216 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



"Who raises lioney for a business?" 

 Yes, I do know of seven in New York 

 who do, and a day's drive will take 

 you to all of them. I shall be satisfied 

 to make as much as they do. 



Swarming has begun in earnest. I 

 can manage all the crooks and turns 

 ■with a degree of satisfaction except 

 swarming. I have no trees for them 

 to cluster on and think trees are a ne- 

 cessity in handling eight and ten 

 swarms a day. I clip my queens, nse 

 a swarniing box, pole, etc., but seven 

 out of ten will return to the hive whence 

 they can-ie. We had a drought all 

 througii clover till now we are having 

 a good long rain. TJiis made swarming 

 too late. I should have divided on 

 clover but the drought made things 

 look gloomy. 



I am trying the plan of hiving No. 2 

 in No. 1 sent me by Mr. Kretchnier, 

 of Iowa. Two out of ten, so hived, 

 swarmed in a few days. But l)y the 

 swarm returning to the old stand, as it 

 is most sure to do, I would carry the 

 hive that cast a swarm and place on 

 the old stand, then hive the swarm and 

 release the queen. The two that re- 

 swarmed were of this kind. I think 

 it works better when the swarms clus- 

 ter on the queen and then hived in tiie 

 one that cast a swarm, not moving 

 either hive. I often have two and 

 three swarms cluster together ; others 

 dive into a hive that has swarmed. 

 This week one flew three-quarters of an 

 hour before returning. I mean to 

 change my location to one having a 

 ■wiHd-V>reak of trees. 



No surplus finished on clover. Clover 

 bloomed early, May 20. Linden began 

 blooming Jane 2«th. July 1st, the l>ees 

 are doing well on it. For four years I 

 have got no honey from linden ; this 

 year it is loaded with bloom and may 

 do wonders. 



I must take issue with Mr. Pond on 

 the chafi'-hive question compared with 

 single-walled hives unless protected 

 as he does, but look at the work ne- 

 cessary to fix up 100 colonies as he 

 does, each year. This alone would soon 

 pay the expense of the chatl'-hive, and 

 I think a chaff-hive can be made as 

 good protection as the leaves and dirt 

 he uses. My hive is a one-slory chafi" 

 packed hive, with one story wide 

 frame, tin separator for surplus. Mr. 

 Alley, why can't one make a business 

 of producing honey if lu; is the riuht 

 3)ian and in good location? If Ican't do 

 so I will quit, for it is whole loaf or 

 lioue for me, 



J. C. Stewakt. 



Hopkinsville, Ky. 



Friknd Alley: The two copies of 

 the A.VI that you sent me are very ac- 

 ceptable and instructive, though we 

 have no "winter problem" and do not 

 aim to get much comb honey. We ai'e, 

 however, securing more comb honey 

 this season than ever, as the people 

 are becoming accustomed to the nice 

 white sections and will no longer be 

 satisfied with the promiscuous mess so 

 long pahned olf a.s comb honey. 



I aui rearing a few queens this sea- 

 son to replace some that are past 

 their prime and others that are inferior 

 or mismated. I have a large number 

 of daughters of the qneen you sent me 

 two years ago. Some are tinerthan the 

 mother, some different; but where 

 purety mated the workers are al! 

 equally handsome and enterprising. I 

 notice in these bees at times, a nervous 

 trait reminding one of the Holy Land 

 race. I think some of my queens were 

 matfd by Holy Land drones bnt not 

 enough to warrant the supposition that 

 the mother was cross-mated, though 

 there might be trace of such blood. 

 However, [ do not wish my bees to be 

 so gentle as to be lazy. 



The great abundance of white clover 

 that promisiEH:! so much has been a 

 failure so tar as honey is expected, 

 owing to long-continued dry weather, 

 but since about the first of June the 

 bees have ijrought immense quantities 

 from red clover and are still booming 

 on the second crop. In July and Au- 

 gust the yield from various soui'Cis, 

 though moderate, is kept up without 

 intermission and in Septemlier and 

 October the fall harvest becomes 

 abundant such as it is. For the first 

 tiuse in three years we shall have a 

 large crop of white hone)) a thing un- 

 usual here and unattainable without 

 Italians. I like the plan which you 

 suggest in Handy Book, p. 242, of 

 removing the queen from the hive a 

 few days before shipping, and have 

 myself sometimes done tiie same where 

 they had a long distance to go. If I 

 remember riiihtly the qneen I had from 

 you two years ago was three days on 

 the way, came all bright and fresh, 

 was iatr&dnei'd to a pound or two of 

 bees in a l)ox a few hours after arrival, 

 a la DooJittle, remained with them all 

 night, in the moreiug were put in a 

 hive with two or three brood-combs 

 aud all serene. 



D. F. Savage. 



