AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



55 



}^B'~ Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper Avith business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Splendid Prospects for Honey. 



Bees have done very little here this 

 spring, as it was too cold and windy. 

 Horsemint is yielding some honey now, 

 though I do not expect much from that 

 source, as there is very little of it. Cotton, 

 sour-wood and the gum-tree look flattering 

 at present, and I hope for a good crop yet. 

 Wild morning-glory is springing up by the 

 millions, and it hardly ever fails to yield a 

 good crop. Last year one of my best colo- 

 nies gathered SO pounds of surplus from it, 

 and it was the finest honey I ever saw. 



Farm crops are fine here. Corn is in full 

 roasting ear. Cotton will be in full bloom 

 in two weeks. Peach and pear trees are 

 loaded with fruit. So we have nothing to 

 grumble about. 



I wish to congratulate Mrs. Atchley for 

 her interesting department in the good old 

 American Bee Jourxai.. I want to go to 

 the World's Fair next October, if I can get 

 away, and expect to have a grand time. I 

 hope Mr. A. I. Root and Dr. Miller will be 

 there, and oh, what a grand time we will 

 have ! W. S. Douglass. 



Lexington, Tex., June 18, 1893. 



Seven Months Without a Flight. 



Yesterday was the first day that my bees 

 did not want to rob combs that I have been 

 handling more or less all spring. It is rain- 

 ing to-day (June 9th), and prospects are 

 good for white clover, raspberry, black- 

 berry, and other bloom of less consequence, 

 but it is going to take the cream of the 

 white clover season to build up what colo- 

 nies are left after the most disastrous spring 

 I have seen. 



With Aug. 31, 1893, closed the best honey 

 season I have ever seen. September was 

 cold and wet, bees stopped breeding, winter 

 came very early and stayed — well, it was 

 May 7. 1893, before all my bees were out of 

 the cellar. I put 98 colonies away in the 

 fall, and lost 30 per cent, in wintering, and 

 fully as large a percentage since. Up to a 

 week ago bees would act as though they 

 were being poisoned, so many crawling and 

 tumbling around on the ground, and a 

 great deal of brood perished for the want 

 of heat and food. I kept doubling up, but 



bees would vanish, and they beat all pre- 

 vious records in that line. 



I see some bee-keepers record their bees 

 without a flight for 4}.< and 5 months, but 

 what would they think of bees without a 

 flight for over 7 months I They would 

 probably think that we needed to study the 

 wintering problem in earnest. After the 

 past season's experience, I am more than 

 ever in favor of young bees for wintering, 

 but as there are so many other require- 

 ments needed for the successful winter- 

 ing of bees here in the North, the bee- 

 keeper is fortunate indeed to be able to 

 combine all of them at the approach of a 

 long winter. Walter Harmer. 



Manistee, Mich. 



Sowing Buckwheat for Honey. 



On page 821, Mr. J. L. Hersey wonders 

 why his bees don't work on buckwheat 

 (June 5th). Now, I am only a starter, but 

 I continually experiment and note results. 

 In this way I expect to bring my rising 

 apiary to the highest standard, and obtain 

 the most honey possible with the least labor. 

 I have therefore concluded that it won't do 

 to sow buckwheat for honey earlier than 

 July. Bees will never work on it while 

 they have anything else. Even if they do, 

 it wouldn't be very practical to have them 

 store the dark, strong honey with the 

 clover and linden. 



The idea of sowing buckwheat is to give 

 the bees something to work on during the 

 drouth in the hot summer months. Mr. 

 Root sows it about July 15th, whenever he 

 sows. The Japanese variety is the best; 

 sow 3 pecks per acre. It is best to use the 

 drill. Buckwheat is excellent for artificial 

 pasturage. Good ground makes good 

 yields. 



Any questions on the above, by readers 

 of the "Old Reliable," will be cheerfully 

 answered. J. C. Wallenmeyer. 



Evansville, Ind. 



An Experience with Bees. 



On June 15, 1892, I received by express 6 

 nuclei. The boxes were broken, and many 

 of the bees were lost, and most of those 

 not lost were dead, but the brood was all 

 right, and I saved five of the six queens. I 

 bought two more queens, and built up to 13 

 colonies, which I wintered successfully on 

 the summer stands, in chaff hives. Early 

 in the winter the brood-nests of two colo- 

 nies were robbed, leaving what they did not 

 carry off exposed fully to one of our bitterly 

 cold wind-storms. In March I found the 

 bees still struggling for existence, but 

 queenless. I got a couple of queens early 

 from Louisiana, and all are now doing very 

 well. 



The first of April all started out like a 

 boom — brood, pollen, honey, etc. — but the 

 latter half of that month gave the bees a 

 black eye. The morning of May 1st the 

 mercury stood 11 degrees below freezing ; 

 the flowers were all killed, and things gen- 

 erally looked discouraging. On Decoration 



