1880 



HLEANlNGS m BeE CULTURE. 



620 



(Ironc this season. \Vc have kept a drone-trap on 

 the hives nearly a month, and I tailed to trap a sin- 

 gle drone, and we have very carefully looked the 

 colonies through, and failed to tind any drones. An- 

 other point Avc wish to notice is, that drones were 

 raised in the least nnnibcrs this season we ever saw; 

 but whether it is on account of the scarcity of hon- 

 ey or not wc can not say; but the fact /ids been, and 

 is »(>!«', that there are very few drones in our apiary. 

 After carefully looking- down one side and up the 

 other of bee-keeping, we must saj' the outlook is 

 decidedly dull; but we are not ready to give up by 

 any means. Possibly we may have rains yet that 

 may bring out fall bloom that maj' help us out; 

 but wc have thus far never received any benefit 

 from the fall bloom, as it consists principally 

 of g'oldenrod, which never has produced any notice- 

 able amount of hones' for us j'Ct. 

 Rochester, O., July '>, 1880. M. W. SnEpnERD. 



My bees have not paid expenses yet. 



Benjamin Shekk. 

 Nevada, Story Co., la., June 1.5, 1880. 



Nf> HONEY. 



My bees are lying- out, and have been all summer. 

 I have smoked them in numbers of times, but it 

 does no good. They have not made any honej'. I 

 have read your book, but failed to find what to do. 

 1 am in trouble about them. E. J. McCuEVE-i'. 



Tyro, Miss., June 16, 1886. 



ONLY LBS. FROM V) HIVES. 



Do you find that j'our bees are doing well this 

 year? The bees in my neighborhood are doing very 

 little. One man has If) hives, and has taken off only 

 !) lbs. of honey. My bees have not commenced yet 

 to build comb. 1 can not understand it. 



Win. H. Henick. 



IJoston, Mass., June ;i9, 18t6. 



8ee Our Own Apiary, this issue. 



THE SEASON VERY DRY; BAS.SWOOD A FAir.UUE. 



I have not had a natural swarm this year. How- 

 ever, we had a very good flow from clover— rather 

 heavier than usual. I have taken only KiO lbs. of 

 box, and I have not obtained a pound of extracted 

 honey. About one-fourth of the basswood - trees 

 bloomed, and very sparingly. Basswood is In bloom 

 now, and it is iiupossilile to work in the yard on ac- 

 count of robbers. Our oiilj- hope now is buckwheat. 

 We are having a very dry season. 



W. S. CooGSHALi., aao. 



West Croton, N. Y., July 1:.', 1S8B. 



DR. BLANTO.n'S yield BELOW THAT OF LAST YEAR. 



Bees are not doing- very well hero this year. Dr. 

 (). M. Blanton tells that he will not get nearly as 

 much honey this year as last. Bees have swarmed 

 very little here this year. What makes bees swarm 

 without building- queen-cells? In all other respects 

 they are in good condition as to being- full of honey 

 and brood. F. S. Elder & Bro. 



Lake Villag-e, Ark., June.'lO, 1886. 



The ItaUiin bees swarm quite frequently, 

 without any preparation ueing made for 

 swarming in the way of starting queen-cells. 



HONEY-YIELD NOT LARGE; TODD'.S CANDY. 



The honey-yield will not be larg-e liere. Basswood 

 Is nearlj- a failure — but few blossoms. I had a fine 

 yield of clover honey, and am hoping- for a fall 

 yield. I have just received a sample package of 



Todd's candies. They are very nice, with the un- 

 mistakable honey taste. Have you ever received 

 samples? I think it is a splendid way to work up 

 honey. 1 think friend Todd is reliable in his state- 

 ments. We ought to boom his candy. 



Hartford. N. V., July 17, 188(1. J. H. Martin. 



See Editorial Department. 



A l>Of)R HONEY SEASON. 



The season of 1886 has been the poorest for bees in 

 this locality ever known. Last fall we had a fine 

 honey-flow In September, and bees went into win- 

 ter with plenty of stores. They came out in the 

 spring-, strong- and in fine condition, and the season 

 promised well uj) to April ^0. At that time a severe 

 drought set in, and from then to June 2 the bees did 

 not g-ather enough honey to rear brood with; in 

 fact, T do not think they got any at all. They con- 

 sumed all the stores on hand; and where they were 

 not fed, the queens quit laying. I have heard of a 

 g-ood many bees dying- from starvation during- the 

 month of May— a thing- heretofore unheard of here. 

 The strongest colonies killed ott' their drones during- 

 the di'ought, except where they wei-e deprived of 

 their queens; and even where the queens were re- 

 moved they would kill most of the drones. I kept 

 my 80 colonies alive by feeding: the weaker ones at 

 dusk, and by feeding- all outdooi-s about 4 p. m. each 

 evening-. June 'Z we had a very fine rain, and for 

 two weeks the V)ees stored in some honey, and some 

 of the strongest colonies started to building comb, 

 and would draw out foundation readily. For the 

 past eight days they have not added any thing to 

 their stores, though we have had fine rains latelj'. 

 This is the first season in my experience where there 

 was a failure in the honey-crop, when the field-crops 

 were good. From all I can learn, the honey-crop is 

 a failure all o\er Central and Northern Texas. 



J. P. Con NELL, 68—80. 



Hillsboro, Texas, June 24, 1886. 



ANOTHER ADVERSE REPf)RT FRO.M TEXAS; THE 

 LIVE 0.\K. 



Crops of all kinds have failed in this and adjoin- 

 ing counties. Our bees have also done poorly. 

 There have been a great many bees starved to 

 death. I have had but one natural swarm this j'car. 

 It has been so dry there have been no blossoms for 

 bees to work on. I have lost only one swarm this 

 summer. I have been in this county eight years, 

 and bees have done well every year till now. As I 

 told you before, T had 28 stands, and I have not 

 taken a pound of honey as yet, and I am not likely 

 to unless I get it from the honey-dew or live oak 

 balls. We have an abundance of sumac in this 

 countrj' and they will bloom the latter part of this 

 month and August. Bees do well on them while 

 they last. They gather both honey and pollen from 

 them. 



THE LIVE-0.\K BALL. 



We have an abundance of live-oak timber all over 

 this country. They bear a little ball, in size from 

 I4 to one inch in diameter, resembling what is called 

 the ink-ball of the blackjack tree. They seem to 

 grow out from the small limbs of the trees, without 

 any bloom to nmke them. The greatest yield from 

 them has been in the dry years, since 1 have been 

 here, so wc look for a heavy crop this fall. In Aug- 

 ust they will make their appearance. They are of 

 a whitish color; and in September and October, 

 when the sap or water dries out of them you can 

 see the pure honey exuding from them. Some 



