AUGUST 1, 1914 



593 



108 sections and 45 pounds of extracted honey from a double colony. 



queens got lost this time. I wanted to remove 

 the brood-frames of foundation, so I went 

 at them and got the frames out of one side, 

 when a thunder storm came up and the bees 

 came back; so I had to close up the hive 

 and quit. The bees worked on for a week or 

 more, and about finished the super, when 

 they swarmed out with a virgin queen, and 

 were still clustered at dark when I got home. 

 Such a swarm ! I got them in a cracker-box 

 and weighed them; went through the hive, 

 cut out all cells (about 30, I think). I 

 dumped the swarm in front, and fotmd 

 there were 19 lbs. of bees in all. 



The season was then advanced, and I was 

 in doubt about giving many more sections, 

 but concluded to risk it ; so I fixed the other 

 supers with 56 sections and one shallow 

 comb. The weather was extremely warm. 



and there were so many bees I jDut yg-inch 

 blocks under corners and middle. There were 

 bees on the front and back clear to the top, 

 in spite of the ventilation, and a large 

 piece of roofing paper which I used for 

 shade. In a short time they had filled every 

 section. The supers were then taken off w-tb 

 two ten-frame escape-boards. The season 

 was about over, but I put on two ten-frame 

 bodies with extracting-frames, and got 31 

 lbs. of extracted honey, which, with the 

 four shallow frames, made about 45 lbs. of 

 extracted and 108 sections of comb. That 

 is no more than some single hives did; but 

 if the colony had had its working force at 

 the beginning of the honey-flow I should 

 probably have secured two or three hundred 

 sections. 



Dresden, Ohio. 



BY GEORGE H. KIRKPATRICK 



We sometimes see milkweed honey adver- 

 tised for sale. I have seen it on exhibition 

 at fairs, but I can recall but few articles 

 published in the bee- journals in regard to 

 milkweed honey or the plant. 



The milkweed plant is found in most 

 parts of northern Michigan. It is said to 

 be very plentiful in localities that were once 

 Indian settlements. I have grown milkweed 

 in the greenhouse, the hotbed, the garden, 

 and on the farm. About 90 per cent of the 

 seed germinates, but I find the small or 

 young plants are very tender. But few ever 



mature to a full-grown plant. If a plant 

 once gets rooted down into the soil to a 

 depth of six to ten inches it is apparently 

 there to stay. 



For the past 16 years I have been a very 

 careful observer of the milkweed plant, and 

 for years I have encouraged its growth on 

 my farm. My neighbors have discouraged 

 its growth; but to-day many of these same 

 neighbors have far more milkweed on their 

 farms than I have. Milkweed is classed with 

 the noxious weeds. Our highway commis- 

 sioners require them cut, and the farmers 



