8^1 



GLEAKOGS IN BEE CULtUItE. 



Oc-t. 



the hive. <>ne of the smallest colonies in which 

 I had been rearing- queens swarmed out as soon as 

 the cells beg-ah to hatch. I (iut the swarm from a 

 tree and let thcni run into the hive from which 

 they cumc, and they accepted the situation, and 

 are working contentedly. The first queen can not 

 be depended on to destroy the remaining- cells, 

 even when the colony is small. F. M. Potts. 



Media, Del. Co., Pa. 



INTERESTING FACTS IN REGARD TO SILVERHULL 



BUCKWHEAT ; THE HONEY NOT DARK BUT 



LIGHT COLORED. 



When I bought those 5-cent packages of Europe- 

 an silverhull buckwheat I intended to report 

 whether it turned out well or poorly. Well, for 

 honey the bees work on it the same as on the 

 common. 1 caught and dissected a bee, and found 

 light-colored honey that she had gathered from it. 

 This made me feel hurrah like; but in a few days 

 after, when passing through a buckwheat-field 

 (I had thought the thing over before, whether any 

 buckwheat honey is dark inside of a bee). I open- 

 ed one, and found the same light-colored honey. 

 Now, why is it dark inside of the hive after they 

 have finished if? 



T counted the seed on one stalk, and found 1293, 

 which is near enough to 1300 to call it that; 1300 

 fold— how is that? If you sow at the usual rate of 

 one bushel per acre you would have 13(10 bushels 

 per acre; but these grains are so small that one- 

 half of this amount would be as thick as one bush- 

 el of the large would make it ; then if you want the 

 yield to be 1300 or even 1000 per stalk, you would 

 have to sow, I should think, about 4 qts. per acre, 

 and take care of it the same as you do corn, which 

 would be— let's see— 1300 divided by 8 equals 163!4, 

 per acre, which might be done- on paper, at any 

 rate, and could be sold, if sold at Henderson's 

 prices, $'>M per bushel, for— my! I won't tell, for 

 some one will buy up all the buckwheat and mo- 

 nopolize the whole thing so I shall be left. Now 

 raise your buckwheat on land, and it will be 20 

 bushels per acre, at 40 cts. per bushel, as this is 

 called a very good yield for this locality; or if you 

 intend to raise 40 bushels per acre you will have to 

 take as good care of it as Henderson does with his, 

 which few do. J. L. Hvde. 



Pomfret Landing, Conn., Sept. 27, 1886. 



Friend II., I think the% reason why the 

 lioney was light-colored was because the 

 quantity was too small to show the coloring 

 matter in it. Venders of syrups put their 

 samples in thin glass bottles, and by this 

 means they make a very dark syrup appear 

 very light colored.— I think it would be pos- 

 sible to get an immense crop on a single 

 acre of ground, if the soil were prepared so 

 that it would be exactly suited for buck- 

 wlieat, and the proper number of plants, 

 and no more, were on each square foot of 

 ground. We are, however, far from such an 

 attainment as you mention. The number of 

 seeds you mention on a stalk must have 

 been an enormous product. I do not tliink 

 I have ever seen any thing like it. We have 

 about two aci'es of the European silverhull 

 buckwheat, and we propose to offer it for 

 sale at the same price as the ordinary silver- 

 hull ; or, if you choose, let it take the place 

 of the ordinary silverhull. Forty cents a 

 bushel is lower than I have ever known buck- 



wheat to be sold for in our vicinity. We pay 

 from 75 cts. to $1.0(J a bushel, even where we 

 buy 100 bushels at a time. 



^EP0^3Fg ENcea^^GiNG. 



REPORT ENCOURAGING, IN POETRY; FROM 14 



COLONIES TO 63, and 1700 lbs. of honey. 

 ^pjriLL you permit me to give you the present 

 year's report from 14 colonies, two of which 

 were qucenlcss in April, and had to wait 

 till they raised one, neither of which 

 swarmed nor gave any surplus, except a 

 few lbs. from the brood-chamber? Two others had 

 drone laying queens, which 1 did not discover for 

 more than a mouth, from one of which I got no sur- 

 plus, but had to stimulate till they raised a queen. 



1 bold my bees this .year, 



I kept but just a tew; 

 But fourteen stands and little care, 



Increased to sixtj-two. 

 The surplus, too, would seem, 



When added up, was founil. 

 Though weighed with care, it kicked the beam 



At seventeen hundred pound. 

 They're ready now for winter, too. 



For j'esterday I found 

 Each hiv*' weighs now from sixty two 



To sixty-seven pound. 

 Of stores, an average 



Of one and thirty pound. 

 Exclusive of the hive or cage 



Tliat does the bees surround. 

 And yt I tliink they may, 



While rcNtiiigon their'oars. 

 Have tiftccii luinilrcd pounds to-day. 



Laid up foi- winter stores. 

 One colony alone 



Gave me three hundred pounds. 

 And you can choose it when you come, 



If better can't be found. 

 And one, with extra queen. 



Two hundred eiifhty pound; 

 And biggest swarm I've ever seen. 



That weighed about ten pouhd. 

 I have no more to feed ; 



Each hive has now its store. 

 And .six pounds more than e-ch will need. 



Or ever had before. 



Henry Large, per daughter. 



Whig-villo, Ohio, Sept. 38, 1886. 



A BAD YEAR IN TEXAS; SAVAGE CYPRIANS. 



WENTY-ONE years ago I began bee-keeping, 

 and never saw in all this time so disastrous 

 a year as this. I Went into winter with 

 .56 colonies of Cyprians in my home j'ard, 

 and 30 colonies of Italians in my Dres- 

 den yard, three miles off. I now have the same 

 number, and not 3 lbs. of honey per colony yet. It 

 has been almost impossible to raise queens, and my 

 queens behave so badly away from home that I 

 am afraid I shall have to quit the Cyprians, in 

 self-defense. Bro. Bcomhower stung almost to 

 death, and Bro. Doolittle had to hunt the wood-shed 

 on account of my stinging Cyprians. The April and 

 May drought did the work. In parts of the State, 

 Hock-masters (sheep) had to kill the lambs to save 

 the ewes, and some of the flock-masters paid off 

 their shepherds and turned their flocks loose to 

 starve, or be killed by ravenous wolves. In many 

 places in our State, no rains have fallen in from 7 

 to 14 months. We are not quite that dry here. I 

 have made half a crop of wheat, atad one-fourth 

 crop of oats and rye; corn is fair and cotton good, 

 and we may yet get honey. 

 Dresden, Texas. 81— B. F. Carroll, 76—76. 



