THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



239 



Last spring I had twenty-four stocks, 

 mostly weak ; and three of them queen- 

 less. I have raised twenty-four queens 

 and made seventeen swarms. Bees are 

 now in good condition; prospect fair. 



Our principal resources is white clover 

 and buckwheat; and these usually yield 

 honey from four to six weeks. This sea- 

 son the drought cut clover short, and the 

 rain nearly spoiled buckwheat. 



George Ball. 



Fairfield Co., Conn., Sept. 8, 1875. 



1. I began the season with ten swarms 

 in good working condition, and have now 

 25 strong hives, working well. 



Was delayed in getting my extractor, so 

 that I did not begin to extract until 

 August 10th, and since then have been 

 busy extracting, until I have in comb and 

 extracted honey 1,000 lbs. The flow of 

 honey has been as good as I could desire, 

 and I hardly see how I could have taken 

 more honey, except by pushing things 

 harder, for the bees have done finely for 

 their part. 



2. If frost keeps off" two weeks longer, 

 the prospect seems to be good. Myriads 

 of flowers are still in bloom, and the buck- 

 wheat I have sown has been very fruitful. 

 There seems to have been no lack of 

 flowers all through the season, and there 

 are few common to the northern states 

 that we have not in abundance. 



3. Linn, golden-rod, and prairie sun- 

 flower abound ; and the variety of prairie 

 flowers is so great, that in fact, it is hard 

 to make any distinction. We have little 

 or no clover, some box-elder, and about 

 the only buckwheat sown is what I have 

 introduced, furnishing seed to any one 

 who would sow a patch. E. H. Rooers. 



Dodge Co., Neb., Sept. 10, 1875. 



1. I have received 1,309 Bis strained or 

 extracted; 95 comb, in all 1,404, from 37 

 weak stands in the Spring, now increased 

 to 76. 



2. Fall flowers here hardly ever yield 

 honey. 



3. White clover is the main stay; cat- 

 nip and fruit bloom. 



4. When fruit blooms in March and 

 April and the weather is favorable, bees 

 gather considerable, but so fickle is the 

 weather here, that they never gather more 

 from fruit bloom than to live on until 

 about 10th or 15th May, when the white 

 clover appears in bloom, which in some 

 seasons lasts until July 1st, at other sea- 

 sons only till about 10th June, sometimes 

 only two weeks yielding honey, others 

 eight or nine, and after that yield, the sea- 

 son is generally over. 



Until the cold snap in April, bees had 

 never done so well, and but for that I 

 might have obtained a rich harvest. After 

 that they had nothing to work on for 

 about three or four weeks. The long wet 



spell, set in while I was in the midst of 

 the honey harvest. 



My bees were then kept at home about 

 seven weeks and consumed so much 

 honey that I expect to have to feed three- 

 fourths of them for winter, thus taking 

 the larger part of my profits. 



R. M. Arqo. 



Girard Co., Ky., Sept. 10th, 1875. 



The honey harvest in this section has 

 been decidedly poor. What little has 

 been stored in surplus boxes is dark, and 

 even red in appearance. This before 

 buckwheat was planted. Will some 

 Penn. apiarian tell us the source of the 

 honey ? 



Unless buckwheat furnishes a supply, 

 the bees in this section will have a poor 

 chance the coming winter, unless fed. 



D. C. MlLLETT. 



Holmesburg, Pa., Sept. 4, 1875. 



I shall get but little surplus, but aver- 

 age increase in bees. 



Poor prospect for rest of season. 



White clover, blue thistle and sumac. 

 White clover blooms about May 15, and 

 continuing 90 days; blue thistle blooms 

 about June 1st, and lasts all the season; 

 secretes but little honey after harvest; 

 sumac blooms about July 1st, and lasts 

 about two weeks. D. A. Pikb. 



Washington Co. Md., Sept. 8, 1875. 



From my home apiary I got no honey 

 till linn bloom; my bees (70 hives, 35 of 

 them two-story) were then in good condi- 

 tion. I extracted 3,400 fcs. I had only 

 10 swarms (one of tliem natural). The 

 prospect for the rest of the season is good, 

 my hives are filling up, and some have 

 sealed honey. Poplar in May, linn in 

 June and July, with aster in September 

 and October or later. J. F. Love. 



Marshall Co., Tenn., Sept. 7, 1875. 



We started with 75 colonies, Italians, 

 increased by natural swarms to 125 ; sold 

 off", down to 60 and increased in Aug., by 

 building up nuclei to 110. Extracted 

 2,000 pounds. 



Prospects for balance of the season is, 

 that we shall get 3,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey. 



The best three honey producing plants 

 here are : Wild aster, poplar and white 

 clover. 



Wild aster begins to yield honey, 15th 

 Sept., and continues usually until 1st No- 

 vember or hard frost; poplar about 15th 

 May, and continues three weeks; white 

 clover about 1st May and continues two 

 months. Barnum & Peyton. 



Davidson Co., Tenn., Sept. 4, 1875. 



Jt^ We have many more of these let- 

 ters, but our space is full, and they must 

 wait for the next number. 



