AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



151 



plenty of clover, and for the past two 

 weeks the conditions have seemed favor- 

 able, but it produces little honey. I am 

 very sorry, for I am making some ex- 

 periments for our Agricultural College, 

 and am "doing" some fancy work for 

 the World's Fair. I shall be obliged to 

 feed back, if I get this work completed. 

 Geo. E. Hilton. 

 Fremont, Mich., July 18, 1892. 



Experience in Bee-Keeping. 



I commenced keeping bees in 1885, 

 when I bought a colony of bees in a log, 

 giving $1.00 for them. I transferred 

 them in the spring of 1887, in the Sim- 

 plicity hive, and also sold 15 colonies. 

 I started in the past winter with 43 

 colonies, and sold 9 this spring, and 4 

 starved. I have increased the balance 

 to 65 colonies at present. Rev. W. P. 

 Faylor, of Iowa, sent me a sample of his 

 six-banded bees-, which was very nice. I 

 reared a queen this spring whose prog- 

 eny is as good as those of Mr. F. We 

 have not had much honey yet. Bees are 

 very late swarming in this locality. 



B. F. Beheleb. 



Jumping Branch, W. Va., July 19. 



One of the Best Honey -Flows. 



As I stated on June 15, there was a 

 good honey-flow, and it still continues. 

 Linden is just coming into bloom, and 

 bees leave their hives in quite a fain to 

 secure the linden bloom. My colonies 

 have averaged 40 pounds each, already. 

 Oh, why did not Sam Wilson tell us that 

 we would have one of the best honey- 

 flows in western Iowa, instead of telling 

 what he did ? Then I would not have 

 worked so hard in the hot sun. I would 

 have prepared in the spring, instead of 

 now. Oh, you missed it badly, Sam. 

 Yes, you did ! Thos. Johnson. 



Coon Rapids, Iowa, July 18, 1892. 



Apiarian Patience Almost Exhausted. 



Three years of failure in succession, 

 followed by heavy winter losses, have 

 tried the patience of bee-keepers here 

 severely. The spring was unusually 

 hard on bees, continued wet weather, 

 and a honeyless fruit-bloom was not at 

 all favorable for their wants. Feeding, 

 however, gave me a worker-force that 

 would mean something in a honey har- 

 vest. Clover comes in abundance ; the 

 fields are white with its bloom ; hives 



are supered ; bees are ready and wait- 

 ing ; but again it yields so sparingly 

 that they search in vain for a living, so 

 that they are consumers instead of 

 gatherers. We are trying hard to be 

 satisfied with the pleasure part of our 

 pursuit, but would like to know the true 

 cause of a honey-dearth when every- 

 thing seems so favorable for its produc- 

 tion. A. B. Baird. 

 Belle Vernon, Pa., July 15, 1892. 



Poor Season — Introducing Queens. 



I commenced bee-keeping eight years 

 ago, and now have 47 colonies. I have 

 not had a single swarm this season, and 

 a poorer honey crop this year than 

 ever before. My neighbor's bees are 

 just about starving.' I am keeping mine- 

 up by feeding. We had too much rain 

 in the spring, and it is too dry now, but 

 I am not yet discouraged. To introduce 

 queens, I remove the old queen at the 

 same time, put the new queen in, in a 

 wire cage, and at the same time give 

 them a little sugar syrup with about ten 

 drops of essence of peppermint. I use 

 the cone feeder, and think it is the best 

 that I have tried. By this plan I can 

 introduce safely 24 out of every 25 

 queens. I would sooner think of being 

 without bee-hives than without the Bee 

 Journal. Jas. M. Smith. 



Perkiomenville, Pa., July 18, 1892. 



A Year's Numbers of the 



Amercian Bee Journal contain over 

 1,650 pages — what a wonderful amount 

 of bee-literature for only $1.00 ! Could 

 you afford to do without it at that price 

 — 2 cents per week ? Send us the names 

 and addresses of your bee-keeping 

 friends, who do not receive the Bee 

 Journal, and we will mail them sam- 

 ple copies. We want every bee-keeper 

 in the land to see it, and know of its. 

 value as an "assistant" in the apiary. 



Doolittle's Queen-Rearingf 



book should be in the library of every 

 bee-keeper; and in the way we offer it 

 on page 133, there is no reason now why 

 every one may not possess a copy of it. 

 Send us one new subscriber for a year, 

 and we will mail the book to you as a 

 present. 



