152 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Now, if single swarms can be found that are 

 well supplied with white and Alsike clover that 

 will deposit in boxes, (making all the comb of 

 course,) three hundred and twenty pounds of 

 super honey; if we suj^pose one pound of comb 

 j-eqnisite to contain twenty -five pounds of honey, 

 then we must have about thirteen pounds of 

 comb to contain three hundred and twenty 

 pounds of honey, and each pound of comb using 

 from fifteen to twenty pounds of honey to make 

 it, would, at the lowest calculation, give us one 

 hundred and ninety-five pounds more of honey. 

 Bo, that, if our bees could also be furnished with 

 a full supply of empty clean comb, as well as 

 Alsike clovei", (which can be done, we are in- 

 formed, by emptying our I'rames of comb with a 

 machine,) we shoulcl obtain, according to above 

 rates, five hundred and fifteen pounds of surplus 

 honey per swarm! 



Now, if we maj' additionally suppose the bees 

 supplied in spring with honey-producing crops, 

 such as seed turnips, mustard, rape, ttc, and in 

 the fall with buckwheat, sweet, or Mellilot clo- 

 ver, borage, «&c., this product might be easily in- 

 creased one-half, which would give us, say seven 

 hundred pounds of surplus, in a single season as 

 the product of one swarm of bees. 



We know this looks as speculative as it did 

 forty-five years since, to talk of travelling on a 

 road thirty -five to forty miles per hour, and draw 

 hundreds of tons with one steam horse — which 

 your correspondent remembers well was hooted 

 as the vagaries of a fanatical brain — but now al- 

 most every child is familiar with the fact of its 

 being done daily. 



Let our far*ning apiarians raise crops for our 

 bees, as well as our beeves, and it will pay us a 

 better per cent on the capital invested ! For to 

 carry our speculative calculations a little further, 

 suppose we sell seven hundred pounds of honey 

 (the anticipated product of a single colony in the 

 good time coming) at twenty cents per pound, 

 we have a profit of $140 per colony! Enough 

 to buy two good beeves, and which will not cost 

 a tithe as much to produce. 



Giles B. Aveky. 



Albany, N. Y. 



[For the American Bee .lournal.] 



Answers to the following questions are de- 

 sired: 



1st. Will white clover, as a honej^-producing 

 plaut, grow as far south as FloridaV If not, 

 what is the Southern limit at which it will grow? 



2d. Will borage do as well there as North, 

 when cultivate'^ for beesV 



od. Does buckwheat yield honey South? 



4th. Is tlie yield of honey greater in the South 

 per swarm, than in the North on an average of 

 seasons? 



5th. How many months in the year do bees fly 

 out to gather honey in the latitude of Florida, 

 and gather as much per day as they consume? 



6th. Could a sliilful apiarian, using frame 

 hives, get a larger yield of honey South than 

 North — swarms being of same size and seasons 

 the same? J. M. Price. 



BxjFi^ai.o GiiOVE, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee JournaL] 



Success in Keeping Bees. 



Several parties have written to me aboiit Silas 

 Way's success prior to the present year, in the 

 keeping of bees. (See Bee Journal, Vol. 3, 

 page 99). Mj first acquaintance with Mr. Way 

 was in the summer of 1801, since which t me i 

 have freciuently visited him and his apiar3\ At 

 that time he had about sixty hives of bees, and 

 I do not think he has had less than that num- 

 ber at any time since. He has kept about one 

 hundred colonies for the past two seasons, and 

 now has nearly two hundred. The number has 

 lately been reduced by sales. But in case he 

 cannot sell at proper figures, the lullest combs 

 of honey are taken away and sold in glass jars. 

 The central combs, those having but little 

 honey, are put away for next year's use. The 

 bees are of course destroyed. 



I do not know precisely what the profits of 

 Mr. Waj'^'s apiary have been fn m j^ear to year 

 since 1861. but have good reason to believe that 

 the average has been not less than ten dollars 

 per hive for those wintered over. He always 

 winters his bees in the cellar of his house, and 

 seldom loses any. This is boarded up around 

 the ends and tides, and is also provided with a 

 fioor. It is perfectly dry and dark, and easily 

 ventilated. It is about sixteen feet square. He 

 proposed to put all his bees into it this winter, 

 and probably did so about the last of Novem- 

 ber. 



Very few bee-keepers, even with frame hives, 

 have had such an average success for so long a 

 time as Mr. Way. Some three years ago he 

 adopted the frame hives, but lias given them no 

 more attention than he would the box-hives, 

 lie has, however, concluded that it will pay to 

 give them more attention heiealter. He seems 

 .satisfied that bees will store a hundred pounds ' 

 as a surplus, to the family, if given proper atten- 

 tion. JVI. M. Balkkidce. 

 St. Charles, III. 



! ■ ■ 



[Fur the Americax BeeJourual..] 



Diseases of Bees. 



An article with the above heading appeared in 

 the Bee Journal, Vol. 3, page 154, in which 

 the writer complains of a disease as he terms it, 

 which affected his bees. This is common, 

 though not commonly known. I am happy to 

 inform the writer that the trouble with his bees 

 was not a di-sease, but caused by the bees work- 

 ing at the blossom of the silk-weed, (Asclepias 

 cornuti). Both sepals and petals of this flower 

 are turned backward towards the stem, forming 

 by five acute angles as notches, a good trap to 

 catch and hold a bee. The flower being thick 

 and firm, holds the bee fast, and struggling only 

 draws the insect deeper in the cavity. The trou- 

 ble then is the pollen of the silk-weed, Avhich at- 

 tached itself to the foot of the bee. A minute 

 description of this will be found by referring to 

 the "Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained," by 

 M. Quinby, last edition, page 83, 



New Berlin, Pa. R. B. Oldt. 



