GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



HONEY COMINO IN. 



My bees are boominjj- at present on white clover, 

 buckwheat, and sniartweed. They barely made a 

 livinjr this summer. 1 had to feed some of the 

 younfi- swarms, and those that T fed a few times 

 have swarmed ajrain tliis week. You may know 

 they are boominsj-, or they would not swarm. The 

 season here has been about as Mrs. Chaddock stat 

 ed in Aug-. 1st Gleanings. I hope her bees are 

 earning- their board now. She may yet have more 

 honej' than she and her family can eat. Several of 

 my neighbors report their bees swarming-. We 

 have been having very warm weather lately. The 

 thermometer stood at 108 the Slat of July. 



Henton, 111., Aug. 4, 1888. F. P. HiSH. 



^EP01^T? Dl?C0ai^7I6IN6. 



"TO FEED OR NOT TO FEED." 



fRIEND ROOT : — Here goes for " Blasted 

 Hopes." Forty good colonies, spring count, 

 increased to fifty, have yielded just ahout 100 

 pounds of surplus honey. Last season was 

 one of the poorest I had seen, and it surely did 

 not pay me to feed them last fall, when they failed 

 to give me in return one-half as many pounds of 

 honey as I had loaned(?) them pounds of sugar! 

 But the end is not yet. What do I want with 50 col- 

 onies of bees in a starving conditionV How many 

 barrels of sugar must I buy to winter them? Will it 

 pay? " To feed or not to feed," that is the question. 

 1 did want to go to Columbus, but it looks now as 

 if I should have to wait until the next centennial. 

 Or, say, how many pounds of sugar will you trade 

 me on 50 pounds of bees, the sugar to be fed now, 

 and the bees delivered next June? If we can strike 

 up a trade, and I can sell several colonies yet to 

 some "greenhorn," "cheap for cash," I'll go to 

 Columbus in spite of the bees; but if this plan won't 

 work, I guess I must try Mrs. Chaddock's plan, and 

 " hunt around for some one who will take bees as 

 a gift." S. P. YODER. 



East Lewistown, O. 



Why, friend Y., we would feed, by all 

 means. The bees next season may pay for 

 the feed this season and last season several 

 times. A correspondent in the Kind Words 

 department (Mr. Byron Benton) takes a 

 happy view of the case, and remarks thus : 

 "We do not get any honey from our bees, to 

 pay ; but, like fishing, we keep on hoping, 

 in time, to catch a whopper." As to the 

 amount of feed, from 12 to 15 lbs. of syrup 

 for the average colony will be enough in 

 your locality. It will be a very easy matter 

 for you to tell the amount of sugar you will 

 have to buy. We make the syrup to the 

 consistency of about 25 lbs. of sugar to a 

 gallon of water. 



ABOUT HALF A CROP. 



The honey statistics will prove to be of great 

 benefit to honey-producers. Our crop is about 50 

 per cent, all extracted, from 129 colonies. We are 

 retailing extracted at 10 cts. This is a poor season 

 with us. E. M. WoOLVER. 



Richfield Spa, N. Y., Aug. 7, 1888. 



Bees have gathered only their living since July 12. 

 Walpole, N. H., Aug. 37, 1888. J. L. Hubbard. 



A POOR SEASON. 



It was a very poor honey season in this vicinity. 



Two years ago we got a ton o^" nice cumb honey from 

 30 colonies, and this year about 200 lbs. of clover from 

 the same number. Goldenrod is just opening, and 

 seems to be yielding some honey. 

 East Auburn, Maine. Mrs. S. H. Stockman. 



VERY poor. 



Bees have done very poorly. I have 140 colonies, 

 but shall not have over .500 lbs. of light honey. 

 Bees are just commencing- to work on buckwheat. 

 I am looking for a crop of dark honey yet, if the 

 weather holds good. J. Lingenfelter. 



Akin, N. Y., Aug. 8, 1888. 



A PECULIAR SEASON. 



This surely is a peculiar season for bees. Ten 

 acres white with buckwheat flowers here at home, 

 now for a week, and bees just getting a living; but 

 we hope for more honey soon. Our hives are 

 empty— that is, no honey, and it will take at least 

 6000 lbs. to winter and spring them. But God is able 

 to do for us what he has in the past, and will if we 

 trust him. We are feeding Timber apiary still. 



Roseville, 111., Aug. 23, 1888. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. 



NO SURPLUS. 



My bees made no surplus this year, and I am 

 afraid but little honey for themselves. From the 

 outlook of the season, do you think I shall be obliged 

 to feed? If so, when had 1 better begin? Can they 

 yet gather sufficient for wintering? 



Salem, O., Aug. 28, 1888. Dr. Chas. Orr. 



If you do not get any fall honey, you will 

 probably have to feed some. If no honey 

 has come yet, do not delay feeding, on the 

 mere probability of the bees getting their 

 own natural stores. It is safer to begin 

 feeding right away. 



NO SURPLUS FOR TWO SEASONS. 



1 have kept bees for 11 years; have now 17 colo- 

 nies, and have had 30. Last year I obtained no 

 surplus honey in the sections. I was obliged to 

 feed my bees to keep them through the winter. 

 This season I do not expect to get any surplus hon- 

 ey. I think I shall have to feed them. The white 

 clover last year was a failure. It appeared to have 

 been killed out. There has been a new growth this 

 season, and these rains lately may make it bloom 

 some before frost comes. There may be some hope 

 then. If bees could work on red clover with suc- 

 cess, it would be a gain. 1 had no swarms last 

 season nor this season. In this the bees have acted 

 wisely. J. Hunt. 



Plain City, O., Sept. 8, 1888. 



VERY DISCOURAGING FOR NEW YORK. 



I have been over considerable territory in this 

 State, and visited some large apiaries. I find the 

 prospect poor for a good honey crop. Basswood 

 has not yielded any thing to speak of; and as there 

 has yet been no honey removed from the hives, nor 

 any ready, the crop of white honey will be almost 

 a total failure. All that is depended on now will be 

 from buckwheat; and if we have an unfavorable 

 August there will be a discouraged lot of bee-keep- 

 ers in New York. The season was cold and wet up 

 till July, and now it is dry and very cold nights. 

 I hope to get a good crop of honey yet. I have over 

 200 colonies, 125 Italians; the rest are blacks. The 

 blacks are doing nothing, while the Italians are 

 storing from red clover. F. Boomhoweb. 



Gallupville, N. Y., July 22, 1888. 



