100 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



acres that produce some honey 

 plants and flowers, although man 

 and beasts are doing all they can 

 to exterminate them, we ought not 

 to try and " compete" with nature 

 by spending time and sowing seed 

 tliat he seems to think so valuable. 

 We don't compete with nature at 

 all, we simply assist and add to 

 what nature is doing spontaneously. 

 When our country was new we 

 generalh^ depended for small fruits 

 on the wild strawberries that grew 

 in the meadows, and the black- 

 berries that grew over the* hills ; 

 but the person now who does not 

 raise these in his garden, or is able 

 to buy them generally has to go 

 without. There is another point 

 to consider ; an acre of honey-pro- 

 ducing plants adjoining an apiary, 

 is worth two or three acres, a mile 

 or two away. Mr. T. seems to 

 think that those who have advo- 

 cated planting for honey would 

 destroy all the other bloom in some 

 way, and depend on their own 

 planting entirely ; that is not it at 

 all. I would preserve all the nat- 

 ural bloom possible, and add as 

 much by planting as I could. 



Mr. T. reports producing some 

 6,000 lbs. of comb honey the past 

 season. Now, suppose he had plant- 

 ed a few acres with honey plants 

 and they had yielded 6,000 lbs. of 

 honey in addition, is it not likely 

 that his yield would have been 

 10,000 to "l2,000 pounds? Knot, 

 why not ? If so, would that not have 

 paid him well? Is it not quite 

 likely that were plenty of bees 

 loafing around his hives, or trying 

 to rol) each other, that would have 

 been busy at work had he given 

 them a little encouragement? 



Again, he seems to pi'cfcr togive 

 his bees a "rest" after linden stops 

 blooming. My aim for years has 

 been to fill up this gap, and I think 

 I gain much if I can kee}) the bees 

 at work, if only moderately, during 

 this time. I don't like to work in 



an apiar}^ when all is as still as a 

 graveyard except the horde of rob- 

 bers, that follow one around. I 

 also want to keep up breeding dur- 

 ing this time, to have plenty of 

 bees for the fall crop, which is often 

 larger than the spring crop. I cer- 

 tainly agree with Mr. T. in liking 

 honey floods, and the best wa}' to 

 make them is to do all we can to 

 help nature to furnish them an I 

 lengthen them out, as long as pos- 

 sible. Where is the beekeeper who 

 has ever objected to a week or two 

 more of the white honey harvest? 

 It is not only the additional honey 

 gathered, but the finishing up of 

 much that is in partly-filled sec- 

 tions, that makes such lengthening 

 out especially' valuable. Yes, Mr. 

 T., there is much "food for thought" 

 in this subject, and it is all in fa- 

 vor of a judicious planting for 

 honey. 

 Milan, III., 3farch 26, 1888. 



For the American Apiculttirist. 



SOME EXPERIMENTS IN 

 WINTERING. 



G. W. Demaree. 



That bees have been wintered 

 as a general rule with fair success 

 in the cold climates of the north- 

 ern states under the conditions to 

 which they are subjected in winter 

 confinement, to my mind proves 

 nothing moie than that the honey 

 bee possesses wonderful powers of 

 endurance. 



In the absence of better and 

 more natural conditions perhaps an 

 even or uniform temperature in 

 the winter repository will give the 

 most uniform results as to bring- 

 ing bees through the winter in the 

 possession of life. Under such 

 conditions, that bees should dwin- 

 dle and waste away in the early 

 spring is the most natural conclu- 

 sion in the world. 



