THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



285 



Dear Sir: — In answer to your ques- 

 tions: 1. I have taken 3,000 pounds with 

 the extractor, and 1,000 of box honey. I 

 wintered eighty stocks and sold three in 

 the spring, leaving seventy-seven. They 

 increased to one hundred and four. I 

 sold six new stocks in July, leaving 

 ninety-eight. I only intend to winter 

 eighty stocks this winter 



2. They are filling up for winter now. 



3. The three best honey plants in the 

 locality are white closer, red clover and 

 buckwheat. 



4. White clover about the 15th of June 

 until the 1' th of July. Red clover, sec- 

 ond crop commencing 15th of August, 

 continuing until 5th of September. Buck- 

 irlieat, nearly the same as red clover. 



E. Brown. 

 Norfolk Co., Ont., Sept. 13, 1875. 



1. In the spring had five good swarms 

 left, losing two in springing and by rob- 

 bing. March 33 two of the stocks lost 

 their queens, and it was about three months 

 before I got good laying queens. Raised 

 one batch, no drones, queens good for 

 nothing, of course. Second lot fertilized 

 all right, began laying, soon stopped, and 

 the bees raised a new lot, which are all 

 right. Bought two nuclei stocks, and 

 made three new ones. Now have ten 

 good stocks, two whose new queens will 

 soon be laying if all goes well. Just 

 honey enough to keep bees breeding 

 nicely, with a little feeding, till August 8, 

 when buckwheat began to bloom. Since 

 then, bees have filled their hives full 

 enough for winter, and we have taken 

 95 Its. honey, all told, while keeping the 

 brood nest free from honey. 



2. The prospect for the balance of the 

 season is good. Having eight acres of 

 buckwheat still in bloom, with an abun- 

 dance of heart's-ease and small amounts of 

 aster, golden-rod and white clover, if we 

 can have a few weeks of good weather, to 

 get it. 



3. Our best honey plants are buck- 

 wheat, heart's-ease, white clover and bass- 

 wood. The first one gives us a good 

 yield, then the other, then both, though I 

 know of but five basswood trees in reach 

 of our bees. Neither white clover or bass- 

 wood comes up to buckwheat, with us. 

 White clover began to bloom May 19, 

 1874, and June 9, this year, and we still 

 .have a considerable of it in bloom now. 



Heart's-ease began to bloom July 11, and 

 continues till hard frosts come. Buck- 

 wheat begins about August 8, and blooms 

 till frost comes, generally. 



Will M. Kellogg. 

 Knox Co., 111., Aug. 5, 1875. 



In this section of country bees had 

 done very well till August 23, when a very 

 severe frost killed most of our honey-pro- 

 ducing plants. We began the season 



with fifty-eight stocks, some quite reduced 

 in numbers; have increased to ninety-six, 

 mostly in good condition. We will prob- 

 ably have from 1,500 to 3,500 lbs. of sur- 

 plus box honey. Chinese mustard, catnip 

 and mignonette will continue in bloom 

 until very cold weather; furnishing a suf- 

 ficient quantity of honey to keep the bees 

 in a prosperous condition and store some 

 surplus honey. 



Chinese mustard, mignonette and com- 

 mon mustard are our three greatest honey- 

 producing plants. They are of easy cul- 

 ture, and will withstand very heavy frosts 

 without injury. We have a field of Chi- 

 nese mustard, sowed May 5, and it is still 

 in bloom and swarming with bees, be- 

 sides it is a most remunerative field crop. 

 Mignonette, sowed May 5, was first visited 

 by bees July 10. It is in full bloom and 

 literally covered with bees. Common or 

 brown mustard, sowed May 28, began to 

 yield honey, July 17, and continued about 

 fifty days. It is much inferior to the Chi- 

 nese in every particular, but is profitable 

 also as a field crop ; it ripens unevenly 

 and shells badly. Chas. F. Lank. 



Rock Co., Wis., Sept. 6, 1875. 



My success in bee-keeping the present 

 season is as follows: 



Last spring I had ten swarms, have had 

 nine new ones in all 19. About 300 pounds 

 of box honey, up to the 33d of August. 

 While the buckwheat was in full bloom, 

 we had a frost that put a stop to all honey- 

 gathering for a few days; but now (Sept. 

 9th) it is wet and warm and the white 

 clover is coming in blossom again, and 

 the bees have again resumed the surplus 

 boxes and are working finely. My bees 

 are all black. 



White clover and buckwheat are our 

 only dependence for honeJ^ There are, at 

 present, some small flowers stich as catnip, 

 heart's-ease and malice. White clover 

 comes into bloom about the 30th of June, 

 and lasts from two to six weeks. Buck- 

 wheat is sown here about the last of June, 

 and is in bloom about the middle of 

 August. 



Chapin Aldrich. 



Rock Co., Wis., Sept. 9, 1875. 



There was no surplus honey during the 

 whole season until August 15 to 20, caused 

 undoubtly from continuous wet weather, 

 but from the 30th of August to 9th of Sept. 

 the flow of honey was very good, but 

 since the last date, they have done but lit- 

 tle in boxes. I have taken 320 in boxes 

 finished, and about 450 in boxes not yet 

 full, but will be in eight to ten days, if 

 heavy frost does not cut off the flowers. 



August 28, extracted the first, and to 

 yesterday Sept. 15, have taken 1,503, and 

 all the hives extracted to Sept. 8th, are full 

 and sealed, and those since, are in a verj^ 

 fair condition to fill up in a few days. I 



