1894 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Jan. 



such a honey yield passes by without 

 any surplus, none can be obtained 

 during the season. From this it will 

 be seen that in order to be a success- 

 ful apiarist, a person must have a 

 knowledge of their locality and secure 

 the bees" in time to take advantage of 

 the honey flow when it arrives. Fail- 

 ing to do this there is no profit in api- 

 culture. Here in central New York, 

 our honey crop comes mainly from 

 linden or basswood, which blooms 

 from July 5th to 15th, aud lasts from 

 ten days to three weeks, according to 

 the weather. In other localities in 

 the State, white clovpr is the main 

 crop, coming in bloom June 15th to 

 20th, and again in ethers buckwheat, 

 yielding honey in August; but as 

 nearly all have a yield of honey from 

 basswood, I will speak of that as the 

 harvest. Bear in mind, however, 

 that it devolves on the reader of this 

 to ascertain by careful watching, just 

 when and where is the source of their 

 surplus honey crop, so as to work ac- 

 cordingly. After having determined 

 just when we may expect our harvest 

 of honey, the next step is to secure 

 the bees in just the right time for 

 that harvest, doing this by some one 

 of the excellent plans given in our 

 bee books. If you have a field of 

 grain to cut, you hire the laborers 

 when the grain is ripe, not before or 

 afterward,yetin keeping bees few give 

 any attention to this matter, so that, 

 as a rule, the bees are generally pro- 

 duced so as to become consumers rather 

 than producers,and thus we often hear 

 persons contending that bee-keeping 

 does not pay. To know how to bring 

 the bees and the locality together, it 

 should be understood that after the 

 egg is laid, it takes three days for it 



to hatch into a little larva. This lar- 

 va is fed six days, during which time 

 it has grown so as to fill the cell, when 

 it is capped over and remains hid 

 from front-view twelve more days, 

 when it emerges a perfect bee, mak- 

 ing a period of twenty-oue days from 

 the egg to the perfect bee. This bee 

 now works inside the hive for 16 days 

 when it goes out as a field laborer; so 

 it will be seen that the egg must be 

 laid at least 37 days before the honey 

 harvest, in order that our bee has an 

 opportunity of laboring in that har- 

 vest to the best advantage. Now if 

 the harvest is basswood, commencing 

 to bloom say July Khh, the egg for 

 our laborer must be laid on or before 

 June 3d. In this way we can calcu- 

 late on any bloom, so as to have our 

 bees ready in time for the harvest, 

 and let me say that these two factors, 

 securing the bees and knowledge of 

 location, have more to do with suc- 

 ces?ful bee-keeping than all else con- 

 nected with the pursuit. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Nebraska Notes. 



BY MRS. A. L. HALLENBEC'K. 



The Summer blossoms have faded: 



The Autumn flowers are dead: 

 Have we gathered aught from their sweet- 

 ness? 

 Have we learned in its full completeness 



Each lesson before they fled? 

 Have we watched through the sultry Summer 



Our bees at their dailv toil? 

 Can we tell where they found the sweet 



treasure 

 That we enjoy now at our leisure? 



Have we left them their share of the spoil? 



And now, what are we going to do 

 till warm weather comes and the bees 

 can go to work again? Sit down by 

 the fire and forget all about the bees 



