176 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb., 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Season at Birmingham, Iowa. 



Mr. Editor : — Here is a short statement of 

 the bee season here. We had a heavy frost 

 about the last of March that injured and nearly 

 destroyed fruit blossoms of all kinds, though 

 some bloom appeared from which the bees ob- 

 tained honey enough to breed quite rapidly. 

 White clover bloomed in the latter part of May, 

 some what earlier than visual, but gave no more 

 honey than the fruit blossoms. In the latter 

 part of June basswood blossomed, and gave a 

 good supply of honey At the same time we 

 had a partial honey dew ; that is, the leaves of 

 some trees were covered with it while others had 

 none. My, bees did not touch this honey dew 

 till the supply of basswood honey was exhausted. 

 Then they worked on it in the mornings and 

 evenings, collecting at an average about three 

 pounds a day. We had no supply of honey from 

 other sources till about the 15th of September, 

 wlien, for a week, honey was obtained from late 

 buckwheat and fall flowers— a strong stock ob- 

 taining, from this latter source, about forty 

 pounds, or quite enough to carry them through 

 the winter in the open air. That closes the 

 season, and I would say it was an unfavorable 

 one for bees in this locality. There was nearly 

 no rain here from the time spring opened till 

 the first week in August, except a little shower 

 or two, scarcely enough to wet the ground an 

 inch in depth. 



Improved bee-keeping is making rapid strides 

 here. Langstroth hives, honey extractors, and 

 the American Bee Journal, are all the go now. 

 Best of all, many intelligent farmers of this 

 neighborhood have come to see my bees and my 

 honey machine, the last season, and are taking 

 a decided interest in bee-keeping. I do not see 

 why they should not succeed at bee-keeping as 

 well as at farming ; and if they do, old Jeffer- 

 son county will be flowing with honey in a short 

 time, as it is now with cattle, hogs, wheat, 

 corn, &c. 



Here is a statement of what my bees have 

 done. An increase at the rate of eleven new 

 stocks to fourteen old ones wintered. Average 

 yield of honey per stock wintered last season, 

 seventy-three (73) pounds. My best colony gave 

 me one hundred and thirty (180) pounds surplus, 

 and two swarms. My poorest gave twenty (20) 

 pounds surplus (strained), and no swarm. 



An artificial swarm, made on the 1 5th of June, 

 gave me one hundred and three (103) pounds 

 surplus, not strained. I put it in a two-story 

 Langstroth hive, with frames and empty combs. 



All that I want is a place to sell my honey- 

 where I can get the money for it, say twenty or 

 twenty-five cents per pound for strained honey. 

 Of course I will warrant it as represented, and my 

 warrant is good for something too. If our bee 

 friends will find me a market at the above rates, 

 I think I would produce 1,500 or 2,000 pounds 

 next season ; but till I find such a market, I 

 must lag behind. Strained honey sold this 

 season at twenty cents per pound, trade. 



Birmingham, Iowa. John Locke. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Season in Northern Iowa. 



Our honey season, or season for bees, from the 

 time spring opened up to the first of July, could 

 not have been better, yet we have not the white 

 clover in sufficient quantity to get much surplus 

 from it. Our main dependence for surplus in 

 summer, is the basswood. This season it 

 blossomed early in June, and yielded honey for 

 sixteen days in succession, and in immense 

 quantities. July was excessively dry, and part 

 of the time furnished no honey whatever. In 

 August we had honey dew three weeks in succes- 

 sion, yet the weather was so excessively dry that 

 the bees could only gather from daybreak until 

 about nine or ten o'clock, and then from an hour 

 before dark they would work on it again till it 

 grew so dark that many of them could not see 

 to get back to their hives This supply started 

 tliem to breeding so rajiidly that when the fall 

 rains came on we had excellent honey harvest 

 again tli rough September ; and now those bee- 

 keepers who had no honey extractor, have, as a 

 rule, too much honej'^ and too few bees for profit, 

 unle.ss they get rid of some of that surplus in the 

 spring. Their queens will be restricted in their 

 breeding, and their stocks will not do as Avell as 

 they would with less honey. My bees consumed 

 all their honey dew honey in rearing brood ; yet 

 in some localities considerable quantities were 

 stored. I saw some extracted honey dew honey 

 in a neighboring county. It was as black as ink, 

 and black ink at that. I should think it would 

 not be good for winter food for bees. 



The honey extractor is a great institution ; for 

 we can now extract inferior honey, and save it 

 to feed in summer or spring ; or, in other words, 

 we can manufacture it into beey, and have those 

 bees on hand to gather a better quality. 



Elisha Gallup. 



Jan. 6, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Wanted, 

 By a Eeader of the Journal. 



Plain directions for making a non-patented 

 honey extractor. I have no objections to buying 

 of those that manufacture eitlier patented or 

 non-patented machines ; but I do not like to pay 

 freight on them, five hundred or one thousand 

 miles, when we have mechanics and material 

 close at hand. 



E. S. Fowler. 



St^° Pretty full directions are given in the 

 back volumes of the Journal. 



The investigation of the works of the Almighty 

 leads directly to the stepsof the altar of religion, 

 and there we find the study of the works con- 

 firmed by the precepts of the Word, both incul- 

 cating, humble reverence and fervent love. — 

 Shuckard. 



