1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



931 



THE GARDEN CITY ALFALFA FIELDS PAINTED 

 IN TOO HIGH colors; SEE PAGE 894. 



Almost too flattering are the reports from 

 Southwest Kansas, in Gleanings for Nov. 15, 

 page 894. Mr. McKeever gives this country a 

 pretty good pufi': and although he is a preach- 

 er, he is also a boomer for this section of coun- 

 try. Now, I do not want to be hard on Mr. 

 McKeever; I only want the facts stated. I will 

 give my report for 1891. 



I received from ;35 stands, spring count, 800 

 lbs. of comb honey in 1-lb. sections; 1200 lbs. of 

 extracted honey — about .55 lbs. per stand — and 

 increased to 40 colonies in fair condition for 

 winter. Mr. McKeever says, on page 894, that 

 we have from .50 to (50 stands apiece. I have 35 

 stands, and Mr. Colton has (55. They came far 

 from an average of 90 lbs. of comb honey. It 

 will worry them to make that much extracted 

 honey on an average. One hive made 180 lbs., 

 but it was not all comb honey; neither were 

 the bees from one of Doolittle's tested queens, 

 and they did not swarm. 



Alfalfa does not yield honey all the season — 

 only at certain times. This season our flow 

 was from the 15th of July to the last of August. 

 Last season the surplus flow was in June. He 

 says we can't supply the demand for bees at i'lO 

 a stand. A person can not sell 20 stands of bees 

 in this country. There are not so many thou- 

 sand acres of alfalfa here. It is diminishing. 

 We get fair crops of honey because our apiaries 

 are small. The country will be overstocked 

 with bees just like Arizona in a very few years. 

 This section is not like the Eastern States, be- 

 cause there is nothing to furnish honey except 

 the alfalfa. Wild flowers amount to nothing; 

 fruit-bloom helps to build up in spring some. 



I only wish to give the public the facts about 

 this country. There would be a good many 

 disappointed in coming out here after reading 

 his letter. In this market we have not sold 200 

 lbs. of honey this season. We have to ship 

 most of our honey east or west, and we do not 

 get over 15 cts. for comb honey after the high 

 freight is paid. 



I would not advise people to leave a fair lo- 

 cation and come here to better themselves. I 

 made the move and am here, and, of course, 

 will stay. We can not make moves every day. 

 It is a great expense to move. 



Frank H. Howard. 



Garden City, Kan., Nov. 20. 



[What we desire to have are the facts in the 

 case. Perhaps our friend McKeever has seen 

 or heard only the bright side.] 



GETTING DISCOURAGED WITH HEES. 



There are a few reasons why I can not make 

 a success canvassing for Gleanings. I can 

 find but few men who care for their bees. 

 When I find a good bee-keeper he is posted. 

 The three years past have been so poor that 

 many have gone out of the business. Many 

 farmers are satisfied with the knowledge they 

 get from their agricultural papers, and will not 

 take a bee-paper. I wish the Home talks could 

 be introduced into every home in our land, and 

 their teachings heeded and practiced. Like 

 many others I would have destroyed my bees 

 if it had not been for you. You say, " Hold on 

 one year longer." I mean to try one year longer. 



Bancroft, Mich., Nov. 11. Luther Pratt. 



TWO PUNIC VIRGIN QUEENS THAT " TURNED UP 

 MISSING." 



I see Dr. Miller says in Stray Straws, that, 

 after his Punic queen had commenced to lay in 

 fine shape, she suddenly disappeared. I re- 

 ceived two virgin Punic queens from friend 

 Pratt. They were safely introduced, and in 25 



days I found young bees hatching out. One 

 was mated to an Italian drone, the other Car- 

 niolan. Two or three weeks ago I found both 

 colonies queenless. My Punics. like Dr. Miller's, 

 had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. 



T. K. Massie. 

 Concord Church, W. Va., Oct. 20. 



THE AVAY IN WHICH LIME ACTS AS A FERTIL- 

 IZER. 



The effect of lime to render stiff soils less ad- 

 hesive is well shown by an experiment of Prof. 

 Hilgard. Let any clay or tough clay soil, he 

 says, be worked into a plastic mass with water 

 and then dried; the result will be a mass of al- 

 most stony hardness. But add to some of the 

 same paste half a per cent of caustic lime and a 

 diminuation of plasticity will be obvious at 

 once, even in the wet condition; and, on drying, 

 the mass will fall into a pile of crumbs at a 

 mere touch. In this way clay soils may be 

 made "warmer" or '-mellower"' by adding 

 caustic lime. — Rural New-Yorker. 



DR. MILLER AND PROF. COOK AS CONTRIBUTORS 

 TO GLEANINGS. 



Please continue Gleanings for another year. 

 I had thought of doing without it; but, come 

 to think of it, I can not. I would rather go to 

 bed without my supper twice each month than 

 to miss Gleanings. I never had a book so in- 

 teresting: and the more Dr. C. C. Miller and 

 Prof. Cook have to say, the more interesting it 

 is. Mr. Miller writes nothing in Gleanings 

 that I miss. James Pratt. 



Corning. la.. Oct. 27. 



BEES DID POORLy. 



Bees did poorly in this part of the State. 

 Many got no swarms, no surplus, and have to 

 feed for winter. One of my neighbors with 40 

 colonics, spi-ing count, will have to feed 800 lbs. 

 of sugar or let his bees starve. I got 800 boxes 

 from 30 colonies, spring count. My other yards 

 I haven't counted up yet. 



^ , ^ Rev. James Andrews. 



Red House. N. Y., Nov. 16. 



■'done nobly."' 



Bees have done nobly this season. From 25 

 stocks I secured 20f)0 lbs. of honey, mostly of fine 

 flavor. The flow from aster was not as profuse 

 this fall as usual, on account of excessive dry- 

 ness. However, I secured about 300 lbs. from 

 that source. R. E. Beauchamp 



Adairville, Ky., Nov. 13. 



bee-keepers getting thick. 



One year ago there were scarcely any bees 

 here; but now you can hardly throw a rock 

 without hitting a bee-keeper. It begins to look 

 as if this section would be overstocked soon 

 with bees. Nearly all who are here are inex- 

 perienced; but the success of most the past 

 season has been good. Logan K. Rayburn. 



Acton. Cal., No v. 4. 



BEES PAYING BETTER THAN FARMING. 



I had 70 stands of bees, spring count; increas- 

 ed to 102, and got .56.50 lbs. of comb honey, all in 

 sections, all nice and white, except about 125 

 lbs. It pays better than farming. 



Dover, Mich., Nov. 21. A. N. Whitlock. 



THE ORIGIN of BAMFUZZLE AND BUMFUZZLE. 



In reading the proceedings of the California 

 Bee - keepers' Association I was somewhat 

 amused at the u.se of the word "bamfuzzle." I 

 had almost forgotten it. I had heard it used 

 many times when a boy, only it was called bum 

 instead of bamfuzzle. Who the originator of 

 the word was, I am not able to tell; but it was 



