July 26, 1906 



643 



American Itee Journal 



Reports and 

 €xperi< 



Bees Doing Well— Wet Weather 



My bees are doing well this year, but the 

 weather is very wet. I had a job with them 

 for a green hand. I now have 6 colonies. 

 One of them was queenless all spring and I 

 gave them some eggs from another colony 

 and they built 4 queen-cells. In 3 weeks they 

 were queenless again, so I gave them brood 

 from one colony and »gg6 from another, and 

 in a week 43 queen-cells were capped; but 

 they now have a queen. 



Geo. E. Waschenberger. 



Stillwater, Minn , June 21. 



a beginner, and have little time to work with 

 bees, also that I have had no schooling in this 

 country, and it makes it harder to study and 

 write. Have you had any experience with 

 weak colonics no top of strong ones'! Please 

 explain yourself a little. Don't hit the be- 

 ginners too hard. You might discourage 

 them, only they have good, strong hearts. 

 You can't discourage me. I am a bee-keeper 

 in my heart, and will be. 



The outlook is good so far here. It has 

 been too wet, but the bees are strong now and 

 work on white clover. I don't ask many 

 questions. The way I find my information I 

 look over the old copies of the American Bee 

 Journal and am able to find most of the in- 

 formation I want. A. L. Oliver. 



Konneby, Minn., June 19. 



Clover Bloom, But No Honey 



Bees wintered here with some loss for some 

 bee-keepers, and now it has been very cold 

 for a week and the white clover is at its best. 

 If it does not turn warm there will be no crop 

 this summer. Last summer was the same. 

 My bees did not get a pound of surplus honey 

 from white clover then, and the fields and 

 roadsides were just white then as they are 

 now. Swan Anderson. 



Chesterton, Ind., June 19. 



An Unusual Season 



Bees are commencing to swarm, and the 

 swarms are very large. There is no honey in 

 the brood-chambers and none in supers. Late 

 frost destroyed nearly all the basswood buds. 

 Clover and raspberry are yielding well to-day. 

 The bees consumed more honey the past 

 spring than in any spring since my bee-keep- 

 ing of 14 years. 



June 10 a parent colony, after casting its 

 prime swarm, commenced to kill its drones 

 about one hour later. I have noticed 3 or 4 

 more cases as above, something I never saw 

 before. 



Nights are very cold here, although the 

 days are quite hot. A. C. F. Bartz. 



Keystone, Wis., June 13. 



Clover a Failure 



Clover has turned brown and is a complete 

 "failure here. (Locality of Delaware Water 

 Gap.) Sixty colonies in good condition did 

 not store 100 sections of honey; in fact, many 

 did not even fill bait-combs. 



Fruit-bloom left the bees in fine condition, 

 but winter had killed the clover on gravel 

 soil, and on clay soil it did not yield. If the 

 bees pull through we may get honey from 

 buckwheat. We dare not feed sugar in this 

 locality, as we would lose trade. The ques- 

 tion in the sale of honey here is, Do you feed 

 sugar! A. C. Hunsberoer. 



Portland, Pa., June 25. 



Weak Colonies Over the Strong 



Last week Mr. Hasty called it the pig-a-back 

 style of keeping a weak colony warm over a 

 strong one. It seems that Mr. Hasty thinks 

 there is nothing in this plan, or do 1 under- 

 stand that I am a pig-a-back-way bee-keeper? 

 You must understand, Mr, Hasty, that I am 



Hived Swarms that Were Gone 



The American Bee Journal gives ine lots of 

 pleasure. I talked with some of my neighbors 

 who keep bees, trying to get them to sub- 

 scribe, but some of them 6ay they are afraid 

 of gettiog sore eyes if they read so much. 

 Some of them wait until their bees swarm, 

 and hang on the fences and trees, and then 

 come running to me like a mad dog and want 

 hives. 



A neighbor wanted 5 swarms of bees, and 1 

 told him they would be $2 50 each. He said, 

 " All right, when you catch them I will give 

 you my check." 1 told my wife to watch out 

 a little once in a while and when the bees 

 swarmed I would catch them and give her the 

 money for a new dress. One day she called 

 that the bees were swarming. I sawed the 

 limb off and got the bees into the hive with- 

 out much trouble. I had them nearly all in 

 when my wife said there was another swarm 

 on the next tree. I got another hive and 

 caught that swarm also, and hived it. By the 

 time I had that one hived my wife said there 

 was still another swarm on another tree. I 

 got them down, too, after which she told me 

 to go right over to Mr. Johnson and tell him 

 I had 3 swarms for him. Mr. Johnson came 

 over and asked where the swarms were. I 

 told him they were in the hive6, of course. 

 He looked into 2 hives and found no bees, but 

 in the third there were bees all right. Now, 

 I could swear that I caught 3 swarms, and 

 hived them, too. My wife says they must 

 have gotten away. Evidently they swarmed 

 out while I was gone to tell Mr. Johnson. 

 W. A. Lochman. 



Mt. Washington, Mo., June 16. 



should teach the intelligent and sympathetic 

 bee-keeper the propriety of establishing some 

 reliable deposit of available sweets to meet 

 this oft-occurring emergency. 



I have alluded to the subject of white mul- 

 berries in the pages of the American Bee 

 Journal in years past. Subsequent experi- 

 ence enthusiastically confirms me in my pre- 

 vious statements of facts — that the white 

 mulberry is a great dependable honey-food 

 for bees. I make this broad statement be- 

 cause I believe — nay, because I am assured of 

 it — not for gain, as I have no 6tock to sell. 



I wish bee-keepers could see my bees liter- 

 ally swarm over the crushed ripe mulberries I 

 am feeding on the alighting-board— how clean 

 tbey devour every particle of the berry, rarely 

 leaving the small, hard seeds. 



Five minutes' observation would be more 

 convincing than anything I can write, because 

 the " Doubting Thomas " in the nature of us 

 all does more to discourage and deter progress 

 in all directions than all the facts arrayed 

 can counteract. 



I have only one fair-sized colony, and from 

 the one tree I could easily feed 6 colonies one 

 month, a big quart or more per day to each. 

 This gives some idea what two dozen of these 

 hardy trees would do for a respectable apiary. 

 I have no doubt 2, or even 3, quarts could be 

 advantageously fed to each colony, if done 

 systematically; but I am home only evenings 

 and mornings, hence I can not feed them dur- 

 ing the day. I am prodding my feeble inven- 

 tive faculties for a method of feeding them 

 within the hive, and I have an inkling of how 

 it can be done. If it proves a success, I'll let 

 you know. Peiro. 



Chicago. 



Early Honey Crop Small 



At this writing it looks as though the 

 honey crop will be small, although in isolated 

 localities bees are doing well. It is as yet too 

 early to say what the result will be. The 

 great amount of rain we have had, and are 

 having, may produce a continuous honey-flow 

 until buckwheat comes, and it is not too late 

 to have a big honey crop. One of my out- 

 yards is doing well. F. Greiner. 



Naples, N. Y., June 29. 



White Mulberries for Bee-Feed 



With the first hot days of this later June 

 the white mulberry is dropping its fat and 

 luscious fruit, bursting its juicy jacket as it 

 strikes any hard substance. The grateful 

 shade and sweet berries are an easy attraction 

 for the neighborhood birds, the robin, the 

 shrike and the oriole seeming to indicate a 

 special preference, with the sparrow a close 

 second. 



With the intense heat of yesterday (June 

 29) and to-day it is only natural that nectar in 

 flowers should evaporate, leaving less sweets 

 in the calyxes for the bees to feast on and 

 store against the days of famine that are cer- 

 tain to come before the 6now makes its ad- 

 vent. Even now bees seem at a loss in what 

 field they may best glean for coveted stores. 

 They must feel in urgent need of making up 

 for the many lost days of spring, when it was 

 too cold or rainy for vigorous quest. 



These conditions — all too common the last 

 few years in this small portion of our land — 



Lewis Goods at 

 Factory Prices 



BEE-SUPPLIES 



Best of everything the bee-keeper needs. Large and complete stock. Fine 

 Italian and Caucasian Queens. Prompt service. Catalog free. 

 Get our prices before you order elsewhere. 



C. M. SCOTT & CO. 



29Atf 



1004. East Wash. Street. INDIANAPOLIS. IND. 



Cool Weather and Little Nectar 



There are quite a number keeping bees in 

 this vicinity, most of them doing so in order 

 to ride a hobby which is both interesting and 

 inexpensive. As a rule, they have strains of 

 blood from the best breeders in this country, 

 and use the most modern and up-to-date hives 

 and other "bee-furniture." There is just 

 enough difference of opinion as to the proper 

 size of hives, depth of frames, etc., to make 

 things interesting at our usual weekly gather- 

 ings. The bees on the average did not come 

 out of winter quarters very strong, but I don't 

 believe this fact will cut a great deal of figure, 

 as they have all built up at this date, and 

 until within the last few days a colony of any 

 size could do little more than make a living, 

 owing to the cool weather and lack of nectar. 



La Porte, Ind., June 27. C. H. Wair. 



Queen-Button for Bee-Folks 



This is a very pretty thing 

 for a bee-keeper or honey- 

 seller to wear on his coat- 

 lapel. It often serves to in- 

 troduce the subject of honey, 

 and frequently leads to a 

 sale. 

 The picture shown here- 

 with is a reproduction of a motto queen-button 

 that we are furnishing to bee-keepers. It has 

 a pin on the underside to fasten it. Price, by 

 mail, 6 cent6 ; two for 10c ; or six for 25c. The 

 American Bee Journal one year and 4 buttons 

 for $1. 10. Address all orders to 



GEORGE W. YORK & CO. 

 334 Dearborn Street, - CHICAGO, ILL. 



Please mention Bee Journal 

 when writing Advertisers. 



