433 



I have 74 colonies of bees, but not 1 

 lb. of honey, and no swarms. Bees are 

 almost in a starving condition. White 

 clover was winter-killed, and we have 

 no basswood. My only dependence is on 

 buckwheat, heartsease and goldenrod, 

 and I have not seen a worse prospect in 

 7 years. I think I have one of the best 

 locations for bees in the State of Illinois, 

 with about 100 acres of pasture north 

 and about the same south, and plenty of 

 fruit east and west. I will soon give 

 you some of my experience in bee-cul- 

 ture, and my method for fertilizing 

 queens in confinement. I am well 

 pleased with the Bee Journal; the 

 only fault I And, is that I get through 

 it too quick. Levi Filbert. 



Port Byron, 111., Aug. 4, 18S0. 



[We shall be pleased to have Mr. Fil- 

 bert give his method of fertilization. 

 We want all the light and all the meth- 

 ods described in the Journal.— Ed.] 



Your request for a report on the honey 

 crop is a good one, and all should re- 

 spond. I nave to report a light crop — 

 less than % ; 55 colonies in trie spring ; 

 89 now. 800 lbs. white honey ; less than 

 300 lbs. of this is extracted. I may get 

 200 lbs. of dark honey. I have reports 

 from other bee men in this State, who 

 have from nothing to half a crop. 



R. Bacon. 



Verona, N. Y., Aug. 12, 1880. 



Fruit bloom yielded well and greatly 

 stimulated breeding, but as tbe bees had 

 come out of the winter with empty 

 combs, before they had filled up fruit 

 bloom passed, and J une 15th found many 

 strong colonies starving. When I 

 should have been taking early honeyj I 

 was compelled to feed the bees. White 

 clover, from the seed, bloomed in con- 

 siderable quantities, and is blooming 

 still, but it affords little nectar. Milk- 

 weed afforded some honey, but now 

 and then a bunch of bloom would be 

 found with 8 or 10 bees stuck to it, dead 

 or dying. At present buckwheat and 

 figwort are yielding some honey, but 1 

 have not had an ounce of surplus. The 

 outside combs are still empty, and they 

 may not have enough to winter on, 

 though all supers be removed at once. 

 I have not had a single swarm. I pre- 

 pared a colony for queen-rearing, and 

 let them rear one queen, which gives 

 me an increase of one. A colony that 

 came out of the winter with a fertile 

 worker was given Italian brood, and by 

 April 16th had a purely mated Italian 

 queen laying in the hive. I have more 

 empty hives than colonies ; some hives 

 have been waiting for swarms for two 



summers ; but I shall not surrender yet, 

 though it is very hard on one who has 

 just essayed making bee-keeping a spe- 

 cialty, and upon limited means. If I 

 can bear the down to start with, the up 

 will be all the more pleasant and cheer- 

 ing when it does come. Those who- 

 persevere will be benefited in the end ; 

 " under-feet" will be driven out of the 

 business, and we shall have ti wider and 

 better market for honey when we do get 

 it. Wm. Camm. 



Winchester, 111., Aug. 8, 1880. 



My report of comb honey is 400 lbs. 

 from 15 colonies. I expect 150 lbs. more 

 when it is capped. I wintered 15 colo- 

 nies in the cellar. I have 25 now in good 

 condition. Buckwheat is a failure, but 

 fall flowers are doing well. 



E. A. Parish. 



Hornellsville, X. Y., Aug. 7, 1880. 



The weather has been very dry here 

 for 2 months ; bees have done but very 

 little, with no white honey to speak of. 

 Poor prospect for fall crop. 



W. D. Wright. 



Knowersville, X. Y., Aug. 6, 1880. 



I now have 125 colonies of bees, and 

 not a pound of surplus honey so far this 

 season. All are light, and I do not. 

 expect more honey than will be needed 

 for wintering. All the bees in this sec- 

 tion are in about the same condition. 



C. H. DlBBERN. 



Milan, 111., Aug. 2, 1880. 



I lost % of my bees last winter and 

 spring ; I wintered in the cellar until 

 February, and then out of doors. I had 

 55 colonies when I commenced to in- 

 crease, and now have 160. 1 have extrac- 

 ted 800 lbs. , and have about 500 lbs. more 

 to extract, with about 700 lbs. of comb 

 honey to take off, leaving the bees 

 about 20 lbs. in each hive. 



II. A. SlMONDS. 



Eagle Lake, Minn., July 31, 1880. 



We have not a pound of surplus honey 

 in this neighborhood, and no prospect 

 of any. What clover there was, did not 

 produce honey. The floral cups were 

 scattered very thinly over the head, 

 showing an unhealthy condition of the 

 plant. So there was Jbut a slight flow of 

 nectar into the floral cup. The fluids 

 of the plant were absent. It will cost 

 $200 or $300 to winter my bees, after the 

 loss of $200 in preparing for the sum- 

 mer's campaign, and all my work. It 

 is very dry here. A good rain of 24 

 hours, I think, would be worth $200 to 

 me. A. Salisbury. 



Camargo, 111., Aug. 16, 1880. 



