248 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI.. 



stopped dividing on tlie first of July, but 

 the bees had no notion of quilting, so I 

 had twelve natural swarms, afterwards; 

 the last two came off August 22, and they 

 have done well for the time; the boxes are 

 one-half full. The season was very good 

 up to date, but now it is very dry, and bees 

 are doing nothing; prospects ahead not 

 good. 



Our three best honey plants are white 

 clover, linn and buckwheat. We have 

 also the poplar, locust, wild cherry, chest- 

 nut, and all kinds of fruit. Clover com- 

 mences to bloom the second week in June, 

 and continues three or four weeks. Linn 

 commences the first week in July, and 

 remains three or four weeks in bloom. 

 Buckwheat commences the second week 

 in August, and is also in bloom three or 

 four weeks. I might also say we have a 

 host of honey-producing weeds in the fall 

 that the bees do quite a business on. 



William Reynolds. 



Westmoreland Co., Pa., Sept. 1), 1875. 



Mr. Newman : — I had twenty swarms 

 last spring; one-fourth of them were very 

 weak. I have taken from them up to-day 

 363fts. of box honey in small glass boxes, 

 and six natural swarms. 



The season is over now. 



The best three honey plants : dandelion, 

 white clover and linden. They begin to 

 yield honey about the first of June, and 

 continue through July and about a week 

 in August. We get no honey here after 

 the first week in August. 



I have kept bees twelve years. I winter 

 my bees in the cellar under the room in 

 which we live. The themometer averages 

 40; and never freezes. I never lost but 

 three or fuur swarms in the winter. 



I have never made an artificial swarm, 

 or used the Extractor. C. J. Ware. 



Orleans Co., Vt., Sept 10, 1875. 



I started last spring with five stands of 

 bees; three in good condition; two weak- 

 ened by dysentery. I increased to eigh- 

 teen stands, putting two small swarms 

 together. All natural swarms. Tlie first 

 part of the season was too cold and wet 

 for mucii honey. We have had our best 

 honey season during the past three weeks. 

 I have taken 500 fcs., all in small caps, 

 and have 100 Its. on the hives. I have not 

 used the extractor. 



The piosiiect is good for the balance of 

 of til is month if it keeps warm. 



Bass-wood and buckwheat have been 

 our best; now they are working on late 

 buckwheat, boneset and golden-rod. 



My bees are black. 1 introduced two 

 Italian queens to my slock a short time 

 ago. I use the Langstroth hive. 



R. A. Calvin. 



Berrien Co., Mich., Sept. 7, 1875. 



I began the season with fifty-six stocks ; 

 have increr.sed to eightj^-four; and have 

 got about 3,000 K)S of box honey ; the / 

 largest portion was obtained from bass- 

 wood. 



The prospect for the balance of the sea- 

 son is rather poor. We had a frost about 

 the 20th of August that killed most of the 

 buckwheat, and the weather is very unfav- 

 orable for gathering honey from the 

 flowers that are not killed. The best 

 three plants for honey in this location 

 are wdiite clover, bass-wood and aster. 



White clover generally begins to yield 

 honey !rom the first to the middle of June, 

 and lasts from four to six weeks ; bass- 

 wood generally begins to yield honey 

 from the first to the tenth of July, and 

 lasts from ten to fifteen days, sometimes a 

 little longer, which was ths case this year. 

 The aster begins about the last of August 

 or first of September, and lasts from three 

 to four weeks. W. H. Tenant. 



Winnebago Co., Wis., Sept. 4, 1875. 



Out of forty-three stands of bees put 

 into winter quarters, I succeeded in win- 

 tering and "springing" twenty-eight. 

 Ten of these I used for rearing queens, 

 leaving eighteen for gathering honey and 

 increase. The season was very unfavor- 

 able until about August5th. My best stands 

 only gathering enough until that date 

 to keep from starving. My Aveakest 

 swarms I had to feed. During the sum- 

 mer I increased them to thirty-six swarms, 

 and began to use the extractor, August 

 10. Honey harvest lasted but thirty days, 

 during which time I extracted 4,200 fts. 

 of extra nice honey, besides leaving them 

 plenty for winter. The original stock 

 of eighteen stands averaged 233>^ lbs. each, 

 besides making about 100 square feet of 

 comb. * 



The best honey plant for this season was 

 smart-weed, then Spanish-needle and a 

 dozen other good plants. Smart-weed com- 

 menced blooming about Aug. 1st; Spanish- 

 needle Aug. 25th ; both continued in bloom 

 throughout the remainder of the season. _ 



As a general thing Spanish-needle is 

 our main de])endence for surplus honey. 

 Some years linn and buckwheat play an 

 imporiant part as honey-producers. 



i\rv bees aie Italian. I received my 

 impnrtetl queen Ironi Chas. Dadaut & Son. 

 Her worker progeny aie not the fancy, 

 light colored varictv which some so much 

 admire, but, O my"! don't they bring in £ 



the honey ihougli ; and that's what we are J 



after. " M. E. McMaster. I 



Shelby Co., Mo., Oct. 11, 1875. ^ 



I commenced this spring with four 

 stands of bees in fair condition— three 

 Italian and one hybrid. 



In the latter part of April, 1 started a 

 nucleus hive, from which I raised ten very 

 fine queens. On May 7th, I divided all my 



