AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



85 



Failure of Honey Predictions. 



The honey in this locality is not, to 

 say, white, and at least 75 per cent, 

 short of the last three years. There 

 has been no swarming in the surround- 

 ing country, as far as I have heard. Mr. 

 Sara Wilson's predictions, on page 580, 

 will not hold good for this part of Ken- 

 tucky for white clover. There is one 

 cause by which we may know there will 

 be a failure of white clover six months 

 ahead. There is no cause by which we 

 may know of a good flow of honey ahead 

 of time, only He who sends the rain, 

 wind, and sunshine knows that. 



J. M. Pratt. 



Todd's Point, Ky., June 28, 1892. 



Commencing to Extract Honey. 



Bees are doing very well. I wintered 

 40 colonies in chaff hives on the summer 

 stands, and lost only one. I will com- 

 mence to extract honey to-morrow. I 

 have had only three swarms so far ; I 

 am trying to prevent swarming, and 

 think I will succeed by giving plenty of 

 room. A. A. Simpson. 



Swarts, Pa., July 4, 1892. 



A Queen from Arkansas. 



I have to-day received and introduced 

 a queen from Arkansas. The queen's 

 abdomen is yellow, including the tip; 

 also a large crescent on the thorax. The 

 workers are fine, showing the three 

 bands when empty. The drone also 

 accompanying the other bees has an 

 abdomen nearly 'all yellow. It is too 

 late to test the queen's progeny on white 

 clover, but I will try them on sweet 

 clover and fall flowers. 



C. E. Mead. 



Chicago, Ills., July 4, 1892. 



Land One Vast Flower-Bed. 



I feel something like Hawkeye, the 

 old Indian hunter. One day he got into 

 a covey of Indians, and was shooting 

 right and left, and all at once his stock 

 of powder gave out. He stood his rifle 

 up against a rock, and said to himself : 

 " Stand there, La longu carabine," mean- 

 ing you are of no more use to me than 

 the mullen-stock ; and that is the way 

 with my bee-hives. They are as useless 

 to me as so many dry-goods boxes. I 

 have 7 colonies of bees, good and bad, 

 left yet. I had one swarm come out on 

 June 18, and one on June 19. I had a 



colony in a ten-frame hive, that, when I 

 put them out last spring, was heavy, 

 and had lots of bees ; and last week I 

 took out the combs and found ten worker 

 bees and one queen ! I transferred them 

 to a hive that I have transferred 11 col- 

 onies to this spring, and now there are 

 perhaps 50 workers in it, all told. I 

 just had another swarm come out and 

 go back again. I have lots of hives 

 filled with combs, and considerable honey 

 for the swarms that my yet issue. The 

 prairie and timber land is one vast 

 flower-bed. I can show more honey- 

 plants in blossom than can be seen in 

 any State east of here. If I had my 50 

 colonies, I could fill the hives with honey 

 in short order. My farm is on the edge 

 of the timber belt in the famous park 

 region of Minnesota, and cannot be ex- 

 celled in anything. 



I hope my friend, Mr. Lillibridge, of 

 Port Allegany, Pa., will not be offended 

 at my joking him about the hemlock 

 trees. Mark D. Juokins. 



Osakis, Minn., June 24, 1892. 



Can Bees Hear? 



On page 774 of the Bee Journal for 

 June 9, I notice an item taken from the 

 American Farmer, which asserts that 

 bees cannot hear. If this be true, why 

 do they make the various noises so 

 familiar to our ears, and which clearly 

 indicate their temperament ? Why, at 

 the sound of the swarming note from 

 one colony, will another suddenly take a 

 notion to swarm ? and how does a band 

 of scouts lead off a swarm to the loca- 

 tion they have previously chosen ? 

 Wherever be the location of their ears, 

 it seems to me that bees must hear, or 

 be conscious of sound, and that is what 

 we call hearing. If they do not hear, 

 will some one please explain ? 



Robert H. Williams. 



Beatrice, Nebr., June 30, 1892. 



Nearly 135 Pounds Per Colony. 



I had 60 colonies of bees in March, 

 and have 78 now. I have taken 8,024 

 pounds of honey, about 1,000 pounds of 

 it being comb. I sell extracted honey at 

 5 cents per pound, wholesale. .1 sold 

 5,191 pounds of it to one firm, delivered 

 six miles from here. lam losing a large 

 amount of bees by the trembling dis- 

 ease ; they hop off, grasshopper fashion. 

 The above honey is mostly from orange 

 bloom. P. W. McFatridge. 



Ontario, Calif., June 27, 1892. 



