1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



175 



that might only turn out as did my experiment.* 

 Mr. B. judges theoretically. I am culpable, 

 if I do not give facts when I have them. 



Mr Bickford, speaking of the foundations, 

 says that they cannot break down by heat, or 

 crack by cold ; nor can they be broken in the 

 honey extractor. May I ask of what they are 

 made? M. Qujjsbt. 



St. Johnsvtlli'., N. Y., Jan. 10, 1871. 



* This caution cornes in pood season, but is hardly needed 

 in this casp, as the comb fiuitiddtions will not be sold or 

 offered for bale, till fully tested — Ed. 



[t'or the American Bee Journal.] 



Honey Season in Central New York. 



The spring of 1870 opened with fine prospects 

 for bee-keep.rs, in our vicinity, who had any 

 stocks "left over" from the winter of 1869 

 During that winter, owing to the scarcity of 

 honey the previous summer, those who did not 

 feed their bees lib( rally in the fall, lost many 

 stocks, and some lost all they had. My apiary 

 went into winter quarters, on their summer 

 stands, with their cotton batting comforters over 

 them, twenty-seven strong, or rather twenty 

 strong, and seven weak, all in shallow Lang- 

 stroth hives. All came through in good condi- 

 tion, except that five colonies were found to be 

 queenless in the spring. Not a comb was mouldy, 

 and very few dead bees were found, even i i the 

 weak and queenless colonies. I built up all the 

 weak and queenless stocks with brood from the 

 stronger ones, so that several of them became 

 strong enough to divide later in the season. I 

 used the extractor only on the five queenless colo- 

 nies, ai.d took from them one hundred and 

 seventy-six (176) pounds of nice new honey, be- 

 fore they all succeeded in getting laying queens. 

 The honey was obtained mainly from fruit tree 

 and dandelion blossoms, which yielded honey 

 more abundantly last spring than I ever knew 

 them to do before— enabling all my colonies to 

 fill their hives with brood and honey, even cast- 

 ing several swarms as early as May 19 and 20, 

 some two weeks before white clover began to 

 bloom. 



Clover bloomed abundantly and yielded honey 

 freely until about July 1st, enabling some stocks 

 to store in boxes eighty to n nety pounds of 

 beautiful honey. From this date the supply of 

 honey gradually lessened, in consequence of the 

 drought, and ceased entirely July 14 and 15. 

 No box honey was made after that, except that 

 a few cells of ready made comb were filled with 

 buckwheat honey— not five pounds in all my 

 hives together, and this exclusively in hives of 

 black bees ; the Italians and hybrids mean- 

 while gathering small quantities of light colored 

 honey. 



One remarkable feature in my apiary, this sea- 

 son, was the unequal labor performed by differ- 

 ent colonies, although seemingly in precisely 

 similar condition in the spring ; some colonies 

 yielding as above stated from eighty to ninety 

 pounds, and others none at all. The two colo- 

 nies yielding the most surplus had black queens 

 that had mated with Italian drones, and were 



each three years old. These two did not swarm, 

 although full of bees all the summer. From one 

 of them, however, I made an artificial swarm 

 quite late in the season, by removal and giving 

 the new swai"m a fertile queen and two or three 

 o'.d combs. Both of these colonies are now in as 

 good condition as the other that was not removed . 

 The next best yield was from a pure black col- 

 ony that made about 70 pounds of box honey, 

 cast an immense swarm, and afterwards two 

 small ones, which, put together, made a respect- 

 able colony. The first swarm from this old 

 colony filled its hive and gave about forty pounds 

 of surplus honey, which was more than any other 

 new swarm gave, although several hybrid swarms 

 were cast two or three weeks earlier. Observa- 

 tion te.iches me that the very earliest swarms do 

 not accomjilish so much as those that come off 

 a little later, for the reason probably that the 

 later ones are generally larger. I had only one 

 pure Italian colony, and used its brood freely for 

 raising queens, and can not, therefore, say how 

 much it would have done had it been left to it- 

 self, as others were. Its queen seemed very 

 prolific, however. 



To sum up, I would say that the season, in 

 consequence of its sudden close, notwithstand- 

 ing its promising opening, has been only a 

 moderate one in this vicinity. I obtained in all 

 about eight hundred (800) pounds of honey, 

 selling it at various prices, at a total of fully three 

 hundred (800) dollars— some of it (;i50tbs^ as 

 high as fifty cents a iiound, box and all. This 

 consisted of selected boxes, weighing 8^ft)s per 

 box, gross, containing a single comb built in 

 boxes ?^ inches wide, 10^^ inches long, and 4^ 

 inches high, with glass sides. The dealer who 

 bought it wanted to know if fifty cents per pound 

 was not high for honey ! I told him, to be sure 

 it was for some honey, but I thought the style in 

 which this was jiut up I had a sample with me) 

 made it worth all I asked for it. He finally 

 thought so too, and ordered it sent on. The 

 style of honey makes half its value in market, 

 and I have observed it to be a general rule that 

 the more you ask for any article you have to sell, 

 the more desirable it seems to be in the eyes 

 of the purchaser, especially if he has plenty of 

 money. Let us keep up the price of honey. I 

 think we ought to ask as much for nice extracted 

 honey as for box honey, perhaps a little more, 

 for it is certainly nicer for use. If we otter it for 

 less, consumers will think it not so good. I sold 

 some nice quart jars of extracted honey this 

 summer for $1..50 each That was all I dared 

 ask ; still my grocer who sold it inquired after- 

 wards if I had any more of tJtat honey hi bottles, 

 and seemed disappointed when I was ol)liged to 

 answer no R. Bickford. 



Seneca Falls, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1870. 



Of the many kinds of honey noticed by travel- 

 ers and naturalists, the green kind furnished to 

 Western India by the Island of Ri'union, the 

 produce of an Apis indigenous to Madagascar, 

 but which has been naturalized in the French 

 island and also in the Mauritius, is perhaps the 

 most remarkable. 



