258 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



In consequence of it the swarming season 

 was sliort, and I could only succeed to 

 give the two black colonies Italian queens ; 

 only divided one hive, as the other colonies 

 seemed to be rather weak; had natural 

 swarms, and have now sixteen mediwin col- 

 onies; six pure, the balance hybrids, 

 but all large, strong bees. The honey season 

 was very good, but short, on account of 

 dry weather. I had about 400 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey. 



2. If we do not get too much rain now, I 

 think this season will be Ijetter than the 

 last. 



3. Corn, cotton blossoms, wild-flag, vis- 

 age-tree, and a number of prairie and 

 bottom flowers. 



4. We have blossoms from the begin- 

 ning of March to the middle of Decem- 

 ber, and even in winter bees find honey 

 in the bottoms. The worst season for us 

 is summer, from June to the end of Aug- 

 ust. The winter is nothing. If it is even 

 cold during nine days, there will be a 

 warm day, when they can fly out, clean 

 themselves, and if not too far from the 

 bottom, will gather a little. 



Charles C. Sage. 

 Victoria, Texas, Sept. 17, 1875. 



Deab Journal: — In response to your 

 request I will say that my success to this 

 date lias been very good, as to honey, since 

 the 15th of July. I got only a little sur- 

 plus honey before that. As a specimen of 

 how my bees have been doing in the lat- 

 ter part of the season, I will say that on 

 the 12th of August, I drove the queen and 

 a fair sized swarm of bees out of a gum- 

 hive that I bought last spring, giving the 

 new colony only one frame of comb, and 

 the 1st of September I cut from the new 

 colony 25)^ lbs of bright honey, and sold 

 it at 25c. per lb. to a neighbor, and left 

 the bees about three frames of comb. 

 My colonies averaged one swarm each. 

 I have since transferred the bees and comb 

 from the gum-hive, getting, at the time of 

 transferring, 24)^ lbs. of dark hone}', 

 which I sold at 20c. per lb., and the trans- 

 ferred bees are doing well with five frames 

 of transferred and some new comb. 



The prospect for the balance of the sea- 

 son is fair. If we have a good rain soon, 

 it will be very good. 



The best three honey-plants in this lo- 

 cality are buckwheat, smart-weed, and 

 sumach. My bees have been provided 

 with a succession of blossoms since the 

 first of July, and will be until frost comes. 

 Of smart-weed, I will say that it began to 

 yield honey in the fore part of August, 

 but has now almost ceased to blossom, on 

 account of the dry weather, but with a 

 good rain it may be very plenty until frost, 

 whieli may come here about the first of 

 October. The sumacli furnished a scanty 

 supply in the early part of June, and is 

 doing a little good now; it was very 



abundant in the latter part of July. 

 Clover is almost unknown here, as the 

 people have but very little red or white, , / 

 and there is but one man in the county * 

 who has any alsike. It is beginning to 

 attract attention, however. I expect to 

 sow some white and alsike next winter, 

 and get two of my neighbors to do like- 

 wise. J. Stuart. 

 Webster Co., Mo., Sept. 6, 1875. 



Mr. Editor : — I commenced this spring 

 with five swarms, which were very weak; 

 increased by artificial and natural swarm- 

 ing to sixteen; have extracted lOJ^^ gal- 

 lons; have taken off" 325 lbs. box-honey. 

 There are over 300 lbs. of unfinished boxes 

 on the hives yet. 



The prospect here is good yet, until 

 frost. The best plant here is the blue 

 nervine, commencing to bloom about the 

 first of July, and continuing until frost. 

 2d, fire-weed, commencing about the first 

 of August, and lasting about two weeks. 

 3d, boneset, beginning the latter part of 

 Avxgust, and lasting until frost. 



Robert Forsyth. 



Lenawee Co., Sept. 9, 1875. 



Bees have done well here, this season, 

 in gathering hcney, but the swarms were 

 few. My stocks averaged 50 lbs. of box- 

 honey. 



2d. The season for honey is over. 



3d. Apple blossom, locust blossom, and 

 red and white clover. 



4th. Apple blossoms commence about 

 May 1st, and last two weeks; locust com- 

 mences to blossom about June 1st, and 

 lasts about one week; clover, both red and 

 white, commence about June 1st, and last 

 until July 10th ; then there is a dearth in 

 honey-producing plants until August 1st, 

 when the second crop of red clover com- 

 mences to bloom, and lasts till about Sept. 

 1st. Elias Hershev. 



Lancaster Co., Pa., Sept. 8, 1875. 



I had nine hives in spring, one ver}' 

 weak, five medium, and three strong ones. 

 I have increased to nineteen ( all artificial 

 except two) ; one swarm went off' in ]\Iay. 

 I have sold $55 worth of honey, about 

 one-fourth comb, at 30c. , the balance, ex- 

 tracted at 20c. retail. The honey was all 

 taken by July 25th, since then they have 

 been gaining slowly all the time, from £ 

 buckwheat and weeds. We had a frost, 

 on the 11th inst., so I suppose the season 

 is nearly over. We had a hard frost in 

 Ai)ril,and consequently no fruit blossonuj. 

 I had to feed about $15 worth of sugar. 



Fruit trees, dandelions, sugar-maple 

 and white clover, are the best sources of 

 supi)ly. There is no bass-wood within 

 about three miles of me. J. Winfield. 



Trumbull Co., O., Sept. 15, 1875. 



