234 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



breeding finely, but the cold snap in April 

 came and froze the brood. They dwin- 

 dled so that I had to double up, so I had 

 but thirty left to commence with, and 

 weak at that. I procured a few stocks of 

 black bees; they gathered only enough to 

 keep breeding, but gave but little surplus. 

 I increased them to eighty full stocks and 

 thirty-two nuclei. 



The clover and basswood yielded honey 

 but a short time, on account of so much 

 rain ; but bees are rapidly collecting honey 

 now from fall flowers, and will give con- 

 siderable surplus, if it holds favorable for 

 a few weeks longer. 



G. W. Zimmerman. 



Henry Co., Ohio, Sept. 8, 1875. 



Mr. Editor : — In response to your re- 

 quest in the September number of the A. 

 B. J., I would say : 



1. This has been the best season for 

 honey we have had for several years. It 

 was too wet for three weeks in July, but 

 since that it has been splendid. I had a 

 swarm the 2d of August, and now it will 

 weigh eighty or ninety pounds. I think 

 from the present outlook I will get from 

 thirty to seventy-five pounds per hive. I 

 kept my hives well shaded, and gave 

 them plenty of room, consequently they 

 have not swarmed much. 



2. The prospect for the balance of the 

 season is good. 



3. White clover, smart-weed and Span- 

 ish needle. 



4. Clover begins the last of May, and if 

 not too dry, lasts till frost. Smart- weed 

 begins the middle of July and lasts till 

 frost. Spanish needle, the middle of Au- 

 gust, and lasts about three weeks. 



Samuel W. Lord. 

 Macoupin Co., 111., Sept. 4, 1875. 



I commenced last spring with one 

 stand, and now I have seven good, strong 

 swarms, all doing splendidly. I would 

 have had eight, but one swarm I could not 

 prevail upon to settle; that, of course, I 

 lost. Have stopped one swarm's issuing 

 by cutting out queens' cells, and am now 

 trying another, as it is so late, but the 

 honey harvest is splendid, and has been 

 for over a month. They all have their 

 hives filled. The last swarm issued Au- 

 gust 23, and it has four racks nearly filled. 

 I have turned the boxes on hives that are 

 full, and some are beginning to make 

 comb. If the honey season lasts, or if it 

 remains warm through this month, I ex- 

 pect to take surplus honey. I fed during 

 the wet weather in the spring, until after 

 the second swarm. I fed just whenever I 

 thought the rains liad been of sufficient 

 length for them to consume their little 

 stores. For our rainy days far out-num- 

 bered our pleasant ones — days that they 

 could not work. Mrs. Hattie Smith. 



Bureau Co., 111., Sept. 4, 1875. 



1. Bees in this section have done exceed- 

 ingly well this season, especially since 

 the middle of July. I had eight swarms 

 of pure Italians in tolerable condition, 

 wintered in the cellar. I let them out 

 March 29, 1875, the outer combs somewhat 

 mouldy. First swarm. May 25 ; second, 

 June 2. Spring cold and backward. Mid- 

 dle of June our wet spell commenced, 

 when bees could do but little. Although 

 I made several swarms by artificial means, 

 yet they seemed hardly to make a living, 

 until about the 1st of August, since which 

 time the weather has been very favorable 

 — quite warm, with heavy dews. My in- 

 crease in stocks has been far beyond my 

 expectations, (from eight to twenty-five, 

 besides three that ran off to the woods, ) 

 one swarm as late as September 20. With 

 one or two exceptions they are all strong 

 in bees and stores, some weighing two 

 hundred pounds or more. 



2. Bees may or may not gather more 

 stores. We have had no frost as yet, but 

 to-day the weather is cooler. 



3. Buckwheat is our best honey plant, 

 this season. Clover the next, and third, 

 the innumerable wild flowers growing in 

 our weedy cornfields, and along the road- 

 side. A. U. Crosby. 



Marion Co., Iowa, Sept. 11, 1875. 



My bees have done well, both in swarms 

 and honey. I bought seven swarms this 

 spring, and have increased to sixteen 

 swarms; they are doing finely in boxes. 

 I have some hives that I shall get 130 Bbs. 

 ot honey from. The honey season is al- 

 most over. I shall take my honey off 

 next week. 



Honey plants, fruit blossoms commence 

 May 15 to 20, and continues from fifteen 

 to twenty days. White clover commences 

 June 10 to 20, and continue till the end 

 of July. Buckwheat commences August 

 1, and continues till September. 



Amos B. Simpkins. 



Schoharie Co., N. Y., Sept. 4, 1875. 



It has been below an average honey 

 season, with very few natural swarms. 



It has been very dry in this locality for 

 some time past, which cut off the supply. 

 About the only remaining resource is 

 boneset, of which there is considerable in 

 this section. No buckwheat is raised 

 here. I predict serious losses, unless pre- 

 vented by judicious feeding. 



White clover, poplar and linden. 



This season, the white clover and linden 

 yielded but little, probably not as much 

 as raspberry, of which there is a large 

 amount, both cultivated and wild. There 

 is usual]}' an abundance of fruit blossoms 

 for early pasturage, but the fruit crop was 

 a total failure this season, while the 

 weather often prevented bees from work- 

 ing while the fruit trees were in bloom. 

 Warren Pierce. 



Portage Co., Ohio, Sept. 3, 1875. 



