1S97 



OLKANINGS IN Kl-lv CUI/rURK. 



trausjict the business with piotit lulhe entire CDniniii- 

 nitv. 



iMiis plan lias worked arhnirably and i)rofilably in 

 several instances under our person:il obsei valion, and 

 the efforts of those enterprising Irviil-growersat Mont- 

 rose, Delta, and Grand Junction, in organizing local 

 market associations, seems a very commendable 

 movenient. If it does not succeed as fully as some 

 may hope for the first season or so it i.s a step in the 

 right direction, and must eventually lead to a belter 

 condition all along the line. There is much to be 

 learnet.! in this as in other things; and after all we of 

 the new West need a good deal of schooling in most 

 of our undertakings. 



A PROTEST ; APIS DORSATA. 



Mr. Root: — I can heartih- iiidor.se your 

 views rej^ardiiig the importing of Apis dorsala, 

 page 48S, and hereby enter my protest against 

 the use of public funds for its importation. 

 If they are cf any great value it is surely a 

 "good" personal' investment for some of 

 their advocates. From what reliable people 

 in their native home say of them they are too 

 much like wild geese to be of any value to 

 bee-keepers in this country ; but, instead, I 

 think they would prove a curse, even if they 

 could withstand our climates, which I very 

 much doubt. I am quite sure that we already 

 have too many varieties of bees in this country, 

 for our own good, and surely more ' ' names ' ' 

 than "varieties." Every thing considered 

 in the make-up of the little bee, I don't be- 

 lieve there is a bee on the face of the earth 

 to-day that is superior to the pure and simple 

 three-banded Italians, and their equals are 

 very scarce, judging from a " personal " 

 standpoint, and information gleaned through- 

 out the United States. 



I have said before that I have had experi- 

 ence that I have never seen in print, in 

 the early mating of a queen and a vast num- 

 ber of queen-cells on one comb; and last week 

 I found something that seems as unusual to 

 me, and I have never heard of the like, nor 

 seen it in print. 



WORKERS REARED IX WORKER-CELI-S. 



When I am extracting I make it a rule, 

 after taking the comT)s from the extractor, to 

 take my oltl uncap])ing-kni."e and .shave the 

 heads off from all drones found in the upper 

 stories (I use no queen-excluders); and in do- 

 ing this I found one comb full of what ap- 

 peared to be drones, but noticed that the caps 

 were not quite so prominent as u.sual; and 

 when I severed the caps I found, in.stead of 

 drones, perfect workers nearly ready to hatch; 

 nothwithstanding the cells were regular old- 

 style and full-sized drone-cells, the little fel- 

 lows really looked lost in them. Have you 

 or any of your readers ever had an experience 

 of this kind ? It seems to me that it proves 

 one thing positively ; and that is, that the 

 queen governs the egg-production by her ov. n 

 free will, and that tlie shape and size of the 

 cell have nothing to do with it, as has been 

 claimed by some writers in the past. 



I am of the opinion that our basswood-hon- 

 ey flow is going to be very light here this 

 season, as it is nearly all open now, and bses 

 are not doing much, I think on account of the 

 extremely hot weather for the past week. 



Hillsboro, Wis., July 12. Elias Fox. 



lI()Ni;v-l"I,()W NOT i:XTKAOKDlNAK\- IN 

 WISCONSIN. 



In answer to Dr. Miller, page 177, an! Harry 

 Lalhro}), page 7)28, I will say that Northern 

 Wisconsin will not glut the market unless on 

 fall blossoms. Bcs are in about the condi- 

 tion they were JMay 20, except excessive 

 swarming since July 8. R turned la.st night 

 from an investigating-trip in the direction my 

 bees all want to go, and liave 7)0 colonies, n^w 

 swarms, ready to start at sundown for an out- 

 apiary 21 miles north of Chippewa Falls, Wis. 



I find here willow-herb, goldenrod, frost- 

 flowers, etc., covering the ground for miles 

 where the forest-fires burned in 1897) and '96. 

 E. A. Cleaves. 



Eagle Point, Wis., July 20. 



WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE WHITE 

 CLOVER THIS YEAR? 



My bees seem to be working very busily 

 this season, btit I don't know what they work 

 on. I haven't seen a bee on a white-clover 

 blossom this season. We have no timber 

 within a mile, and not much within three 

 miles, except a few artificial groves of cotton- 

 wood, maple, and willow. There is plenty of 

 white clover. Samuel Clough. 



Ellarton, la. 



[This report seems to be an exception to the 

 general run. All the rest say that the clover 

 this year is all right. — Ed.] 



GRANULATION OF ALFALEA. 



I am nutch interested in the discussion as to 

 alfalfa honey granulating. My experience 

 has been that it does not granulate here unless 

 it be in the brood-chamber. I have kept 

 alfalfa honey in 1-lb. sections for a year, and 

 no signs of granulation; but last spring I found 

 it badly granulated in hive (stores that bees 

 had carried over winter). 



We are just in the midst of our alfalfa 

 honey-flow. The first crop of alfalfa did not 

 produce much honey; but it is coming in very 

 fast now, and I am afraid my bees will get the 

 swarming-fever. The bees here are all run 

 for comb honey — no extracting yet. I think 

 the home market will take care of the surplus. 



Alma, Neb., July 21. T. L. Porter. 



There is an abundance of white clover here, 

 and we are having a slow but steady and last- 

 ing flow. From 7 hives and a nucleus with 

 which I began operations this spring, I have 

 taken 288 lbs. of marketable honey in sections, 

 with about 7)0 lbs. more ready to come off, and 

 no diminution of the flow as 3-et. 



Ben Avon, Pa., Julv 9. ' H. P. Joslin. 



I have been worked up to the highest notch 

 myself, working every day at the railroad shop, 

 and working with the bees nights and morn- 

 ings. I have taken already 1400 sections of 

 white-clover honey from 12' hives, and more 

 to come. W. L. Richmond. 



Lexington, Ky., July 11. 



