May 25, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



323 



toward each other, as the bigr slashing lay between the two 

 yards showed that if they all had been together there would 

 be just as much hone)' gathered, besides less work to tend 

 them all. 



The season of 1897 was a very poor one in Clark County, 

 as well as over the most of the State. In the springtime 

 here it was very cool and rainy: strong colonies of bees 

 dwindled down to nothing, which found lots of empty hives 

 at the commencement of the honey-flow, which began about 

 July 4, and lasted until July 25. The apiarj- gave but 25 

 barrels of basswood honey. 



The season of 1898 was another poor one, which made 

 two poor seasons in succession for the bees, as there was 

 onl)' an eight days' honey-flow that came in July from 

 basswood. It gave an average of onlj- 75 pounds to the col- 

 ony, of extracted honey (as there is no comb honey produced 

 in the apiary), besides plenty of honey for wintering-. 



The bees in chaff hives seem to do the best in the api- 

 ary, except in early spring they don't seem to get the bene- 

 fit of the sun as do the bees in single-walled hives, so as to 

 breed up as early. The rest of the season they are far 

 ahead of single-walled hives, especially for honey. 



Each chaff hive has 10 frames below (Langstroth size), 

 and 14 to 16 above, the same size as below ; while the single- 

 wall hive has only 8 frames of the Grimm-Langstroth size. 



The best day's gain in the season of 1898, in an S-frame 

 Langstroth hive, was 12 'i pounds, while on the same day the 

 best gain in a chaff hive was 21 J4 pounds. The hot days 

 and cool nights didn't seem to affect the bees in the chaff 

 hives as much as in the single-wall, as the wall prevents 

 the heat from entering, which seems to save the bees lots of 

 labor in ventilating the hive : still, the entrance of chaff 

 hives is not as large as the others for air. 



Last winter was my first in trying to winter bees in the 

 cellar. Eighty colonies in chaff' hives were placed in the 

 cellar, and 20 left out on the summer stands. Out of the 80 

 in the cellar there were 80 strong colonies taken out in the 

 spring, while of the 20 out-of-doors 10 died, or 50 percent. 



There would be an improvement on the chaff" hives for 

 winter if the top part was in band or oven shape, so as to 

 be taken off, and not to occupy so much room. 



My honey extractor is a Van Allen & Williams 4-frame 

 reversible. It is very handy on account of the comb-basket 

 being so near the top. The extractor is kept fastened on a 

 stationary bench made out of matcht ceiling, 8 feet to the 

 left from the corner of the house, up just high enough for a 

 pail to work handy under the faucet. From that on, run- 

 ning toward the corner of the building, there is another 

 bench 8 inches higher running past a large window fitting 

 snug to the extractor, with a square hole cut in it for un- 

 capping the combs on, and to hand to the one that is turn- 

 ing the extractor. 



For a capping-box there is a washtub set under the hole 

 in the bench. From the corner running to the right there 

 is another bench built 9 inches lower, in sink shape, run- 

 ning past another window for light to come in to give 

 plenty of light on combs as they are being uncapt. This 

 bench is for a washdish and pail of water, so as to keep the 

 hands from being stuck up, by dipping the ends of the 

 fingers in the water once in awhile. At the end of this 

 sink-bench there is another bench built barrel high, 8 feet 

 from the corner running to the right. This is for an extra- 

 large barrel to rest on to strain the honey in ; also to help 

 ripen the honey, and the common 30-gallon barrels are stood 

 up under a faucet and filled here. 



By having the honey-extractor at the left 8 feet, and the 

 strainer barrel at the right 8 feet, it gives a chance for the 

 one that is extracting to carry the honey across the corner, 

 and not be in the way of the one that is uncapping, but 

 saves room, and keeps all the dauby muss from the drip- 

 pings of honey from the extractor, uncapping-box and 

 strainer-barrel, all in one corner of the house. 



With the sink-hole being placed under the strainer- 

 barrel bench, by throwing a pail of water up by the ex- 

 tractor, and with the use of a broom a couple of times or so 

 through the day, the floor will keep clean, and the dauby 

 muss won't have to be trod in. By keeping the floor 

 cleaned, and the water being run in a drain, the bees never 

 bother the bee-house by trying to get in. 



Over each window is a row of bee-escapes that keeps 

 the house rid of bees that are brought in on combs, and flies 

 also. 



The bee-house is two-story, 18x30 feet. The upper story 

 is to store barrels, to work in, etc.; while all the honey is 

 stored on the lower floor. The bee-cellar is made of white 

 oak, 6x8 two feet apart, and plankt. 



The bee-yard is graded into a sidehill, the upper side 



being a 4-foot cut. while the lower side is filled in 2 to 3 feet, 

 which leaves the bees high and dry. and still near spring 

 water. Trees are all around the grading, which keeps the 

 wind from the bees. By the bee-yard being graded it gives 

 a level entrance to the bee-cellar, which is built in the bank, 

 to take the bees in and out. 



Our honey-plants and honey-producing shrubbery here 

 are, first in the spring maple-juice from the large maple 

 trees (as quite a lot of maple syrup is made here), besides 

 the sap from the stumps where the trees were cut for saw- 

 logs, as there are carloads of the logs shipt from here every 

 year. This sets the bees to breeding very early in the 

 spring, as they sometimes gather 5 to 6 pounds to the hive. 



Next comes tag and black elder that furnish lots of pol- 

 len, with willow of several kinds out about the same time, 

 which furnish pollen and honey. Poplar and birch-elm of 

 several kinds blossom, and the bees breed up fast ; and as 

 the wild cherry, plum and thorn-apple blossom the bees be- 

 gin to swarm, the first swarms beginning to come off about 

 the first of May. Each of the latter three trees are so thick 

 as to make the woods look white when they are in blossom. 



Dandelions are very thick here, and help the bees out in 

 feed the most of any of the honey-plants until basswood 

 bloom. White clover is thicker here than in almost any 

 other part of the State, but the bees hardly ever notice it 

 except in the latter part. of its bloom, then once in awhile 

 there is a day that they work on it well. 



Raspberry blossoms come next to the dandelions, and 

 the bees get a little honey from them so as to keep up breed- 

 ing in good shape until the basswood sets in. At the same 

 time the basswood blooms the willow-herb blossoms. The 

 bees get the nicest honey from the willow-herb and asters : 

 of the latter there are several kinds, but they don't yield 

 honey every year. 



Buckwheat is very seldom noticed by the bees here for 

 some reason, the same as white clover. 



The farmers are just beginning to raise Alsike clover 

 here, and it grows very rank : the bees work on it very 

 well. As the land gets cleared up more, so the ground will 

 be warmer, and farmers get to raising more clover, the 

 honej- harvests will begin to get still larger each year. The 

 first year that I was here there was not an acre of Alsike 

 that I knew of. The past summer there was a little sown 

 by most of the farmers. 



Grocerymen claim their customers like our honey flavor 

 better than any other. One of the grocerymen lets the 

 hone)' candy in the barrel, then he sets the barrel of honey 

 on a table in the front part of the store, and cuts all of the 

 hoops from the barrel, then pulls the staves off. In that 

 way it leaves one big lump of candied honey on the table 

 right in the show-window ; the customers come in and in- 

 quire what that big chunk of sugar is. He tells them that 

 it is honey, and then they wish to buy a few pounds, and he 

 takes a large knife that he has lying beside it, and slices 

 off on the top edge as you would cheese. In this wav he 

 sold a barrel of honey a week, at a profit of 4 cents a pound, 

 while the two adjoining groceries sold but a barrel or two 

 all winter, of the same kind of honey, as it was shipt from 

 me at the same time. But the others kept it in the barrel. 

 They had the barrel up at the front of the store, but there 

 was not enough curiosity excited in that way to create an 

 appetite, as was the case with the large cake. 



Clark Co.. Wis. 



York's Honey Almanac is a neat little 32-page pamph- 

 let especially gotten up with a view to create a demand for 

 honey among should-be consumers. Aside from the Alma- 

 nac pages, the forepart of the pamphlet was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very- 

 effective helper in working- up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample for 

 a stamp ; 25 copies for 50 cents ; 50 for 70 cents ; 100 for 

 $1.25 ; 250 for $2.75 ; 500 for $4.50. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



Langstroth on the Honey. Bee, revised by the Dadants, 



is a standard, reliable and thoroughly complete work on 

 bee-culture. It contains 520 pages, and is bound elegantly. 

 Every reader of the American Bee Journal should have a 

 copy of this book, as it answers hundreds of questions that 

 arise about bees. We mail it for $1.25, or club it with the 

 Bee Journal for a year — both for only $2.00. 



