it 

 is safe to say that we have less than 

 three-eighths of a full crop. I have 

 kept bees for ten years, and now have 

 300 colonies. 



'IViiite Clover — Little Honey. 



— J. C. Zimmermann, Wabash, Ind., 

 on July 16, 1889, says : 



Bees wintered well here, but cool 

 weather in fruit-bloom kept them from 

 gathering mncli stores ; quite a drouth 

 followed, and after that we had a very 

 wet and cold spell, so that quite a 

 number of colonies had to be fed — in 

 fact some bee-keepers (?) left some to 

 starve at that time. But since about 

 June 12, it has been tolerably fair 

 weather for the bees. There is more 

 white clover here than I ever saw be- 

 fore, but for as much white clover as 

 there is, I never saw the bees work on 

 it less than they do this season. They 

 seem to work on the linden more than 

 on anything else. There were several 

 days of rain again, so that bees couUl 

 not get out at all. The plentiful rain 

 keeps up the white clover right along ; 

 if it only would yield a little more 

 honey. The honey crop will not be 

 what was anticipated in the spring. I 

 do not think that it will be over h.alf a 

 I crop, from present indications. 



Swarms Prevented. — L. Way- 

 man, Chanute, Kans., on July 15, 1889, 

 writes : 



I extracted 68 pounds the day after 

 receiving a honey-extractor. My bees 

 ai'e doing well. I started in the spring 

 with 23 colonies, in difi'erent kinds of 

 hives, in all kinds of shapes ; I trans- 

 ferred them into hives that are large, 

 the brood-frames being 13x14 inches, 

 with a super above. It holds nine 

 brood-frames IJ inches thick. The 

 super holds 42 one-pound sections, 

 4J^x4J. The result is that I have not 

 had a swarm this season. I think that 

 bees will not swarm so much in these 

 hives. 



Extraordinary Honey-lfear. — 



S. H. Burgess, Chesser, Ala., on July 

 15, 1889, writes : 



We have had an extraordinary year 

 for honey. Bees have gathered large 

 quantities of nectar, and increased 

 wonderfully ; the honey is of extra 

 quality. The movable-frame hive has 

 moved forward beyond expectation, 

 and the old-fogies declare it an im- 

 provement worthy of great honor. 

 Honey "slinging" is now the talk. 



The Season in Ohio. — L. G. 



Reed, Kent, O., on July 12, 1889, says: 



What is the matter with Ohio ? lu 

 looking over the difi'erent reports I 

 observe that there is a dearth of re- 

 ports from this great State. I put 45 

 colonies into winter quarters, and lost 

 one from starvation, and 5 from 'oeing 

 queeuless, which left me 39 colonies ; 

 15 of those were only strong enough 

 to cover from 2 to 6 frames. They 

 built up rapidly during the latter part 

 of April and the forepart of May, but 

 dwindled heavily during the last two 

 weeks of IMay and the first week in 

 June, on account of cold, rainy 

 weather ; but since that time they have 

 built up rapidly, and many of them 

 have cast swarms, but they have not 

 stored honey in the surplus cases any- 

 thing like what they ought to have 

 done, considering the amount of bloom. 

 What the season will develop yet, is 

 among the uncertainties, and will be 

 reported later on. I like the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal above all bee-litera- 

 ture, and always enjoy solid comfort in 

 reading it. May its editor live long, 

 and be healthy, wealthy and happy. 



Money in Potatoes, by Mr. Joseph 

 Greiner. Price, 85 cents, postpaid. This 

 is a complete instructor for the practical 

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