First, then, I will say that among the 

 forest trees are the maples, elms, basswood, 

 tamarack and willow ; the plants are white 

 clover, alsike or Swedish white clover, and 

 buckwheat; there are innumerable trees and 

 plants of lesser note. I consider white 

 clover and bassavood the two principal 

 resources for the apiarist to rely on. If he 

 cannot depend on these, I should think he 

 has m.'de a bad location. I will mention a 

 number of plants of lesser note, and, in some 

 localities, quite productive : Raspberries, 

 blackberries, strawberries, whotleberries, 

 dandelion, thorough wort, motherwort, cat- 

 nip, mustard, rape, fort-weed, tire-weed, 

 smart-weed, golden rod ; I have omitted 

 wild rice, which yields quite largely of 

 honey. I am also told there is a plant grow- 

 ing along the Wisconsin river, and very 

 profusely, but I have forgotten its name. 

 There is also a plant in the cedar swamps 

 north of us that yields honey of a superior 

 quality. I have noticed that bees generally 

 do better along the streams and in the 

 vicinity of lakes and large bodies of low 

 ground, where the various kinds of plants 

 are not affected by the drouth. 



Mr. Sayles then read the following article 

 upon the management of the 



HOME MARKET FOR HONEY. 



I believe that honey, both extracted and 

 in the comb, will, with proper efforts on the 

 part of the producers, very soon become a 

 staple article ; that extracted honey will 

 largely supersede the higher grades of 

 syrups, and comb honey will have its regu- 

 lar place on the shelves of our grocers and 

 fruit dealers, in active competition with the 

 finer jellies and canned fruits. To bring this 

 to pass as speedily as possible, is, in my 

 judgment, the direction in which our prin- 

 cipal efforts should be turned. I need not, 

 of course, stop and argue the value of honey 

 as food, but even we have very much yet to 

 learn in regard to the various uses to which 

 it may be put, and also of the wonderful 

 little harvester who gathers it. We must, 

 however, convince people that we have an 

 article entirely wholesome, and really valu- 

 able as well as a delicious article oi food. 

 Explain to them why extracted honey is 

 cheaper than comb. Let them see us ex- 

 tract and put the honey in casks or jars, and 

 see that we till them full, and leave no room 

 for adulteration. Let them see for them- 

 selves the large quantities we obtain ; for 

 few will at first credit the unattested state- 

 ment that a colony of bees will produce 100 

 lbs. of honey in a season to say nothing of 

 the quantities some bee-keepers get. We 

 must also discuss the matter in our local 

 papers, and give recipes for its use in cook- 

 ing, and show how extracted honey 

 compares in price with the higher grades 

 of syrups, and comb honey with the finer 

 jellies and canned fruits, and how great the 

 advantage is in favor of honey, in richness 

 and flavor. 



A year's management of an apiary. 

 The following from E.Pike was read: 

 I have adopted the mode of natural 

 swarming for the past two years, being bet- 

 ter satisfied with the results than on the 

 .artificial plan, i always keep my colonies 

 strong, with good queens, and should any 



cast off a swarm before they are very strong, 

 I put them back ; otherwise, in a bad season, 

 dwindling would be the result, and no sur- 

 plus. I clip one wing of all my queens, as 

 soon as fertile, and when a swarm issues I 

 immediately pick her up, from the front of 

 the hive, and place her in a tumbler. I then 

 set the old hive back two or three feet, and 

 place my new hive in its place, giving 't 

 two combs of brood from the old colony and 

 Ml; with frames of comb foundation, when 

 the swarm returns to their old location, 1 

 give themjthe queen, and they rush in. As 

 soon as there are enough to give each hive 

 an equal number of bees, I set the new hive 

 in a new location, and the old in its usual 

 place. Such colonies soon fill a hive, and 

 produce nearly as much surplus. • 



Colonies that I run for extracted honey, I 

 put none but drone combs in the upper story, 

 and allow as little drone comb as possible in 

 the brood chamber. Queens are not apt to 

 go far from the brood chamber to use drone 

 comb. I extract as they commence to cap 

 over, the honey being then well evaporated, 

 and thus they are kept constantly at work 

 at that which avails most to the bee-keeper. 



For comb honey, I use sections 5x6 inches, 

 both double and single. The double can be 

 used as a box, or sections ; either is attract- 

 ive, and sells readily. If the keeper has 

 well preserved combs, the chances are, at 

 least, 5 lbs. of extracted to 1 lb. of comb 

 honey. Combs inserted for comb honey 

 will not go far, in comparison to the number 

 of pounds that can be obtained by extracting, 

 the supply of comb would be a failure. I 

 often have many waste pieces of white 

 comb that are very desirable to use in sec- 

 tions. These 1 shape with the honey knife, 

 by thinning the lower edges, so that they 

 have the appearance of a newly started 

 comb. Bees are much adverse to building 

 down combs that are cut square, and not 

 thinned ; the cells being so long where they 

 commence, they do not build it readily. 

 When cells are lengthened, they incline up- 

 ward a little, and the keeper should place all 

 combs in like manner. This would be very 

 essential in sealed worker combs in the 

 brood chamber. The young bees, after the 

 brood is capped, always lying flat on their 

 backs, give their heads a slight elevation. 

 I have never seen brood at that stage in any 

 other position, hence the above reason. 



The best prevention against loss in win- 

 tering is good ventilation. Quilts should 

 never be laid on the top bars, but elevated 

 some. The bees will then cluster on the top 

 bars and have better access to all the combs, 

 and the moisture will escape more readily ; 

 the hives remaining dry inside. For this 

 purpose I use a hive with top bars set down 

 3X or 4 inches, and tuck my quilts tightly, 

 about even with the upper edge of the hive. 

 The body of the hive, only, 1 put in winter 

 quarters. I only lost one colony out of 77 

 last winter, and that colony was queen less ; 

 the rest all came out bright and vigorous. 



Keeping a sufficient number for the great- 

 est capacity of bees ; obtaining the best 

 quality instead of the greatest quantity of 

 honey ; giving the keeper the least amount 

 of labor and expense, with better margins 

 at the close of the season's work, seem to be 

 the most desirable points in this business. 



