136 SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 



or 30 minutes every morning. The basswood usually bloomed from June 

 20 to 30. There may be a few trees of it there yet. 



The first fifteen years of my bee-keeping I usually secured half of my 

 crop from the poplar bloom ; but of late years it has been cut down,, and the 

 honey-flow is light from it. The aster is our best yielder, poplar second 

 best; cotton third, cowpeas fourth, persimmon fifth. The cotton bloom is a 

 good yielder some seasons, but only when the cotton has gotten a good start 

 in blooming, and then cut short by a dry spell. 



The best record from one hive in one day was in 1888, when I had a 

 good colony on scales during aster bloom. It pulled down 11 lbs. in one 

 day; but the scales stood only gYi lbs. by the next morning. The bees had 

 evaporated i^ lbs. during the night. That hive gained 55 lbs. during the 

 20 days when the aster was in bloom; but I have had colonies beat that 

 twenty-day record on aster. 



The year 1905 was nearly a failure. I secured only 1,000 lbs. from 160 

 colonies; and the season qI 1906 was a complete failure, I not securing any 

 honey at all, and I lost one-third of my bees by starving, although I fed 

 1,000 lbs. of granulated sugar. I now regret that I did not feed more 

 liberally, as my bees have given 2,600 lbs. of honey since August of this year, 

 and are heavier in winter stores than I have had in a long time. 



About equal parts were secured from cotton and aster. I have about 

 100 colonies now. I have been doing a local trade in bee-keepers' supplies 

 for a number of years. I make the half-joint hive the same size as the 

 eight-frame dovetail, hive. I also keep the A. I. Root Go's goods for sale. 

 the trade was light the last season, on account of the honey crop being a 

 failure. I think nearly three-fourths of the bees in this section have starved 

 the last two years. 



I have always found a good demand for my honey in Rock Hill, S. C;, 

 a city of six or eight thousand inhabitants. I am getting lo cents per lb. 

 for all my honey at wholesale. I sell most of my honey in two or three 

 pound buckets, labeled nicely. I usually sell it to two or three grocery stores 

 there, and sell it straight out. 



Capt. J. C. Foster, of Lancaster, S. C, has had some success with bees ; 

 also W. B. Crosby, Esq., Catawba. There have been numbers of men who 

 have started bee-keeping since I did, but they have fallen out of the ranks 

 for one reason or another. Most people who keep bees don't know when a 

 honey-flow is on until it is over. I always practice clipping my queens' wings 

 to control swarming. I have hunted up and found 2>2 queens in 3J^ hours in 

 strong average colonies. I have only the three-banded Italians and some 

 good honey-gathering hybrids. I ordered some five-banded bees some 

 years ago, but I have never seen a five-banded bee yet, and I got them from 

 a native breeder. The ones that I did get would come at me like bullets 

 from a gun. 



I think the three-banded Italian bees are about the best yet. I never 

 use any protection when among the bees, except a good smoker and a light- 

 colored suit of clothes and a straw hat. I hardly ever get stung. 



H. C. Simpson, 



