506 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



before they can set out of the flower. 

 If there is Digitalis growing in flower- 

 gardens in the neighborhood of the 

 querist. I dare say that he will And, if 

 he watches, that his bees have visited 

 them. 



One of the Goldenrods.— Fred F. 

 Kockwell, Leonard d Texas, on July 

 29, 1886, writes : 



I enclose a small sprig of a flower 

 that bees are fairly "booming" on 

 just now. It is very thick on a large 

 grass farm near us. Will you kindly 

 give me the name of it V 



[It is one of the many goldenrods 

 (SoUdago), exquisite in appearance, 

 and excellent for honey.— Ed.] 



Season in Southern New York.— J. 



II. Andre, Lockwood,? N. Y., on 

 July 30, 1886, says : 



The honey harvest this season be- 



fan the earliest in Southern New 

 'ork of any year since 1865, and con- 

 tinued good until July 1, when the 

 extreme hot weather shut off all 

 resources by which the bees could 

 obtain honey; since that time they 

 have barely made a living. In fact, 

 one colony which I had made by 

 division, and given the old queen with 

 but little honey and two frames of 

 brood, I fed for fear they could not 

 gather enough to take care of the 

 brood. I suppose some are looking 

 forward for a good yield of surplus 

 from buckwheat, etc. Now I hope 

 they will not be disappointed, but I 

 sum it up in this way all through this 

 poor honey yield : The colonies, with 

 the exception of a few of the strong- 

 est, are weak, containing only about 

 half as many bees as they should at 

 this season of the year, and if we get 

 a few weeks of good honey weather, 

 which I think we will, as everything 

 is favorable now, the first thing the 

 bees will do will be to build up in 

 numbers, and that will take nearly all 

 of the honey gathered. Add to this 

 an early frost (and we are almost cer- 

 tain of one this season, as when the 

 chestnuts blossom late we always get 

 an early frost), and the outlook is not 

 favorable. I do not doubt but what 

 many June swarms will not gather 

 enough for winter stores, especially if 

 hived without foundation. I have 

 already begun to build up the few 

 weak colonies 1 have, as I think it 

 is tar better to do it now and know it 

 is well done, than wait until late in 

 the fall and do it then. 



Teasel Honey.— C. A. Camp,Paines- 

 ville,d O., writes : 



In regard to Mr. Doolittle and teasel 

 honev, I would say that it is not pro- 

 posed to give it up in this manner. 

 Now I assert that not one apiarist in 

 one hundred knows that Mr. D. has 

 " from 4 to 6 weeks " of honey-flow 

 from teasel. When he makes the 

 statement of 13.5 pounds of comb honey 

 per colony, as he does in his circular, 

 without stating that it came in part 

 from teasel, it is certainly misleading. 



It must be remembered that Mr. D's 

 articles are sometimes copied into 

 agricultural papers, and are read by 

 those who are not apiarists, and when 

 such yields of honey are stated with- 

 out mentioning the source, it induces 

 many to embark in the business, and 

 only half-yields of honey can be the 

 result. The whole truth should be 

 told. On page 4.58 the editor stated 

 that in 1877 the "Thurber Gold 

 Medal " was awarded to Mr. D. on 

 teasel honey, and the bee-papers made 

 the fact known " at the time " Why, 

 Mr. Editor, do you not know that 

 within nine years thousands of api- 

 arists have been made, and many, 

 very many, have been born since 

 1877 V and I fail to see how it could 

 have remained anything except a 

 profound " secret " to all these people, 

 and I shall do the best possible to let 

 the cat out. 



[This " secret " business and " let- 

 ting the cat out " is perfect nonsense. 

 Those who were made apiarists or 

 born since 1877 are not the complain- 

 ants now. We have requested Mr. 

 Doolittle to tell all he knows about 

 Teasel as a honey-producer, and his 

 article will be published next week. — 

 Ed.I 



Bee-Bunglers. — C. W. 



Bradford, c$ Iowa, on Aug. 

 writes : 



Dayton,. 



2, 1886,^ 



Shipping Bees.— A. Carder, Varna, 



N. Y., asks the following : 



1. What kind of a car is the best to 

 ship bees in, a grain or a stock car ? 



1 want to ship about Sept. 10. 2. Will 

 wire-cloth over the top of the hives 

 give bees enough ventilation when 

 shipping them V 



1 . A grain car is best ; an open car 

 would admit too much soot and dust. 

 Pack them so that the frames are 

 parallel with the track. 



2. Remove the cover, and put three 

 strips across the frames oyer the wire- 

 cloth for ventilation. If the hives 

 have porticos, nail wire-cloth over 

 them, leaving the entrance from the 

 frames to the portico open. — Ed.] 



Severe Drouth.— D. J. Myers, Re- 

 public, 5 O., on July 26, 1886, writes : 



We had a splendid season for bees 

 in this locality until July 10, but the 

 continual drouth throughout July 

 scorched all the white clover. We 

 have had three heavy honey harvests, 

 fruit-bloom, white clover and bass- 

 wood. These are our honey-produc- 

 ing flowers. ]>ees are now beginning 

 to work on corn-tassel blossoms and 

 pumpkin blossoms. I put out on the 

 summer stands 21 colonies; increased 

 to 36, sold 6, and have 30 left. I ex- 

 pect 1,000 pounds of comb honey. I 

 took off from one hive June 29, 80 

 pounds, and expect 40 more. Ex- 

 tracted honey is of very slow sale in 

 our market. Comb honey is selling 

 from 10 to 13 cents per pound. We 

 do not expect much fall honey, as we 

 had no rain for six weeks to do any 

 good. 



I might say, as the general report 

 goes, that everything is drying up, so 

 there is no prospects for a fall crop. 

 Fire will run through the grass in the 

 pastures. We have had the greatest 

 drouth ever known here. I think tlie 

 bees get a little honey-dew, which 

 may be beneficial, by cleaning out 

 some of the" one-horse bee-bunglers" 

 who rush their honey into the market 

 early, all at once, and at any price, 

 much to the disgust of the skilled and 

 posted apiarist. 



Honey Crop Almost a Failure.— H. 



R. Boardman, East Townsend,5 O., 

 on Aug. 2, 1886, writes : 



This has been the poorest season for 

 honey in this locality ever known. 

 The season opened unusually promis- 

 ing, but a severe drought and cool 

 nights ruined the surplus yield. The 

 brood-chambers are unusually heavy. 

 In several of my apiaries surplus is a 

 total failure. I have hundreds of 

 colonies that have not gathered a 

 pound of surplus honey, or had any 

 increase. I am very sure that the 

 early reports have given a false esti- 

 mate of the honey crop in the country. 

 I think it will be found to be very 

 poor, and in many places a total 

 failure. A little honey-dew has made 

 its appearance in some places, but not 

 sufticient as yet to do any harm. 



An Absconding Swarm.— Lawrence 

 Beleal, Cassadaga, p N. Y., writes: 



On June 16 a swarm issued while I 

 was away, and left for parts un- 

 known ; but strange to say on tlie 

 next day they came back and setl led 

 on a hive that had a colony in it. I 

 looked them over, and found tliey 

 were queenless. The colony they 

 issued from did not swarm again. 



Fall Honey Bloom a Failure.— J. 



N. Arnold, Richmond, Os Iowa, on 

 Aug. 2, 1886, writes : 



Bees wintered very successfully in 

 this locality last winter. I had 2.5 

 colonies on the summer stands in the 

 Quinby hive ; they increased to .50 

 colonies, and got 4,000 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey from white clover and 

 linden. I do not think there will be 

 much fall honey ; it is very dry. We 

 have not had a good rain for ten 

 weeks. 



Are Bees Animals?- J. O. Shear- 

 man, New Richmond,? Mich., on 

 July 26, 1886, writes : 



Mine are taxed in this way : I re- 

 port to the supervisor so many sec- 

 ond-hand hives worth, say $1 each on 

 an average, with one bee in each over 

 six months old worth from .50 cents 

 up to $3 (but few $3 ones) ; average, 

 say $1.50. Last spring he put them 

 all at $2 each, as all property of that 

 kind was low. I do not want to shirk 

 responsibility as a tax payer, and my 



