252 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



partly artificial). The honey season is 

 over with us. 



3. Bees have not gathered any honey 

 since the 20tli, when we had considerable 

 trost. There is a plenty of hearfs-ease in 

 bloom yet, but it is too cold for the secre- 

 tion of honey, and the little workers, 

 with bountiful supplies, seem to be enjoy- 

 ing a season of rest. 



3. Bass-wood, sumach, and heart's-ease, 

 or smart-weed. 



4. Bass-wood and sumach commence to 

 yield honey about the 20th of June and 

 usually continue about two weeks ; smart- 

 weed begins about the 15th of August 

 and continues until frost. 



L. G. Purvis. 

 Fremont Co., Iowa, Sept. 25, 1875. 



I commenced the spring with seven 

 swarms, two of them light, from which 

 I got no increase, and five wintered in 

 cellar, fair, average swarms, from which 

 I have an increase of 11 good swarms, 

 making 18 in all. I shall get about 300 

 fcs. of box honey. 



My bees have not stored any honej^ in 

 boxes since about August 10th, on account 

 of cold and wet weather. 



White chwer, bass-wood and buck- 

 wheat. White clover and bass-wood be- 

 gin to bloom about June lOlh ; buck- 

 wheat about tlie first of August, and re- 

 mains in bloom until frost, which came 

 this year on the 22d of August. 



O. C. Blanchard. 



Sauk Co., Wis., Sept, 13, 1875. 



I took sixteen hives out of cellar last 

 spring in good condition. The season 

 being cold, they made no honej^ until the 

 latter part of August; then they increased 

 in numbers and were strong when honey 

 harvest came. Have increased to twenty- 

 three. Extracted 350 Its., and I think I 

 can take out 3501t)S of nice comb honey, 

 made in frames, and have plenty to winter 

 on. What they have done was done in 

 about eighteen days, in the latter part of 

 August and first of September, from smart- 

 weed and spanish-needle. They got no 

 good of white clover on account of con- 

 stant rains. 



The above named plants, I think, are the 

 best honey-producing plants in this local- 

 ity. 



Heretofore, I have only been keeping 

 bees for the novelty of it, and honey for 

 table use, but now I find, where intelli- 

 gently and judiciously managed, it would 

 be a i)rofilublc business, consequently, I 

 think of increasing tlie stock. My hives 

 are 183^x183^, 12 in depth. I use no 

 boxes or honey-boards. I winter in a dry, 

 Avell-ventilated cellar, under my dwelling- 

 house. I have wintered from eight to 

 eighteen slocks from nucleuses up, for 

 four years, and l()st but one, and that was 

 from some oversight, as it had not enough 



honey. I buy my queens from A. Salis- 

 bury, of Camargo, and have never been 

 disappointed in getting what I pay for. I 

 buy pure Italians from imported mothers. 



By the way, Mr. Salisbury, years ago, 

 learned the secret of wintering bees. 

 When a man can for years put into winter 

 quarters from 150 to 200 stocks of all 

 sizes from nucleuses up to the largest 

 standard hives, and take out the same 

 number in good condition, all can see the 

 great contrast between that and the usual 

 wail that comes from Maine to Kansas, 

 over the loss of their pets. 



R. E Carmach. 



Douglas Co., 111., Sept. 22, 1875. 



Answers to questions in the American 

 Bee Journal of Sept. : 



I. Have taken witli the extractor an 

 average of twenty pounds per hive, mostly 

 in July. Had to feed nearly all through 

 August and into September to keep up 

 brood rearing. Sometimes during August 

 they seemed to gather almost nothing, 

 again they did better, but not enough to 

 supply the brood. We fed on sugar syrup 

 in the middle of the day, in the open yard, 

 about 13^ gallons per day to twenty colo- 

 nies. Tlie bees seemed to expect it regu- 

 larly, took it with the greediness of pigs, 

 and then quieted down in a very few min- 

 utes; no fighting, no robbing. The swarm- 

 ing season was very late this year. Some- 

 times they begin in April, but this year 

 they did not begin till near the end of 

 June. We made an average of one from 

 two. 



II. The prospect, for the balance of the 

 season seems to be good. The autumn 

 gathering is now (Sept. 16) fairly com- 

 menced. The hives are filling up grad- 

 ually. The bees are working busily on 

 buckwheat, golden-rod, iron-weed, smart- 

 weed, rag-weed, boneset, etc., are coming 

 into bloom. 



III. The best three honey-plants, are 

 1st., poplar, or tulip; blooms in May, from 

 the 1st to the 15th or 20ih — owing to the 

 season. No bloom this year: killed by 

 late frosts. 2d. White clover not over 

 abundant — blooms from June 1st to 20lh, 

 and sometimes again sparingly in Sept. 

 3d. Sour-wood; blooms about July 1st to 

 20th. This latter gave us our surplus the 

 current year, being abundant, and yields 

 a most delicious variety of pure, trans- 

 parent honey. A. E. Kitchen. 



Guilford Co., N. C, Sept. 16, 1875. 



1st. Extracted houe^-, 1247 lbs., but very 

 little box honey. I have fifly-three stocks, 

 besides nuclei. 



2(.l. Good till frost. Forty-five or fifty 

 gallons per week. The season will prob- 

 ably last two or three weeks. 



3(L While clover, linn and spanish- 

 needle; linn begins to bloom about July 

 7tli, and lasts about ten days; Spanish- 



