474 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAjL. 



Gathering Pollen — Alsike Clover. 



I have 35 colonies of bees, and they have 

 wintered well on the summer stands. They 

 have been gathering pollen for two weeks. 

 The last two years have been poor for 

 honey here. 



Is Alsike clover a good clover for honey ' 

 Does it yield as good honey as the common 

 white clover? I have 40 acres growing, but 

 it is young, and I have not seen a field of Al- 

 sike in bloom. I want to run 13 colonies 

 for comb honey this year, and 23 for ex- 

 tracted. I use the Langstroth hive No. 2, 

 and I like it very much. C. W. Tanner. 



Williamstown, Ky., March 2.5. 



[Yes, Alsike clover is a most excellent 

 honey- plant, and judging from the reports 

 given in the past, it is equal if not superior 

 to white clover as a honey-plant. — Editor.] 



Came Through All Right. 



Bees are wintering well 1 in our locality., 

 I put 41 colonies in winter quarters, and all 

 have come through all right. 



Israel Overholt. 



South Cayuga, Ont., April 3. 



Wintered with Small Loss. 



Bees here in New Hampshire have win- 

 tered with a very small loss, both in the 

 cellar and on the summer stands, and also 

 in trees. C. W. Gerrish. 



Rochester, N. H., April 4. 



Results of the Past Season, Etc. 



On Nov. 8, 1892, I put 68 colonies of bees 

 into winter quarters — 29 in the cellar under 

 a log house, and 39 in the cave or side hill 

 cellar. The temperature soon went down 

 to 38 degrees above zero, and staid down all 

 winter. Once I found it down to freezing, 

 when I put a stove on the stairs, and ran a 

 pipe through the doors and out the venti- 

 lator, and warmed it up to 50 degrees. I 

 did so a number of times, but it staid cold 

 and damp. 



The weather was fine the last of March, 

 and the 3rd of April, 1893, was nice. Wil- 

 lows were budded, and summer birds had 

 come, so I put out the bees, and they had a 

 good flight on April 3rd and 4th ; then it 

 turned cold and wet, and on the 18th we 

 had a foot of snow, and on the 26th 4 inches 

 more, but on the 5th of May the bees were 

 gathering pollen. Then I opened the other 

 cellar and put out 29 more colonies. They 

 had been dry and above 40 degrees all win- 

 ter (you see they had been in there six 

 months lacking three days), and I lost no 

 bees until after I put them out, and no 

 diarrhea was in either case. So I don't 

 think cold or damp will cause it. But it 

 staid cold and wet until June, and they 

 spring dwindled or something else. I kept 

 doubling up, and 40 colonies were all I 

 saved, and the most of them were very 



weak. 1 increased to 45, and got about 700 

 pounds of comb honey. 



In November, 1893, I put the 45 colonies 

 in the cellar under my new house, which is 

 dry and warm, the temperature staying 

 about 40 degrees all winter. The first of 

 this mouth was warm, and it got too warm 

 in the cellar, and the bees became uneasy. 

 The 17th was a summer day, and the sum- 

 mer birds had come again; some farmers 

 were plowing and sowing grain, and every- 

 thing seemed to say, "Spring has come." 

 The temperature was up to 50 degrees in 

 the cellar, so I put the bees out again. They 

 were all in good condition, and they en- 

 joyed a good flight. Then it clouded up, 

 and rained and snowed, and now for three 

 days the temperature has been down to 

 zero again, and I have returned one-half of 

 the bees into the cellar. 



I never have lost any bees in wintering. 

 I pack a case full of dry leaves, and put it 

 on top of each one, and leave the entrance 

 open ; that keeps them di'y and warm. 



I am well pleased with the American Bee 

 Journal, and I tell every one I know, who 

 has a colony of bees, to take it. Mrs. 

 Atchley's department is worth the cost of 

 the Bee Journal. Geo. H. Auringer. 



Bonniwell's Mills, Minn., March 26. 



Honey Prospects in Tennessee. 



The prospect for a honey crop in this 

 locality for this year seems now to be 

 blighte^. We have just had a blizzard 

 that has killed all young vegetation. 

 Peaches, pears, plums, and other small 

 fruits were in bloom, and the red-buds and 

 apples were beginning to bloom when the 

 blizzard struck here. The spring had been 

 very fine, and vegetation was earlier than 

 usual, but with the mercury down to with- 

 in 16 degrees of zero, three nights in suc- 

 cession, it withered completely. 



The fruit-bloom has always been consid- 

 ered our foundation for a honey crop in 

 this locality, and with it blighted as it is, 

 our only hope is in feeding. The bees are 

 flying to-day, but are gathering no pollen. 



H. F. CdLEMAN. 



Sneedville, Tenn.. March 28. 



Had Some Cold Weather. 



We have had some cold weather for the 

 past week, but previous to that time it was 

 very warm, and bees were carrying in an 

 abundance of pollen, and I suppose some 

 honey, from elm and other trees. 



O. K. Olmsteai). 



Orleans, Nebr., March 27. 



The Prospects in California. 



Mr. P. L. Norton, of Pennsylvania, paid 

 me a visit yesterday. He was surprised to 

 see the bees in my yard so far advanced 

 toward swarming. It was quite a contrast 

 to what the bees are doing in the East at 

 this time. 



The season has been somewhat backward 



