Oct. 19. 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



733 



i Reports anb 

 I (Experiences 



Poorest Honey Season 



This is the poorest season I have ever 

 known — only one-third of a crop, owing to 

 excessive rains. O. M. Blanton. 



lij Washington Co., Miss., Oct. s. 



Bush Clover 



I send a plant or blossom ami would like to 

 know its name. The bees are working on it. 

 There is only one plant of it here, so I will 

 save some of the seed. A. J. Dibbold. 



La Salle Co., III., Oct. 6. 



[The plant in question is the bush clover, 

 and a very good honey-plant, too. It takes 

 possession of waste-places and scarcely ever 

 becomes obnoxious. So you need not hesitate 

 to let it spread. — C. L. Walton.] 



Blessed with a Good Season 



I see that reports from some places show a 

 poor crop of honey. I have been blessed with 

 as good a season as I ever had, and nothing 

 from basswood. The crop was mostly from 

 blue thistle, and as fine honey as I ever had. 

 I had a hard time to extract it, as I always 

 leave it on the hive until capped unless fall 

 honey begins to come in, and my comb honey 

 ■was the whitest I ever set eyes on. I sold the 

 ■extracted at $5.(0 for a 60-pound can, and can 

 returned, as fast as I could take it off. Comb 

 honey went at 14 cents, and the buyers resold 

 at 20 cents, but that has been my price for 

 years, regardless of crop, and I never have 

 any on hand by Sept. 10. 



It looks strange to me that bee-men have 

 hard work to sell their honey crop. I would 

 like to have what I could dispose of at the 

 above figures. There is hardly a day by Sept. 

 1 but I have to turn down orders. The largest 

 ■crop I ever had was 9800 pounds, about one- 

 half extracted. That year it was all gone by 

 Sept. 3. One buyer in Boston would take all 

 I could produce every season. I let him have 

 only one-half of my crop this year; and last 

 year I could not let him have a pound, as the 

 last two winters I lost most of my bees. I 

 have only 75 colonies now, not all Italians. 

 C. M. Lincoln. 



Bennington Co., Vt., Oct. 9. 



Fine Bee-Lltepature 



1 have gone through the first 5 copies of the 

 American Bee Journal, and must say I like it 

 fine ! Those 5 copies are worth more than the 

 subscription price. Too bad so many " would- 

 be" bee-keepers do not value our bee-litera- 

 ture. J. G. Baumoaebtner. 



Clinton Co., 111., Oct. 12. 



Scarcely an Average Honey Crop 



The honey crop in this locality could 

 scarcely be called an average one, yet it was 

 far better than last year. The weather con- 

 tinued very cool and wet until June, but in 

 spite of unfavorable conditions brood-rearing 

 was kept up remarkably well, which gave 

 plenty of bees to gather from basswood, and 

 basswood never bloomed nicer here than it did 

 this year. The weather was also favorable 

 for the bees during the time it bloomed. As- 

 ters are now beginning to bloom, and always 

 gives a bountiful supply for winter store^. 

 There is no feeding of syrup or other substi- 

 tutes for honey here in the fall, as asters fur- 

 nish all the stores necessary for winter. 



I have 4" colonies of bees at present, all in 

 Langstroth 8-frame hives, and all in fine con- 

 dition for winter. About all colonies have 

 young queens, which, as a rule, insures a popu- 

 lous colony of young bees, which will winter 

 with very little protection from cold. From 



my experience too much importance can not 

 be attached to giving young queens about 

 swarming-time. Queens given then keep up 

 laying until late in the fall, which produces 

 bees of just the right age to live through the 

 winter and rear brood in the spring. 



Golden Italians are superior to any other 

 strain of bees as honey-gatherers, and also for 

 gentleness, in my estimation ; they also winter 

 well. James Wolfe. 



Marshall Co., W. Va., Sept. 20. 



Virgin Queens and Swarming Out 



At last that all-important question (to me, 

 at least) is being discussed, viz : Mating and 

 swarming out of virgin queens. In this 

 locality no worse advice could ever be given, 

 than thatof giving a frame of unsealed brood. 

 The last virgin, when so helped, will bring 

 out a swarm evrry time when there is honey to 

 be found. Exceptions: Very early in the 

 spring, say about March 1, or very late in the 

 fall, say after the middle of October. Queens 

 from these post-constructed cells are every 

 bit as good as any. 



Bees in Florida did not do much the past 

 spring. It was rather cool, rainy and windy. 

 One single rain-storm of 2 hours' duration in 

 May ruined one of Florida's finest honey 

 crops, viz. : honey from tupelo-gum. 



My first surplus I got from corn, or, rather, 

 corn-tassels. Yes, Dr. Miller, here in my 

 location, on sandy, piney woodland, bees 

 work on corn-tassels just as long as there is 

 any (lew on the grass in the uiorumij, and no 

 longer; &feii) bees would hover also over the 

 corn-tassels a very short time before sunset, 

 but on two or three days it showered, the sun 

 coming out now and then boiling hot from be- 

 hind the clouds. Bees worked on these days 

 full time. 



The fall crop — cotton and pea-vine honey — 

 is only one-half of what it was with me last 

 year. 



About 2 years ago Mr. Sheppard, from this 

 State, made a statement in Gleanings that in 

 his location the .A' CI* swarm came out with a 

 virgin queen. At that time it was explained 

 something like this : 1. Probably Mr. S. did 

 not notice the first swarm with the clipped 

 queen. (I, myself, thought so, too.) 2. Prob- 

 ably the weather delayed the issuing of the 

 prime swarm. I also had 2 prime swarms 

 come out this year, each accompanied by a 

 virgin queen. 



In my case it was simply a case of super- 

 sedure. As proof I will say that the bees con- 

 structed just one queen-cell. Further, the 



two old queens (in Sand 10 frame hives) did 

 rather poor duty right on. The weather was 

 ideal for swarming. Well, tlie old queen 

 did not come out, but left this chance 

 for her virgin daughter. 



Now I am of the opinion that the unsealed 

 brood was the reason that the only virgin left 

 the hive; because after the old "mama" 

 died, there being no unsealed brood at the 

 time the young virgin took her flight, she 

 (the virgin) remained. 



Will Mr. Sheppard, if he should see this, 

 please answer through the American Bee 

 Journal how long the old queen lived after he 

 had the experience of a prime swarm with a 

 virgin queen? 



I am a bachelor, and have nobody to watch 

 for swarms, consequently I run a home api- 

 ary like an out-yard. I generally open the 

 brood-chamber every 8th or 9th day, and con- 

 sequently know what I am writing about. 

 D. J. Pawletta. 



Columbia Co., Fla., Oct. 5. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 holds its annual convention at the Revere 

 House, corner of Clark and Michigan streets, 

 in Chicago, during the Fat Stock Show, when 

 exceedingly low rates may be secured on the 

 I railroads. The dates for the meeting are Dec. 

 5, 6 and 7. Rates at the hotel are 75 cents for 

 a room alone, or 50 cents each, where two 

 occupy the same room. Meals are extra, or 

 they may be secured at near-by restaurants. 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Mlnnesota=Wisconsln. — The annual meeting 

 of the Southeastern Minnesota and Western 

 Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' Association will be 

 held at the County CommissiooerB' Rooms in 

 the Court Honse at Winona, Minn., on Oct. 24 

 and 25, 1905, at 10 a.m. of each day. All bee- 

 keepers invited with their wives, and help to 

 make the convention a saccess. 



Joseph M. Reitz, Sec. 



W. K. Bates, Pres. 



Georgia.— The Southern Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will hold a meeting in Atlanta, Ga., 

 during the State Fair, Oct. 20, at 10 a.m., on the 

 Fair Grounds, at ihe apiarian exhibit. All bee- 

 keepers aad those interested are invited to at- 

 tend and take part. Jddson Heard, Sec. 



Please Mention Bee Journal 

 when writing advertisers. 



An Autograph Copy 



Of Dr. Miller's Book, 



J Foriy Years flmono ilie Bees. 



We have some copies of Dr. Miller's book in which he himself has written 

 ou the front blank page — " Cordially Yours, 



C.C.MILLER." 



This book is cloth-bound, 328 pages, and tells Dr. Miller's methods and 

 management. Price, il.OO, postpaid : or the book and the Weekly American Bee 

 Journal one year— both for $1.75. ,S-'y Be sure to mention " Autograph Copy " 

 if you desire that kind. 



Dr. Miller's Book Sent Free as a Premium. 



To one whose subscription to the American Bee Journal is paid to the end 

 of this year or later, we will mail an AUTOGRAPH COPY of this book FREE 

 for sending u.s two NEW yearly subscribers to the Bee Journal at $1.00 each. 



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