July 15. 1911 



or three days we come back and go over the 

 apiary again, spending perhaps an hour in 

 watching the llight of the bees, and oi)ening 

 up here and there a hive to confirm surface 

 indications at the entrance. 



In this connection it may be said that, if 

 the entrance diagnosis does not satisfy, the 

 cover is hfted, and then we determine 

 whether the bees have room enough witli- 

 out pulUng out a frame, by looking at the 

 tops of the" frames. If they are bulge! and 

 whitened, we put on the sui)er; if not, we 

 replace the cover. When making examin- 

 ations from the top, it may be necessary to 

 smoke the bees down as our correspondent, 

 Mr. Chapman, says in this issue, before we 

 can see enough of the combs to determine 

 what is needed. 



When the season draws to a close, en- 

 trance diagnosis will determine better than 

 any thing else when the nectar sujiply is be- 

 ginning to fail. The bees fly to the" fields, 

 but come back lightly loaded; act a little 

 nervous; as the season progresses further, 

 there will be here and there colonies push- 

 ing the drones out of the hive. There is no 

 need of looking down into the colony; for 

 when it is time to kill off the drones, the 

 honey-flow is surely approaching an end, 

 and, of course, no more supers should be 

 put on. It may be that some of the others 

 may have to be taken off. In the produc- 

 tion of comb honey, the effort now should 

 be to finish what work has been begun, if it 

 is not already too late. 



There is another indication at the en- 

 trance that is very reliable in determining 

 whether a colony is doing much in the su- 

 pers. Along in the evening, or just about 

 dusk, pass along the hives and listen to the 

 roar of the bees evaporating honey they 

 gathered during the day. The bees that 

 are roaring the most are the ones that gath- 

 ered the most honey; but in noting this 

 surface indication we must take into ac- 

 count the strength of the colony and the 

 source. Bees will gather much more honey 

 in a given time from basswood or buck- 

 wheat' than they will from clover. This 

 fact has an important bearing on how soon 

 the bees will need more room. Clover, un- 

 less very abundant, is a slow all-day yielder. 



Both Mr. Doolittle and Mr. Chapman de- 

 termine to some extent whether a colony 

 has a laying queen around by the presence 

 or absence of bees coming in laden with 

 pollen. This is quite a reliable diagnosis in 

 the spring or early summer. There are 

 many more entrance indications, but we 

 will leave the rest to be discussed by our 

 correspondents. 



HONEY-CROP CONDITIONS. 



There is not much new to report since 

 our last issue except this: Recent rains in 

 some localities have started clover up again, 

 and honey has been coming very slowly 

 from this source. Basswood is yielding in 

 many places, and apparently there will be 

 more of this rich honey this season than 

 usual. The conditions along the Mississip- 



417 



pi Pviver, taking in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, 

 and Kansas, are not much improved. The 

 drouth has been severe in this section, i^ate 

 rei)orts from Michigan and New York show- 

 that some clover an<l basswood will be se- 

 cured. Taking it all in all, while the crops 

 this year will be larger tlian last year, prices 

 will remain firm. We should rather expect 

 a slight ui)ward tendency than otherwise 

 until about the holidays, when prices will 

 begin to sag slightly. 



HONEY REPORTS. 



The following are a few scattering reports that 

 came in too late for our last issue, and have been 

 gradually accumulating since: 



The weather keeps good so far for late honey. 



Riverside, Cal., June 21. Cresner Mfg. Co. 



There will be no white-clover honey to speak-of in Southern 

 Wisconsin. Basswood opened up nicely. We hope for a good 

 run. 



Bridg-eport, Wis., June 21. Harry Lathrop. 



Bees are robbing-; no supers on yet; no white clover. White 

 clover Is our only crop, so thing's look bad for this year. 



Ripon, Wis., June 19. Arthur J. .Schultz. 



No early flow on account of drouth. Fine basswood bloom , 

 but no nectar coming: In. Therefore no prospects for yield this 

 year. 



Miami, W. Va., June 26. John I). Thomas, 



The crop outlook is rather discourag-ing:; no white clover to 

 speak of in this part of our State this season. My own bees 

 are located near a few acres of alsike clover on low land, and 

 I am getting- so far a fair yield from that source. The honey 

 crop here will not be enough to supiily the local demand, I 

 think, at this date. 



Darlington. Mo., June 22. Geo. H. CrRL. 



Bees came through the winter in g-ood condition, but dwin- 

 dled down badly diiring- March and April, but have built up in 

 flue shape for the honey-flow from basswood. which is the best 

 in ten years; but as there is nothing else to work on, our 

 honev crop will be short unless we get a fall flow. 



Bertram, Iowa, June 26. H. C. Clymer. 



The honev-flow is very poor to date. The future depends on 

 the weather. The honey is light amber; very little white 

 honey. The crop is not as good as last year. 



Chamberino, N. M.. June -24. B. B. FoucH. 



Clover in this section is a failure so far. Basswood has 

 bloomed full, and is yielding quite a little honey. It looks as 

 though there would be about half a crop. 



Boston, Mass.. June -23. H. H. jErsoN. 



As one-half to two-thirds of the bees in this immediate ter- 

 ritory are dead from starvation, and vei-y little blossom from 

 the first cutting- of alfalfa or sweet clover, there was nothing 

 for them to subsist on. There will be almost no crop of im- 

 portance. With what bees are left there may be one-fourth 

 to half a ci-oj). It is very discourag-ing to the apiaiy people; 

 and if this continues it practically eliminates an industry 

 that has been of importance in this locality. 



Denver. Col.. June 26. The Barteldes Seed Co. 



The bees got a good crop of basswood honey. There was no 

 white clover this year. It has been very dry in Iowa. 



Anthon. la., June 28. 6. W. Nance. 



The drouth from which most parts of this State have been 

 suflfering- was partly broken by a nice rain Sunday. However, 

 the ground was so dry that another good rain will be neces- 

 sarv in a few davs to give any material benefit. Some parts 

 of the State received no rain Sunday, but it appears that they 

 were few. 



Des Moines, Iowa. June 27. The A. I. Root Co. 



Prospects for a fair crop in this locality are favorable. Bass- 

 wood and sumac are .iust opening; good colonies have two 

 supers nearly full; clover is scarce; sweet clover will be on a 



Athens, Ohio, June 26. J. C. Atkinson. 



There is not sufficient honey produced in this section to 

 make a market. Nearly all of the honey consumed here is 

 shipped in from Yakima or Southern Idaho, and we believe 

 that sometimes California honey is also sent in. The orchard- 

 ists of Eastern Washing-ton and Northern Idaho are now 

 becoming interested in bees as an adjunct of the orchard, and 

 we hope in time that it will have a tendency to change the 

 condition so that the honey for the Spokane market will be 

 produced here. _ 



Spokane, Wash.. June 27. Spokane Seed Co. 



The honev-crop condition is better this year than last in 

 this section. While the clover flow was not heavy, it has 

 been lighter in previous years. There is practically no bass- 

 wood honev taken in this vicinity, the heaviest flow this year 

 being from earlv fruit-bloom and locust. The bee-kc-epers 

 locally experienced a very hard winter, the majority losing 

 the greater number of their bees from starvation, thereby 

 having a large number of empty hives left over, which cut 

 the orders for supplies down considerably. 



Baltimore, Md., June 26. Rawlings Implement Co. 



Our honey crop here is a total failure. My 10() colonies have 

 not a single super finished. We do not get a fall flow. Tem- 

 perature runs over 100 every day: vpg-etation is about all 

 burned up. I think the clover is all killed. 



Holden. Mo., July 6- J- ^'- M"cre. 



