186 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



in July, would give us a "bumper"' crop, I would not have felt that 

 all was over for the season, but would have looked forward to the 

 milkweed, of which at that time I was not aware there Avas enough 

 in the county to be of any account, and even if there was, that there 

 was any perceptible amount of honey to be obtained from them. 



As the milkweed stalks die down each year and come up from 

 the root (which lives almost indefinitely) in May, the rain, which 

 was heavy and continued for a g'ood share of May and June, caused 

 it to gTow very rank and when its blooni appeared (usually the 

 first of July), the rains had subsided and it came ofif very warm 

 and continued so without any rain all through July and, I belie\'e, 

 August, too. 



Nothing- could have been more perfect for the secretion of nectar, 

 and when I began to notice all of a sudden that the two scale hives 

 were showing- gains, I balanced them up and began keeping tally 

 on them. They bounded ahead with regular strides from four to 

 six, then eight, ten, twelve and one day one colony showed a gain 

 of twenty-four pounds, evaporating but one and one-half pounds 

 during the night. 



At this time I did not even know where it came from, but 

 investigated and found it to be the despised (by the farmer) milk- 

 weed. I got "busy" with my extractor at once, and being alone 

 and with but one old four-frame non-reversible extractor and honey 

 that was so dense that it would hardly leave the combs. I was kept 

 busy keeping up with the bees. The flow was short, lasting m all 

 about twenty days. From that flow I extracted 13.000 pounds of 

 the finest hone}' that it seemed to me could be produced. It was 

 dense, white, of fine flavor and the best of honey in every way 

 possible. The combs were of a pearly white color, and filled full 

 to the frame. 



I produce extracted honey principally, but what a year it would 

 have been for comb honey production? I bottled and sold it to the 

 trade, the most of it realizing about ten cents per pound. I did 

 ship some in sixty-pound tin cans to outside parties. One shipment 

 went to H. C. Ahlers. West Bend. Wis., and the next year he 

 forwarded me a check for six cases, allowing me a half-cent more 

 than he was paying elsewhere, with the remark that the honey 

 purchased the year before "was the best he received out of 10.000 

 pounds purchased."' 



Am not mentioning this to get free advertising, for my crop 

 of honey since has never been of milkweed entirely, but to show 

 the quality of the honey produced from it when the conditions are 

 perfect. 



The' milkweed has continued to spread and now I look forward 

 everv vear for about one-half of my crop from that source. Inas- 



