90 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



swarming season begins get a num- 

 ber of small evergreen trees, such 

 as spruce, hemlock or fir, sharpen 

 the trunkslike astake and set them 

 in a hole in the ground loosely, in 

 different parts of the a[)iary, and 

 nine-tenths of the prime swarms 

 will alight on tliem ; when the}' can 

 be lifted out and carried to the 

 hive and dumped. It is the quick- 

 est way to dispose of a swarm. 



S. B. H. 



For the American Apicultu7-ist. 



REPORT OF SEASON OF 



1887. 



F. A. Snell. 



As I have seen no report in the 

 Api from this section of our state for 

 the past season, I will now give my 

 own. Our bees were removed from 

 the cellar in the early part of April 

 in excellent condition. Soft ma- 

 ples were just beginning to bloom, 

 and just at that time the weather 

 was fine. Two days later a cool 

 spell came with some freezing, 

 which killed the bloom, and high, 

 cool winds followed, preventing the 

 flight of bees. Fruit bloom and 

 that from white willow followed, 

 with only a very few pleasant days 

 during their bloom, cool high winds 

 prevailing much of the time. Rasp- 

 berries followed but did not a[)pear 

 to yield much honey. White clo- 

 ver came about two weeks earlier 

 than usual, and bloomed very si)ar- 

 ingly, owing very much to the 

 dronght of the previous season. 



The drought, prevailing during 

 and after clover bloom, dried up 

 the blossoms and we were obliged 

 to a})an(ion all hopes of an}' surplus 

 from that source. 



We then looked forward to l)ass- 

 wood bloom, hoping to see our 

 hives stocked with honey and also 

 secure a suri)lus. 'J'he bloom came 

 and was quite plentiful, but lasted 



but three or four days and there 

 was very little honey in it ; not 

 enough to start any work in comb 

 building, even in the brood-cham- 

 ber. When no honey could be 

 obtained, the bees remained in a 

 half dormant state, very few bees 

 leaving the hives, except early in 

 the day. The weather was very 

 hot. The second crop of red clover 

 seemed to yield some honey and 

 with buckwheat and wild flowers, 

 bees gathered sufficient stores to 

 keep up brood-rearing in our api- 

 ary, and enough for winter, with a 

 few exce[)tions. The season again 

 proved tlie superiority of the Ital- 

 ians over the blacks. We keep 

 only Italians. Black bees starved 

 out in July and August. Drones 

 were killed off in June, and 

 none were reared after, until Sep- 

 tember 1, when a few were pro- 

 duced. Not one square foot of 

 comb was built in our apiary of 

 125 colonies. 



Thus the season of 1887 ended 

 with us. Surplus honey crop was 

 an entire failure. I have kept bees 

 nearly thirty years, and had 

 thought that I had seen about all 

 kinds of seasons, but the past one 

 is far ahead of others in the line of 

 a failure. We had a chance to see 

 something new. 



Our bees were put into winter 

 quarters on Nov. IG, and so far, 

 appear in good condition. Such 

 seasons, I think are sometiiing of 

 a blessing in disguise. The per- 

 severing bcelveepei' will get his re- 

 ward ; the careless will have to step 

 down and out. 

 MUledgeville, III., Jon. 14, 1888. 



APICULTURAL STATIS- 

 TICS. 



Dkar INIu. EnrroR : Soon after 

 coming hack from the National Con- 

 vention at Chicago, I wrote very 

 fully to the commissioner of agri- 

 culture, and gave my letter to Pres- 



