236 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



am taking from 60 to 100 lbs. daily, and will 

 continue as long as the bees are gathering 

 the present amount. Tliey are working 

 splendidly this P. M., it being warm and 

 pleasant. After another heavy rain last 

 night. 



The best honey-producing plants in this 

 section are white clover, linden, smart- 

 weed and Spanish needle. Buckwheat is 

 usually good, but little is cultivated in 

 this vicinity. White clover generally be- 

 gins to bloom 15th to 20th of May, and 

 continues till frost. It has been in its 

 prime since August 20th to Sept. 10, (this 

 season is an exception). Linden about 

 Jun. 20th to 25th (varies 10 to 15 days some 

 years) and continues 10 to 12 days. Smart- 

 weed, very abundant, begins about August 

 15 and continues until frost. Spanish 

 needle grows chiefly after harvest and 

 summer plmcing (quite plentiful) and is 

 now in full bloom, and continues until 

 fro.^^t. 



Other varieties of honey-producing 

 plants, such as are found in an agricul- 

 tural and fruit region are abundant, and 

 yield more or less honey in their seasons. 

 Wm. Reynolds. 



McLean Co., 111., Sept. 16, 1875. 



Dear Editor: — As requested in the 

 September number, I send answers to your 

 questions : 



I commenced the season with 66 swarms, 

 seven or eight quite light, have but just 

 built up, have increased to 138 swarms. 

 From 38 swarms (ten of them young ones) 

 with the extractor, I have taken, up to the 

 first of August, a trifle over 5,100 and 

 about 500 of comb honey. I shall pro- 

 bably get three or four hundred more 

 when I put up for winter. 



The three best honey plants, are white 

 clover, basswood and golden-rod. 



Clover blooms about the first of June 

 and continues, if not too dry, until Sep- 

 tember. Basswood usually blooms about 

 the 10th of July and lasts about ten days. 

 This season it did not bloom until about 

 the 15th and bloomed about two weeks. 

 Golden-rod blooms about the middle of 

 August and is in bloom about three weeks. 

 A. H. Hart. 



Outagamie Co., Wis., Sept. 15, 1875. 



Bees in this locality gathered but little 

 more honey than they consumed up to the 

 twentieth of August. Since that time up 

 date, they have nearly filled up there hives 

 with honey, and stored considerable in 

 surplus boxes. White clover is our main 

 source of honey ,was nearly all killed dur- 

 ing the past winter. Fruit bloom was an 

 entire failure with us. There is but little 

 basswood or linn here, except on bottom 

 land along the streams. What little we 

 have, generally produces abundance of 

 honev, but this year it rained nearly all 

 the time it was in bloom. 



I consider the basswood or linden the 

 best tree we have for honey, and should 

 be extensively propagated by every bee- 

 keeper. It is easely propagated by trans- 

 planting from the woods or from the seed. 

 Trees that I transplanted from the woods 

 three years ago, were full of bloom this 

 year. This tree comes in bloom about the 

 tenth of July, and remains about two 

 weeks. I have so much faith in it that I 

 intend to plant several bushels of seed this 

 fall, and set out wherever I want shade 

 trees, or have waist land. Alsike and white 

 clover are the best cereals we can cultivate 

 for producing honey I wonld recom- 

 mend mixing alsike and white clover seed 

 with all grasses sowed on the farm. 



Aaron Benedict. 



Morrow Co., O., Sept. 7, 1875. 



Bees in this vicinity wintered very 

 poorly on their summer stands. Some 

 bee men losing all or nearly all they had. 

 I put into my bee-house last fall 35 colonies. 

 When I set them out this spring I had 

 lost two, but I afterwards lost five more 

 through the month of April, on account 

 of a very cold snap. Bees did nothing 

 during the time of fruit blossoms. Fruit 

 buds being nearly all killed by the frost. 



White clover began to blossom about 

 the first of June. Bees began building up 

 very fast. Rather too much rain for bees 

 to do well. Bees are yet working on 

 white clover. Bees have begun working 

 on buckwheat, they come in so heavy 

 loaded they can hardly reach the hive. I 

 sowed a small patch of rape this spring. 

 At this writing the bees are busy at work 

 on it. 



Taking this season all through, bees 

 have and are doing better than for several 

 years past. 



My bees have stored a fine lot of box 

 honey. I have never used an extractor 

 but am confident it would pay many times 

 over. I now have forty colonies in good 

 condition and a number of nuclei hives 

 containing four frames of comb. No pre- 

 venting providence, I expect to go into 

 winter quarters with fifty colonies in good 

 condition, and a nice lot of box honey. 

 Leonidas Carson. 



Mahoning Co., O., Aug. 15, 1875. 



Mr. Editor : — I will give you my ex- 

 perience in bee-keeping this season : 



This spring I began with thirty-three 

 swarms; six of them quite feeble, and 

 twenty-seven fair. May 20th my first 

 swarm came out, and the 30th a second 

 one from the same hive. From that time 

 the rest continued to swarm until Aug. 

 18. Now I have ninety swarms, with 

 plenty of honey to carry them through 

 till flowers come again, but it needs to be 

 equalized. 



My bees are not in very good condition 

 for wintering, some are almost destitute of 



