THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



251 



strong, but have given rae only about 

 twenty lt)S of honcj' from all. 'the fifth 

 wants' nur.sinii: yet. My te.xt-book is Lang- 

 strolh as well as my hive, and I am a great 

 admirer of both. 



Tliere is still a good deal of honey ap- 

 parently, and if it does not rain too much, 

 and if frost does not come too early, our 

 bees will get their share of it. 



I can only speak of white clover with 

 certaint}' as a honey-producing plant, 

 though there must be others. There is 

 now a good deal of golden-rod in bloom, 

 but clover is our main reliance. 



On the whole I am gratified with x&y 

 success, and look forward with pleasure 

 to a resumption of the work, tl.at is ?/ my 

 bees winter well. Mrs. C. E. Grain. 



Milwaukee, Wis., Sept. G, 1875. 



1st. I commenced this spring with 40 

 stands of bees, rather weak, being badly 

 damaged last fall by taking them to the 

 mountains, some ten to twelve miles east 

 from Orange. I commenced extracting 

 about the 15th of May, and to Sept. 15tli, 

 I have taken six thousand pounds. I have 

 increased them to over eighty stands. I 

 will still have to extract and divide them, 

 as they are strong with bees and honey. I 

 have sold no hone\^ for less than tenets, in 

 gold, and don't intend to. I love the 

 mountains and bee-culture. 



2d. Not much more extracting, al- 

 though during the balance of the season 

 they gather honey and pollen whenever 

 the sun shines. 



8d. The three best honey plants in my 

 location is the black button sage, the white 

 sage, and the sumac. 



4th. They begin to yield honey about 

 the middle of May, and continue about 

 three months. Robert Hall. 



Los Angeles Co., Cal., Sept. 8, 1875. 



I wintered 31 stocks of bees last winter, 

 mostly in good condition; about half 

 Italians. The spring was cold and they 

 did but little till late'in May. I extracted 

 about 700 pounds of red raspberry 

 honey in .June; got a small quantity of 

 bass-wood honey. They have gathered 

 some for about one week to this date, 

 Sept. 4. I have taken about 1900 tt^s. and 

 have 83 strong stocks ; the prospect for 

 the balance of the season is good. My 

 bees raised more brood this year than I 

 ever knew before; they are all Italians 

 and hybrids. Our best houe\'-plants, 

 aside from linn, is golden-rod, wild aster, 

 and boueset. They all begin to yield 

 honey about the 20th of August and last 

 till frosts destroy them, which is gene- 

 rally about the last of September. Last 

 winter was very hard on bees in this 

 vicinity, nearly all died except mine. I 

 lost ten out of"59; then sold all but 3-1. 

 Ira J. Andrews. 



Gratiot Co., Mich., Sept. 4, 1875. 



We had 61 swarms, all Italians, to 

 commence with in the spring. \V^' only 

 extracted 1200 Ihs. It was "a very poor 

 season for honej- here. It rained almost 

 every day through the honey-season. 

 We now have ninety-one swarms, and 

 sold two. The weather has been very 

 good for bees during the past two weeks. 

 We think they have a plenty to winter 

 on, if it continues, and we may have 

 some to extract. Thej' are working on 

 buckwheat and thoroughwort at present. 



As to the beat honey-plants, Alsike 

 clover and Rocky Mountain bee-i)lant 

 are the best two, and catnip the next. I 

 think the wet season favorable for white 

 clover, as it is so plenty, and we may ex- 

 pect a good honey-season next year. Your 

 Journal, I could not do witffout; if I 

 only had two swarms, I would not be 

 without it. We take three, and read them 

 all. Mrs. A. A. Rice. 



Medina Co., O., Sept. 10, 1875. 



In answer to your questions in Septem- 

 ber number: 



1st. Good. 



2d. Good. 



3d. and 4th. That I am a beginner in 

 bee-keeping, and cannot answer intelli- 

 gently; white clover is our main depend- 

 ence. We have a large quantity of red 

 raspberry, some bass-wood, buckwheat, 

 boneset, golden-rod, and fruit blossoms. 

 Every other year this is considered a 

 good section of country for bees. 



Chas. Oliver. 



Crawford Co., Pa., Sept. 6, 1875. 



We have not had much of a honej'- 

 season, here in Maine. It has been cold 

 and wet. We generally' have our best 

 honey-season in August and September, 

 but this year we have no honey to men- 

 tion. My bees did little or nothing on 

 golden-rod. It has been so cold that we 

 had quite a frost on the 11th of Septem- 

 ber, and since that, bees have flown but 

 little. I had three stocks to start with in 

 the spring. Have had five natural swarms 

 and made one artificial, and given them an 

 Italian queen ; introduced by Mrs.Tupper's 

 method, with perfect success, and now 

 have a fine stock of Italians. I have at 

 this date nine good stocks; am hopeful 

 to be able to winter and spring them in 

 good shape, and take some honey next 

 season. I have only taken about 25 lbs. 

 this season. I hope to do a good deal 

 better next year. S. H. Hutchinson. 



Mechanic Falls, Me., Oct, 11, 1875. 



I have taken an average of 75 fts. of 

 extracted honey from mj^ stocks. If I had 

 run my bees for honey exclusively, I 

 could have taken 125 fts. per colony. 

 My increase is at the rate of three for 

 each one 1 had in the spring. I have as 

 many as six from one (partly natural and 



