AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



the condition of my health, I sold 50 

 colonies of my bees for fear I would not 

 be able to care for them another year, 

 but if my health keeps on getting better, 

 I may stock up again in the spring. It 

 is the only thing that I have worked at 

 for six years, and made more in the last 

 year than in any two years before. The 

 reason is, I understand it better. Bee- 

 keeping is not all learned in one or two 

 years, but it takes one's lifetime, 

 almost, to make a success of the busi- 

 ness. I have learned a great deal from 

 the American Bee Journal, and may it 

 live long to educate the people in the 

 science of handling bees, for I know 

 from my own experience that there are 

 only a few that will make a success at 

 the business. One has to go at it with 

 an eternal vigilance or grit, to make 

 anything out of it. Ira Adamson. 



Winchester, Ind., Jan. 6, 1893. 



Brood-Chambers Well Filled. 



I losi 15 colonies out of 21 last 

 spring, and the others were reduced so 

 low that they hardly built up. When 

 the white clover blossomed they worked 

 on it very little. I had 5 late swarms, 

 and as I wanted the bees I did not put 

 the sections on until late, and only got 

 10 to 12 pounds of honey in partly- 

 filled sections. The late honey-flow 

 seemed to be better, and the brood- 

 chambers were well filled with honey 

 and bees. My farm crops were on a 

 par with the bees — not one bushel of 

 apples on some 90 trees, and very little 

 small fruit. Edward H. Beardsley. 



Deer Park, Ills., Jan. 9, 1893. 



Bee-Keeping in Tennessee, Etc. 



My neighbors keep bees. I try to 

 keep bees. My neighbors don't read any 

 bee-papers. I read all that I can get 

 hold of, and wish for more. My neigh- 

 bors don't wish for anything in the way 

 of bee-literature, beause they think they 

 are versed in apiculture, and the old 

 box-hive thrown in. I have 14 bee- 

 keeping neighbors within four miles of 

 me representing 72 colonies of bees. I 

 represent 25 myself — in all, then, 97 

 colonies, all black bees except my own. 

 My bees were housed up from November 

 until Dec. 31st, when they had a good 

 flight. The weather has been very cold 

 here, the mercury standing at 10'^ to 

 50° above zero for about three weeks. 

 On Dec. 31st It was up to 60° above. I 

 do not see why the bee-keepers of Teu- 

 nessse don't have associations and con- 



ventions, and so on. Are they not as 

 able as the bee-keepers of other States ? 

 or is it because they don't want anything 

 of that kind, or don't care ? 



I send a stalk of clover that I found 

 last summer. Please tell what kind it 

 is. A. C. Babb. 



Greenville, Tenn., Jan. 2, 1893. 



[It is Alsike clover, one of the best 

 honey-yielding plants, as well as being 

 excellent for feeding" stock. — Ed.] 



Too Rainy— Too Cold— No Nectar. 



The honey season of 1892 was the 

 poorest we have had for the past eight 

 years in this locality. Last spring I put 

 24 colonies of hybrid bees on the sum- 

 mer stands, and all were in good condi- 

 tion, and with plenty of honey to start — 

 from 15 to 18 pounds per colony. They 

 did not gather one pound of comb honey, 

 and most of the colonies not enough 

 stores for winter. The cause was too 

 much rain, and too cold in the earlier 

 part of the summer. There was no nec- 

 tar in the flowers, either. 



C. F. Pbussing. 



Fountain City, Wis., Jan. 4, 1893. 



Poor Season — Cold Weather. 



This has been the poorest season for 

 years in Central New York. But few 

 have obtained any surplus at all. I 

 commenced the season with 24 colonies, 

 increased to 36, and obtained 600 

 pounds of comb honey, mostly from 

 buckwheat and golden-rod. Basswood 

 blossomed profusely, but yielded noth- 

 ing. I am wintering 9 colonies in chaff 

 hives, and 27 colonies are in the cellar 

 — all seem to be doing well. The weather 

 has been very cold so far, temperature 

 being below zero a number of times. 

 F. F. Harrington. 



Lena, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1893. 



Bountiful Crop of Honey Secured. 



The season of 1892 will long be re- 

 membered by me for its bountiful honey- 

 flow. Forty-six colonies, spring count, 

 gathered 4,342 pounds of honey, all ex- 

 tracted but about 75 pounds. There 

 was a continuous honey-flow, more or 

 less, during June, July and August, but 

 September was a surprise, being cold 

 and wet, so that I had to double up a 

 few colonies that I had expected to build 

 up for winter, and feed back about 300 

 pounds of honey to put my bees in a 



