238 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I had 40 stands in the Spring; 62 at 

 this date. 1,500 lbs. box honey; extracted 

 350 lbs. ; probably will take 200 more. 

 Raspberry and white clover are about 

 equal. 



Raspberry blooms from June 1st to 

 July 1st; clover from June 1st until Sep- 

 tember 1st; basswood blocms July 20th, 

 and lasts two or three weeks; buckwheat 

 blooms from August 1st to September 1st. 

 Geo. H. Sprague. 



Steuben Co., N. Y., Sept. 11, 1875. 



Linden, white clover and fruit blossoms, 

 usriall^, aflFord us honey. This year linden 

 and fruit blossoms were almost an entire 

 failure, leaving white clover, golden-rod, 

 " heart's-ease " or smart-weed, and black 

 locust. Four miles west of here, buck- 

 eye, white clover, heart's-ease and golden- 

 rod produced honey in this order. 



J. E. Richie. 



Allen County, Ohio. 



Dear Journal: — In answer to the 

 ♦' Special " questions to your readers, I 

 will say: 



1. Honey and swarms are a failure. 

 Had twelve colonies last spring; no in- 

 crease. Did not gather enough to breed 

 without feeding till buckwheat came, and 

 shall have to feed for the winter. 



2. The above answers this. 



3. White clover, locust and catnip. 



4. This is my first season here, and the 

 clover and locust yielding no honey, I 

 can't answer. Catnip began to yield 

 honey in June and continued till the first 

 of this month, but only a little, not enough 

 to furnish a supply, although there is a 

 large quantity of it here. 



I am just outside Cincinnati city limits, 

 ^ of a mile from the little Miami river, 

 and the same distance from the Ohio 

 river, and about seven miles from Chas. 

 F. Muth's. 



My colonies are strong, but I have a 

 constant fight with the moth. 



A. B. Mason. 



Hamilton Co., O., Sept. 17, 1875. 



Dear Sir: — In answer to your "Spec- 

 ial " to readers, I would say : 



1. The season has been very unfavorable 

 to both honej^ and swarms. The frost and 

 cold late spring prevenred the bees reach- 

 ing swarming strength, or prevented 

 swarming if they did reach it, (except a 

 few strong stocks) until the last of June 

 or Ist of July. The blooming of the 

 sourwood, together with the honey ob- 

 tained from sumach, second crop of 

 white clover and persimmon, brought 

 swarms from such stands as had almost 

 reached swarming strength in May. Such 

 swarms, and the stocks throwing off the 

 swarms must be fed in this locality, 

 through August, to have them in proper 

 condition to gather enough honey from 



fall blooms, to spare their owner some 

 honey and pass safely through the winter; 

 and the man that refuses to feed such 

 swarms and old stocks, is " penny wise 

 and pound foolish"! I have taken 

 only 100tt)S of honey from 44 stocks; 

 have had 26 swarms, and lost one. 



2. Prospect for the balance of the sea- 

 son is good, if brood rearing is kept up 

 through August; bees here invariably get 

 rich in September and October, and you 

 can winter and spring them without hous- 

 ing or further attention. 



3. The best three honey plants, I think, 

 are poplar, white clover, and still-weed or 

 aster. The aster, our great and reliable 

 honey plant, commences secreting honey 

 15th to 17th of September, and continues 

 till killing frosts, and a few days after y 

 usually about 30 days. I cannot give the 

 dates of the others. W. H. Riogs. 



Hamilton Co., Tenn., Sept/ 14, 1875. 



I started in the spring with 12 stands of 

 bees; increased to 27, by both natural and 

 artificial swarming. Had to feed as late 

 as July Iht. Bees gathered little honey 

 till buckwheat bloomed. Have had 

 swarms store over fifty pounds of surplus 

 from that source, and they are still bring- 

 ing it in. 



Golden-rod bloomed about the middle 

 of August. Am using small frames for 

 surplus and am extracting the buckwheat 

 honey from them, with the expectation of 

 having them filled with golden-rod honey. 



Our best three plants for honey are the 

 white clover, buckwheat and golden-rod. 

 I find the bees work very freely on cat- 

 nip and alsike clover. Have planted nine 

 acres of alsike, and J^ acre of melilot. 

 Have not observed closely enough to be 

 able to state the time of blooming. 



£. A. Zimmerman. 



Cook Co., 111., Sept. 4, 1875. 



Mr. Editor : — In reply to the questions 

 propounded in the September number, I 

 would say : 



1. Up to the time the rains set in, my 

 success was all I could wish ; since that 

 time bees have done little or nothing. I 

 had, in the spring, 66 colonies, but re- 

 duced them by uniting to 44. Total 

 number of pounds taken, 5,006. Have 

 now 106 colonies of bees but will reduce 

 that number to about 90, in order to have 

 them in right condition for wintering. 



2. I expect no surplus honey after this. 

 If like other years, will fill the hive for 

 winter stores. 



3. Poplar, sour-wood and fall flowers. 



4. The poplar blooms the first week in 

 May, and yields honey from 14 to 20 days. 

 Sour-wood blooms about the 25th of June 

 and yields honey nearly a month. Fall 

 flowers just commenced to bloom at this 

 date Sept. 10th. J. F. Montgomery. 



Lincoln Co., Tenn., Sept. 10th, 1875. 



