July 19, 1906 



623 



American Hee Journal 



one colony 3 weeks later a few, unless it be that it signifies that you 

 diil the transferring earlier in the season than most would think ad- 

 visable. For in box-hives in which the bees build comb at their own 

 «weet will, there would pretty surely be a good proportion of drone- 

 comb, and just as surely drones would be present unless the transfer- 

 ring were done very early. There would have been no advantage in 

 having drones in the other 3 colonies. 



2. I don't know how old your comb must be before it needs re- 

 newing. You see I've been keeping bees ODly 45 years, my first bees 

 were in box-hives, and I'm not sure that I have now any combs much 

 'more than 30 years old. They are all right yet, and look as if they 

 were good for 30 years more. 



Management of Old Colo ny and Swarms 



I have but one colony of bees, and have had one for two years. 

 The one I have is a year old. I would like to know what to do. The 

 bees are not working in the sections for comb honey. I put them out 

 last spring with a nice lot of honey, and they worked well all through 

 the bloom, for they must have filled it below, and swarmed twice, the 

 first one coming out the first day of June. 



I also have some sections in the hive that have comb in them, left 

 from last year, all clean and white. What can I do to make the bees 

 ■work in the super? The hive-entrance is about 7 inches wide. I do 

 not know whether they are being robbed or not, for they seem to be 

 very quiet, and always go in and out in a hurry. The hive faces east. 

 They get the morning and evening sun, and are shaded the hottest 

 part of the day. Ought I to change their place since they swarmed? 

 If so, what distance? It is a strong colony. Wisconsin. 



Answer.— You say your colony has swarmed twice, but don't say 

 anything about what you did with the swarms. In the absence of any 

 more information, it is a pretty safe guess that you merely hived each 

 of them in a separate hive, leaving the old hive on the old stand. That 

 would weaken the old colony so much that you ought not to expect it 

 to do any storing in supers unless the season should be unusually good 

 and continue late. Even if it lost the force of only one swarm, it 

 would be weakened too much to do any storing in supers for a good 

 while, if indeed it stored any at all, but after two swarms having left 

 it, nothing in the way of storing should be expected. Moving the hive 

 now would do harm instead of good. 



All the foregoing is true in a good season, but the great probabil- 

 ity is that the season is very poor with you, as it is this year with 

 many others in Wisconsin, and also as it is here. My bees have not 

 been weakened by swarming, but they are not doing a thing in supers 

 There is clover in plenty, but the bees don't seem to get any nectar 

 from it. 



So don't be discouraged if you don't get a pound of surplus this 

 year; next year may be a good year. Let me tell you how to do an- 

 other year: When the bees swarm, set the swarm on the old stand 

 and set the old hive as close to it as you can ; no harm if one hive 

 touches the other. After a day or two set the supers from the hive on 

 the new one (for the likelihood is that you had supers on before it was 

 time for swarming.) About a week after swarming, move the old 

 hive to a new stand, perhaps 8 or 10 feet away. The result of that 

 will be that the tield-bees that leave the old hive, upon returning with 

 their loads from the fields, will join the swarm, making it very strong 

 and you will get a lot of surplus from it. All that ought to be ex- 

 pected from the old colony is that it build up strong for winter. 



Reports and 

 experiences 



Bees Have Done Well. 



Bees in this part of the country have done 

 very well so far this year. They have been 

 working on white clover since the forepart 



Everton, Mo., June 25. T. T. Cantrew,. 



Pays to Look After the Bees. 



My bees are tine. I wintered them in the 

 .cellar and did nm lose a colony, Some of 

 them have the second super. 1 find it pays to 

 look after the bees early in the fall, as I did 

 mine, and see that they are all right, with 

 .jo pounds of good, capped honey fur winter. 

 Wm. Matthews. 



Lancaster, Wis., June 21. 



Honey Prospect Not Encouraging. 



The prospect for honey in this section is 

 mi; but encouraging so far this season. 

 The spring has been so wet, cold ami windy 

 tiiat the bees could not fly. The first crop 

 of alfalfa is already cut and stacked, and the 

 bees have not begun to work in supers yet. 

 There is very little prospect of their gather- 

 ing from raspberries or any other fruits. The 

 only chance they have is to get something 

 from sweet clover, ami possibly from the sec- 

 ond crop of alfalfa. The loss from cellar- 

 wintering was greater last winter than from 

 ■those wintered outdoors. V. S. Johnson. 



Spearfish, S. Dak., June 29. 



Honey Scarce During Rain. 



Honey has been coming in well up to within 

 a week, but now it is rather scarce during so 

 much rain. E. G. GuTHREY. 



Malta Bend, Mo., July 4. 



A Bumper Honey Season. 



Of all the seasons I ever saw here this is a 

 bumper. Season after season has passed and 

 never have I taken more than ^ supers from 

 the best of colonies during the summer sea- 

 son, although I have taken as much as 5 

 supers ( 16 a pounds) from the Spanish-needle 

 in September. But for the past 8 weeks the 

 bees have been pounding aw u\ - -well, slow 

 but sure. Rain about the first of June gave 

 a fresh start, and now the horsemint 

 is in bloom. All but 2 or 3 colonies have 

 2 supers each, several have taken 3, and a 

 few bid fair to take the fourth, with wood- 



sage, sumac and buckberry yet to come. 

 Usually buckberry yields well. I haven't ex- 

 ' any homy yet. I have had but 2 

 swarms, an.l no guessing. They are busy, 

 and so am f. Chas. M. Darrow. 



Milo, Mo., Tune 18. 



May Get Some Honey Yet. 



The last 10 days were the best days of 1906 

 for tin' bus) bees. They have gone to the 

 iupers verj nicely. It was too cool and wet 

 We mis get some honey yet. 



Stockton, Minn., July 3. W. K. Bates. 



Croton Plant. 



1 send a flower that a friend gave to me 

 a week ago, and nobody knows its name. If 

 the bees work on it the honey would be 

 perfumed so nice. What is the flower? 



Seneca, 111., June 26. A. J. Diebold. 



[The name of the plant is Croton — Croton 

 monathogynus — and belongs to the Spurge 

 family. The perfume collects in glands 

 throughout tin plant and not in the honey- 

 sacs exclusively, so the honey would not be 

 scented very much. As the Spurge familv is 

 not noted for its sweetness, it is probable 

 that the Croton plant will not prove of much 

 value to the bees. — C. L. Walton.] 



Satisfactory Honey Crop. 



The honey crop is very satisfactory this sea- 

 son, and of exceptionally good quality — pure 

 white clovi A. H. Noble, Sr. 



Nashville, Tenn., July 5, 



Earthquakes and Honey. 



This season hereabouts has been the best 

 for honey I have known since 1893. My re- 

 grets are that I did not take up the care of 

 the bees in time, else I might have made a 

 record-breaking harvest of honey. The rains 

 were spread over a large stretch of the sea- 

 son — the latest heavy rains I ever knew fell 

 the last of May. The flowers are numerous, 

 and will last a long time. The bees have 

 not swarmed 1m.II one reason being a good 

 many colonit t breed up fast owing 



to being weak from the poorness of last sea- 

 son, and the lateness of the spring. 



I will write of earthquakes and honey — 

 not that the fornn r produce the latter, or the 

 latter the former. Let me propound a query: 

 Is an earthquaking country a good honey-pro- 

 ducing country? Let's tw*» it on to Dr. Mil- 

 ler. 1 can 1 don't know." Can't he do 

 better? 



What cans, ,1 me to propound this question 

 is this: I .1111 10 3 good portion of the burned 

 San Francisi daily, and being some- 



wdiat of an ..1' 1 by training anil otherwise, 



I note whit 1- R> no: on there, besides seeing 

 remarkable grit of its citizens in clearing 



off and rebuilding their city. The Golden 

 Gate City was burned on April 18-20; little 

 was left standing, especially vegetation. On 

 the heels of the fire came a heavy rain, and 

 .1 tew weeks later a still heavier one. Now, 

 what is remarkable, weeds spring up every- 

 where, excepting in the late business sec- 

 tion which is covered with brick, stone and 

 iron debris. A week ago I noticed that some 

 "f tins phoenix or salamander-like (just as 

 you wish to call it) vegetation is in bloom, 

 riovt s that for quick- flowering? About- 6 

 weeks from the seed, and most of these 

 flowers are yellow— California's golden color. 

 \inl best of all, they are one of our best 

 honey plants— the sort that blooms in 

 December, January, etc. They are of the 

 turnip or rape family, with a small sprinkling 

 pi mustard. Some alfillaree, too, are coming 



into bloom. 



I did not go to the city the past 2 days. 

 Yesterday opened up gloomy; in the after- 

 noon it commenced to rain, and during the 

 night it was quite a downpour. You see 

 we have been having an unusual amount of 

 ram. and at unusual seasons. 



What do you think? We had another 

 quake some time during the night. It was 

 quite a respectable one, and I guess it woke 

 me up, though I am not sure on that point. 

 We have had a lot of 'em since the big 

 shake-up, and don't mind 'em a bit. 



Oakland, Cal., June 16. W. A. Pryal 



Figwort. 



Herewith you will find a sprig from a plant 

 stalks of which I find near my bee- 

 yard. I suppose I ought to know what it is, 

 but I don't, so send it to you for informa- 

 tion. The bees are absolutely wild to get to 

 tin littlt flowers, a few of which may be 

 seen on the: branch. Wm. M. WHITNEY. 



Lake Geneva, Wis., June 29. 



I The plant in question is the Figwort — 

 Scrophularia nodosa — so-called because a re- 

 puted remedy for scrofula, and a good honey- 

 plant, t It is a good idea to allow this 



plant ti. grow in waste places around the bee- 

 yard as it yields a good quantity of excellent 

 nectar.— C. L. Walton.] 



QOLDEN AND LEATHER-COLORED 

 ITALIANS 



Price of Golden Queens. Before July 1st- 

 Untested, Jl each: 6 for $5; 12 for $9. Warranted 

 $1.25 each; 6 for $7; 12 for $13. Tested, $1.50 

 each. S»lect Tested, $2 After July 1st: Un- 

 tested, 75c each: 6 for $4; one dozen, $7. War- 

 ranted Tested. $1.25 each; 6 for $7: one dozen 

 $13. Tested. $1.50; Select Tested,. f2: Breeders' 

 $5. Caucasian Queens will be ready to mail 

 July 1st; Untested. $1 each; 6 for $5. Warranted 

 Tested, $1 40 each ; 6 for *8. 



We have three yards— two Italian and one 

 Caucasian— and mean to meet the demand of 

 the trade. Prices of Nuclei on application 



29A tf D. J. BLOCMER Pearl City, III. 



