688 



(^LEAKIKGS IK BEi: CULTURE. 



SjEPf. 



winter, when every thing is frozen up in the East, 

 and then I believe you would take a notion to 

 move to California and start a bee-rancli. We are 

 always g-lad when Gleanings eomes to hand. 1 do 

 not know how we could do without it. 



F. M. Erwin. 

 Thompson, Los Angeles Co., Cal., Aug. 6, 1888. 



NO HONEY TO EAT, BITT NOT DISCOURAGED. 



I am prospering in bee-busness. I am in a new 

 country— you might sa.y, in the woods, as we have 

 one immense tract of hard-wood lumber thickly in- 

 terspersed with basswood and some cedar swamps. 

 All the clearings are coming into white clover. 

 There is considerable now. This has been a very 

 poor honey year. White clover did nothing, as it 

 was too dry. Basswood did not bloom at all, hard- 

 ly, for some reason. It has been very wet lately; 

 may get some fall honey. My bees are mostly in 

 good shape for wintering. I shall have plenty of 

 honey to carry them through, I think, but not one 

 pound of surplus. I put 35 in winter quarters (a 

 cheap outdoor cellar) about Oct 10; took them all 

 out but two in good condition about Apr. 35: lost 

 four by robbing when I was away from home, then 

 sold 11 to different parties, leaving 18 stands when 

 the working season began. I have 39 now, :^5 of 

 which I think will be in good condition to winter, 

 so I am not discouraged, even though I^have no 

 honey to eat. E. A. Eastman. 



Birnamwood, Wis., Aug. 5, 1888. 



P(EP0^3Fg Digc0ai^)q6iN(i. 



ANOTHER LONG-FACED LETTER ; FROM OHIO THIS 

 TIME. 



§URELY bee-keepers can not be accused of 

 giving only the bright side of apiculture any 

 longer, judging from i-eports that we now 

 see in the bee-papers. In this locality we 

 have no honey; and if it had not been for the 

 aphis secretions (bug-juice) we could say our bees 

 had nothing sweet in their hives. I have about 

 1000 one-pound sections filled with the sweet, but of 

 a better quality than that gathered in the summer 

 of 1884. 



There was about one-third the amount of white 

 clover that we usually have here that bloomed this 

 season. The bees visited this pretty well part of 

 the time, but no white clover has been stored in 

 sections or brood-chamber. The linden bloom was 

 immense here, and the bees could be heard in the 

 trees all day, yet no linden honey was to be found 

 in the hives at any time— no, not even the smell of 

 linden honey could be found. Yet I am not like 

 Mrs. Cbaddock, looking around to find some one to 

 whom 1 can give my bees, but shall continue as I 

 have for the last two years, " to live on hope and 

 hard work." 



I started in the spring with .53 stands of bees. 

 The average per colony is 19 lbs. comb honey, 

 spring count, and increase to 63 colonies. 



SWEET CLOVER. 



Your remarks on page 6U, in answer to J. 

 George's letter, prompt me to write of ray experi- 

 ence with sweet clover during last season and this 

 present one. It was to get to the acres of sweet 

 clover that grows along the Walhonding River, 

 that brought me to this place one year ago last 

 spring; and I can now say that, if I had any fond 



dreams of big honey crops from sweet clover, these 

 have not been realized. Last year there were 

 acres of sweet clover in bloom in reach of my bees, 

 but it was scarcely noticed by them; but this season 

 they have been fairly swarming on it ever since it 

 came in bloom, but they are storing no honey from 

 it, yet they are getting enough to keep up the 

 heaviest brood-rearing 1 ever saw at this time of 

 year. Perhaps I am mistaken; but that sweet 

 clover does not furnish much honey at best in this 

 locality is my opinion. J. A. Bucklew. 



Warsaw, O., Aug. 6, 1888. 



NOT FLATTERING. 



The prospect for honey in this locality is not very 

 flattering. The spring opened favorably, and bees 

 increased rapidly; but up to this time they have 

 done comparatively nothing. Blossoms seem to be 

 plentiful, but honey does not secrete. Unless the 

 fall season proves better we shall not reach more 

 than one-fourth of a crop. D. C. Twining. 



Roanoke, Ind., Aug. 6, 1888. 



POOREST ever known. 



We are having a very severe drouth; just six 

 weeks since we had our last rain. What is to be 

 done with young raspberries set out last spring, 

 when they commenced dying for want of rain? 

 This has been the poorest season for honey and 

 queen-rearing we ever had since I kept bees. 

 There will be no surplus secured in this vicinity, 

 and the prospects for the bees to gather enough 

 honey for winter stores is slim indeed. 



Nappanee, Ind., Aug. 20, 1888. I. R. Good. 



Friend G., the only way that I know of to 

 keep the young plants from dying, during a 

 drouth, is to rake up a dust blanket of fine 

 earth, and bank it up around them, as I 

 have explained several times heretofore. 

 The ground can not bake or dry out very 

 deep when banked up with fine soil. I do 

 not think that watering would help the mat- 

 ter, unless you water enough to irrigate — 

 that is, soak the ground for some distance 

 around. It is a little odd that you should 

 have a drouth when we have hardly had the 

 ground dry enough to work nice since spring. 



excessive swarming, but LITTLE HONEY. 



After many years of success I must report a 

 failure in the management of bees. I have kept 

 bees in a house apiary, well ventilated, and not had 

 to exceed one swarm in five stands and no after- 

 swarms. Last year there were no swarms and no 

 honey. This year they commenced to swarm May 

 15, and the end is not yet, Aug. 16. There were 

 three swarms yesterday, and one to-day. Swarms 

 have been very small. Many I have refused to 

 waste time on to hive; others I have doubled and 

 trebled to make fair-sized swarms. From 18, spring 

 count, T have 58 swarms, besides letting some run 

 away as worthless. Of course, it is not necessary 

 to say I have no honey to speak of. White clover 

 furnished no nectar last year or this; yet there has 

 been a steady flow of honey from other sources, 

 but not heavy. ] tried the extractor, but they 

 swarm when extracted as close as possible. I had 

 supposed that I knew something about the habits 

 of bees; but my conceit is all gone. All the bees 

 died here last winter but mine. 



Moberly, Mo., Aug. 16, 1888. J. Richardson. 



