Some I know, are now keeping bees 

 according to the most approved methods 

 in Benzie, Grand Traverse, Leelenaw, 

 Antrim, Charlevoix and Emmett conn- 

 ties, and with as much success as is 

 usual in any part of the State, judging 

 from reports. All of these, and others 

 of the northern counties, have on their 

 best farming lands a large amount of 

 sugar maple, elm and basswood, the lat- 

 ter bloomed this year from July 13 to 

 29th, inclusive— 17 days. On all of our 

 best farming land also the white clover, 

 in its season, is a rich carpet of bloom. 



The. raspberry and blackberry thrive 

 almost everywhere, even on very light 

 sandy lands, especially in oldchoppings 

 and burnings ; and the golden rod is 

 very abundant along old fence-lines and 

 in low moist places. Buckwheat is 

 much cultivated, but is mostly raised by 

 the newer settlers ; its late sowing being 

 favorable to late clearing. 



I have visited Mr. James Williams, in 

 the township of Banks, who bought his 

 first colony, a weak one, April 1, 1878, 

 and commenced without any practical 

 knowledge of bees. He took a bee 

 paper, studied and persevered. His 

 first swarm came off July 8, then fol- 

 lowed 3 after-swarms July 19, 23 and 

 August 22. He took 50 lbs. of comb 

 honey, and packed his 5 colonies in 

 rough boxes with 6 inches of chaff 

 around them, for winter. On April 1, 

 1879, they were all in good condition, 

 and he bought 1 more, making 6. First 

 swarm he obtained June 9 ; the last 

 July 12; giving him then 22 to winter. 

 They are all in good condition, packed 

 in 5 inches of chaff, on their summer 

 stands, and, when I saw them, the 

 brood-frames were well filled out, the 

 faces being almost perfectly straight. 

 He has an extractor, and has taken 200 

 lbs. of clover, 400 lbs. of basswood, mid 

 100 lbs. of fall honey. Uses Simplicity 

 hives with Langstroth frames. By dip- 



Eing a cold saw plate in melted wax, lie 

 ad improvised a thin, perfectly flat 

 foundation, which the bees built out 

 with good regularity— better so, than 

 none at all. 



Mr. Cook, of Kearney, brought in a 

 colony last spring. His place is a new 

 clearing in the wilderness. This colony 

 gave 7 swarms during the season ; all 

 are well provided for the winter, and he 

 has a little honey for the family. 



April 20, 1878. 1 brought home 2 colo- 

 nies in movable frames, a distance of 

 46 miles. I had not, then, looked in- 

 side the hives nor did I know anything 

 of bee-culture, except by some reading 

 in the agricultural journals. They 

 proved to be good hybrids, and had been 

 allowed their own way, filling in about 



% of drone comb. I transferred, united , 

 Italianized, and made Simplicity Langs- 

 troth hives and frames. I accidentally 

 killed a queen, and secured a young 

 virgin queen late, to take her place, and 

 this colony wintered its drones. I ob- 

 tained 300 lbs. of comb honey ; I went 

 into quarters with 5 colonies after 

 uniting 2, one of which had lost its 

 queen in her flight, and the other was 

 the colony with the late virgin queen. 

 They came through the winter in good 

 order. The upper story was rilled with 

 chaff, and bundles of straw all around 

 them. The snow covered them much 

 of the time. The clear gain of the first 

 season's venture was $75.24, after pay- 

 ing all expenses, including two bee- 

 periodicals, but not including my own 

 time nor that of my wife, who has been 

 an able assistant. 



The present season has not met my 

 expectations, for no fall honey was 

 taken ; but I do not make so discourag- 

 ing a report as some. I started with 5 

 colonies (I having a drone-laying queen), 

 the latter colony refused all my assist- 

 ance towards replacing her, and was 

 quite worthless during the season. On 

 June 3, I received 4 colonies of nice 

 Italians from Mr. James Heddon, of 

 Dowagiac, and by a mistake after they 

 left his hands, I did not get them till 

 they had been on the road in the hottest 

 of weather two weeks, losing the same 

 as one swarm each, these recovered and 

 increased well, but made little surplus. 

 I lost 2 large swarms after hiving them 

 on frames of unsealed brood ; I sold 1, 

 which afterward made 2 more, and have 

 51 strong colonies, with plenty of stores, 

 wintering on their summer stands, 

 packed in rough boxes and straw, with 

 chaff in upper story. 



I obtained 450 lbs. of honey, mostly 

 comb, and all but about 50 lbs. from the 

 4 wintered over. There are several 

 bee-keepers in the counties named who 

 had from 60 to 125 colonies last spring, 

 whose reports I am not able to get. 

 Bees generally wintered well here last 

 year. Snow is a good protection. 



I have a little incident showing the 

 affection of the little creatures. When 

 I bought my first colonies of bees, the 

 seller could not tell the age of the 

 queens, but this summer as I was stand- 

 ing close by the entrance of a hive hav- 

 ing one of them, the bees brought out 

 the queen, as she proved to be an aged 

 one, but instead of biting and balling 

 her. were standing close around licking 

 her ; while this performance was going 

 on, she expired. I put her in a queen 

 cage till the next day, when I placed 

 her at the entrance, and the same cere- 

 mony was again gone tlyough with. On 



