THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



83 



uccted \viUi District and State socintics, and 

 thus any advaucLincnt in bec-cnUuro is com- 

 nuinicatod to nearly every bee-keeper in the 

 nation. The hives in nse arc, at the present 

 lime, only perfectly movable comb hives, and 

 the lequibiles of a complete hive are set forlh 

 as standard requisites, published by tiie national 

 societv, and distributed throughout the country 

 at the' expense of the Government. Any new 

 book on bee-keeping is readily purchas(>d by 

 auy bee-keeper, although four or Jive volumes 

 on" the subject may already be in his possession, 

 being aware that any new hint is worth more 

 to him than the cost of the book. 



The numlier of colonies kept fiir outnumbers 

 our apiaries. Although some very fine ones 

 may be found in the United States, there is yet 

 no place, to my knowledge, where as many 

 bees are kei)t in one State or country as can be 

 found in Silesia, a province of Prussia. Al- 

 though it contains onl}^ about 700 square miles, 

 there were, on the first of September last, 139,- 

 G19 colonies of Italian bees, reported to be in 

 good coudiiion, having yielded during that 

 year an average of thirty-nine and three-fourth 

 pounds of honey per eolonj'.' 



This vast amount of honey has its own mar- 

 ket, as much as our coru, wheat, or any other 

 product, aud is graded or classed in like man- 

 ner, llonej' in the comb is graded thus : First 

 class, bee honey — comb white, free from bee- 

 brea 1, and must be nearly all capped or sealed 

 over ; second class, same as,.first class, except 

 only half the cells are sealed over ; third class, 

 same as second class, with the addition of a few 

 specks of bee-bread ; fourth class, honey in 

 comb, full of bee-bread ; fifth class, honey in 

 brown comb, with more or less bee-bread. 

 The price of course varies with the class, and 

 by far more than is usuUIy the case ia the 

 United States. Honey of the second class is 

 worth twenty per cent, less than honey of the 

 first class , and every other class still twenty 

 per cent, less than the preceding class. There 

 are variations in every class, which, of course, 

 vary the price accordingly. 



Why cannot a similar system be obtained 

 among the bee-keepers of the United States, or 

 of each State, count}-, or even township sepa- 

 rate ? This is a question which forces itself 

 upon mo. It undoubtedly is cheaper to keep 

 bees and produce the honey, than to import it 

 across the Atlantic ocean, from Germany or 

 any_ other country. "We have agricultural so- 

 cieties, wool growers' associations, horticultural 

 societies, sorgo associations, &c., yet the bee- 

 keeper's associationsare very limited in number. 



Let some bee-keeper, no difTcreuce Avho, 

 name the subject to his neighboring bee-keeper, 

 and so on through the whole neighborhood, or 

 township ; and appoint one of the long winter 

 evenings to meet at one of the neighbor's 

 Ijouses, and organize a societj'. Before long it 

 may become a county association. 



In like manner "wc proceeded in this vicinity, 

 and now we have a flourishing association. 

 Let any one give this subject his sliare of at- 

 tention, the object will easily be accomplished. 



E. Kretchmer. 



Honey- Yielding Flowers. 



The blossoms of a vast number of weed'', 

 plants, shrubs aud trees, are visited more or less 

 i)y bees, for the purpose ol" collecting honey or 

 bee-bread, or both. Tlie worthless weed and 

 the valuable fruit tree, the lovely wldte clover, 

 and tlie majestic tulip tree, each yields a tempt- 

 ing olFering to the busy little collectors. 



I i)ropose to mention some of the flowers that 

 seem to yield the most hoiw^y in tliis section, 

 beginning witli those that blossom first in the 

 spring. The soft maples furnish the first blos- 

 soms that amount to much. Two or three 

 pounds per hive of peculiarly tasting honey are 

 often stored from them. If bees live till the 

 last of April, when the maple puts forth its 

 leaves and blossoms, there is very little danger 

 of their starving that season. The cherry comes 

 soon after the maple, and furnishes the bees 

 abundant and profitable employment. The ap- 

 ple and pear follow soon after, aud yield con- 

 siderable honey, if the weather is pleasant 

 enough to permit the bees to work. Nearly all 

 that is gathered from these early blossoms is 

 generally consumed in a short time, in reariug 

 brood, which is done extensively at this season, 

 and supporting the bees. Last season I had 

 occasion to open one of my hives, two weeks 

 after apple blossoms expanded, and 1 found the 

 combs well fifled with brood, but there was not 

 more than a pound of honey in the hive. Mr. 

 King advises bee-keepers to sow a field of tur- 

 nips every year, and harvest only the largest, 

 leaving enough in the ground to run to seed 

 the next year, to make a pasture for the bees, 

 between fruit blossoms and clover ; but I find 

 that they do not store much honey from turnips, 

 the seed of which is grown extensively in tiiis 

 section. White clover comes in blossom about 

 the 1st of June, and continues about six weeks. 

 This is the main reliance for surplus honey, al- 

 though the tulip and basswood being in flower 

 at the same time, it is impossible to determine 

 the yield of each; but a hive that casts no 

 swarm ought to give from twenty-five to fifty 

 pounds of surplus bos honey, during the season 

 of white clover. 



We have a season between clover and buck- 

 wheat, when there are very few flowers. Mr. 

 Quinby says that, in many ])laces, buckwheat 

 is the main dependance for surplus honey ; but 

 ray bees have never filled a single 1}ox from it, 

 although there has been an abundanco of it 

 grown in this neighborhood. The past season 

 i had quite a number of boxes partly full of 

 clover honey, which I left in the liivcs, think- 

 ing that they might be filled from buekv^^heat ; 

 but they contained rather less at the close of 

 the buckwheat season than at the beginniug. 

 tn Septemb'^r we have in this neighborhood an 

 abundance of golden rod, a weed much visited 

 bj' the bees, and one that yields considerable 

 honcj', but otherwise a worthless intruder in 

 neglected pastures and fence corners. After 

 the golden rod and wild aster, whicli are gen- 

 erally found growing together, go to seed, the 

 labors of the bees are over for the season. 



I have named only a few of the many flowers 



