AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



243 



When the sages begin to bloom there 

 as need of another move, and another 

 for the fall crop. One colony, or even a 

 dozen colonies, may do a thriving busi- 

 ness getting honey from a single orange 

 grove or a few willows, where a hundred 

 colonies might starve. In Iowa there 

 often came a cold, cloudy spell that last- 

 ed all through fruit-bloom, and it was 

 seldom there were three days at a time 

 that the bees could visit the flowers, so 

 that just about the time the colonies be- 

 *gan to pick up a little the flowers were 

 gone. 



To increase one colony to 128, in one 

 season, may Involve more theory than 

 most readers are willing to credit, but I 

 assure them that what is described in 

 the foregoing is possible up to March 

 15th, is precisely what I did last season, 

 and what can be done again where 

 queens, combs, weather and feed are a 

 drug on one's hands. If the colonies 

 build their own combs we should divide 

 128 by 3. If they also rear their own 

 queens, then we should divide by 3 again. 

 If we do not feed, divide again by 3, and 

 what remains is about what a natural, 

 unaided colony can do. 



In case it is questioned as to whether 

 there can be the ascribed progress made 

 in 45 days, I quote from Mr. France's 

 report on page 744 oi Gleanings (1893), 

 where it says: "On April 20 we had 

 snow and cold weather. At that time 

 the queens stopped laying, and do all we 

 could, we could not get those queens to 

 laying again for three weeks," (May 

 11th). "We commenced to extract the 



19th of June, extracted very little 



after the 12th of July." Mr. France's 

 bees built up from very weak colonies 

 and gathered 120 pounds to the colony, 

 all within 60 days. 



We often see big reports of increase, 

 and of hundreds of pounds of honey, 

 gathered by single colonies, and though 

 it may mislead or deceive the inexperi- 

 enced, the experienced always know that 

 there is no telling how big the results 

 until the attendant particulars are un- 

 derstood. 



The inexperienced, who have only 

 watched a bee-keeper manipulate bees a 

 little, are easily amazed, take up reports 

 and spread them unreservedly. Some 

 six or eight years ago extracted honey 

 sold here for less than 3 cents a pound. 

 That was an amazingly low figure, and 

 was so thoroughly reported that consum- 

 ers are still expecting to get honey at 

 that price, presumably because Califor- 

 nia is an amazing country. 



When the experienced bee-man is of- 

 fered 3 to 4 cents a pound for his honey. 



and the same is retailed at 10 cents a 

 pound by the gallon, he begins to con- 

 chide that it is better fun to amaze than 

 to be amazed. 

 Pasadena, Cal. 



TM Basis Of Hoiiey-Pretllctions. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY F. M. MERRITT. 



I believe Bro. York has hit the nail 

 (or Sam Wilson) squarely on the head, 

 when he says in his editorial on page 

 103, under the head of basis of honey- 

 predictions : " The more rain and snow 

 in November and December, the more 

 honey there will be the following season, 

 and if there is no rain and snow in the 

 two months mentioned, there will be no 

 honey." And further on he says : "We 

 believe the above rule for prophesying is 

 for linden, sourwood and white clover 

 honey." 



Now let's see how near Bro. York is 

 correct in guessing "Sammy's" secret. 

 I have taken down notes of the weather 

 and temperature since June 12, 1892, 

 but will have to draw some from mem- 

 ory. Before giving these notes, we will 

 go back over the winter of 1891-92. If 

 my memory serves me rightly, the win- 

 ter of 1891-92 was very mild. I be- 

 lieve there was but little snow, though 

 considerable rain and wet weather dur- 

 ing the winter, at least my 36 colonies 

 wintered nicely out-of-doors almost with- 

 out a protection. So much for the win- 

 ter, and now for the notes. 



June 12, 1892— Spring has been very 

 cold and wet up to the present time. To- 

 day it is very hot, with a temperature 

 running up into the 90's. The white 

 clover is begging to bloom now, it being 

 about two weeks behind the usual time. 

 The white clover honey crop seems to 

 be favorable. 



June 19. — First swarm to-day. Light 

 flow of honey from some source. Exces- 

 sive rains. 



J une 26. — The past week has been one 

 of excessive rains and violent displays of 

 electric storms, causing the tempera- 

 ture to fall to the60's. The white clover 

 is abundant, and in full bloom, but 

 owing to so much ra'.n the bees can 

 hardly gain a living. No swarms this 

 week. 



July 3. — The past week has been cold, 



with only one new swarm. No surplus 



honey has been gathered yet. Clover is 



in full bloom yet. 



July 10. — The greater portion of last 



