PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W T FALCONER MANPG CO 



VOL. V. 



Mf\Y {895. 



NO. 5. 



The Prospects off a Honey 

 Crop. 



BY CHAS. H. THEIS. 



Spring is again here, and while 

 the cold snap of the past winter was 

 pretty hard on bees, they have as a 

 usual thing pulled through in a very 

 fair condition in this section of the 

 world, I usually winter from 20 to 

 30 nuclei on the summer stands, 

 usually two in a hive, with a thin 

 board partition, which invariably 

 winter well with me, but the past 

 cold winter was a little more than 

 they could stand, but anything in the 

 shape of a fall coluny came out in 

 good condition. 



Bees are now working strong on 

 fruit hloom, of which we have quite 

 a lot this season, the first time for a 

 number of years. 



White clover looks very encourag- 

 ing, and with our bees in proper 

 shape, I don't see why we should 

 not have a good honey crop. Fruit 

 bloom will start the bees in the right 

 direction, but after fruit bloom and 

 before clover comes in, we will need 

 to look out, or we will fail. To allow 

 bees to become short on stores at this 

 time (or in fact at any time) will de- 

 cide what surplus we shall have. 



In regard to our fall flow, would 

 be hard to answer at this time of the 

 year, but as years roll by, I can see, 

 each year, that our bee pasturage is 

 becoming less, and the question natur- 

 ally arises, where will our bees find 

 pasturage in the near future ? Each 

 year more land is being put into 

 cultivation. Farmers are becoming 

 more particular, and will not allow 

 weeds to grow among the crops as of 

 old. Hence it becomes necessary for 

 the bee-keeper to look around either 

 for a cure or a new location. Why 

 not give farmers some inducements, 

 by furnishing them Alsike Clover 

 seed, or some other seeds that would 

 lead to mutual benefit. I am con- 

 vinced that Alsike Clover would 

 largely, if not altogether, take the 

 place of common red clover, if once 

 thoroughly introduced, so that its 

 superiority was thoroughly known. 

 Buy a peck or more of seed, give it 

 to some good farmer, and after a fair 

 trial it will soon find its way on all 

 the farms. If our farmers were to- 

 day sowing Alsike as extensively as 

 red clover, what a honey country we 

 would have. It will not be well for 

 us to wait until we find our bees 

 starving, but we should go to work 

 now, so as to have it thoroughly in- 



