THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



171 



Sweet Clover for Texas. —I see you 



Tecomineiid sweet clover (Melilotus 

 Alba) as a honey producer. 1. Do 

 you think it would succeed in North- 

 ern Texas ? 2. What time should it 

 be sown in this latitude V I embarked 

 in the bee business last spring with 

 14 colonies, and increased to 34. All 

 .are in hne condition this spring. Bee- 

 keepers will meet in McKinneythe 

 10th inst., for the purpose of organiz- 

 ing a County Association. I am well 

 pleased with the Bee Journal. 



T. C. Boone. 

 McKinney, Tex., March 3, 1SS2. 



[1. We think sweet clover vrill prove 

 better than anything you can plant, 

 as it stands heat, drouth, rain, and 

 ■cold admirably. 



2. Plant in fall, winter, spring or 

 summer ; in fact, any time when the 

 ground is damp ; but do not expect to 

 see it in bloom till the second season. 

 —Ed. 



The Season in California. — We have 

 just had a glorious rain ; to-day is tine. 

 About all the old honey is out of first 

 hands and scarce. I sold 1,000 lbs. of 

 surplus, at good prices, at home; 

 could have "sold several thousand 

 pounds more, if pushed, if I had it on 

 hand. Hard to tell what the pros- 

 pect is for a good honey season, but 

 hope. Almonds are in bloom, also 

 crocus; wild buckwheat just coming, 

 willows, wild gooseberries, wild cur- 

 rants, and a few acacias are giving 

 abundance of bloom for pollen, and 

 the bees do not lose a minute. We 

 have had enough rain in this section ; 

 at present the ground is too wet to 

 plow. Bees commenced to breed in 

 January. 2*fo brood from Oct. 1.5 to 

 Jan. 1. Bees are in good condition, 

 with plenty of natural stores. The 

 season has been very cold and is back- 

 ward. Manzanita was a total failure 

 here— cause, frost more than usual. 

 The Bee Journal will be wanted as 

 long as I am in the business, "and 

 don't you forget it." J. D. Enas. 



Napa, Cal., March 2, 1882. 



An Open Winter in Kentucky. — My 



bees are of my own rearing, as I go 

 with Doolittle and Heddon, and 

 think I was ahead of them before I 

 ever heard the leather-colored bees 

 discussed. Bees this winter, con- 

 trary to my expectation, have wintered 

 splendidly. 1 have not lost a colony, 

 and only sucli as had but about 3 lbs. 

 of honey, last fall, have starved. J 

 ■could have bought bees hist fall for 

 almost a song, but could not tell what 

 sort of a winter we would have. Xow 

 I cannot buy tlieni at any price. I 

 had hoped that, as my neighbors 

 would persist in keeping common bees 

 and would neither sell nor Italianize 

 them, that they would all die this 

 winter, but the winter was warm 

 with nothing but rain and mud all 

 through ; no ice, except Nov. 28th. 



My advertisement in the Bee Jour- 

 nal of last year brought so many 

 •orders that I could have sold twice as 

 many bees as 1 could spare. 



Paint Lick, Ky. R. M. Argo. 



Cleaning Barrels.— I have a cask 

 which has contained whisky and 

 grape vinegar, but 1 wish to use it to 

 put my dissolved sugar in for bee 

 feed. "Please state how to treat it to 

 make it suitable for that purpose. 



Canton, O. E. 11. Morris. 



[If for spring feeding, when bees 

 are flying quite frequently, scald it 

 out with a strong solution of soda. If 

 for winter feeding, do not use it. You 

 cannot be too careful of tlie character 

 of feed for winter, and should risk 

 nothing to chance. — Ed.] 



A Difference in Uaces.— I (indagreat 

 difference in the races of bees in re- 

 gard to breeding early. The Cyprians 

 with me the last four seasons have 

 outstripped the Italians amazingly. I 

 now have the Syrians, but as yet they 

 are behind the Cyprians. I have 30 

 colonies of the latter in booming con- 

 dition, with brood in from 2 to 4 

 frames. The Italians are also breed- 

 ing nicely, but as yet tlie Syrians have 

 very little brooil. Yesterday they 

 brought in new iiollen, and to-day 

 they just rolled it in. What is the 

 difference betweenBokhara and sweet 

 clover y G. J. Yoder. 



Middlebury, Ind., March 2, 1882. 



[There is no difference that we can 

 distinguish. — Ed.] 



Bees in Cellar.— My 90 colonies of 

 bees are all in the cellar, and are, so 

 far. in splendid condition. I had two 

 or three out yesterday to examine. 

 These are very dry and healthy. The 

 queens have been laying for about 

 two weeks and have brood in all 

 stages. While in winter quarters, I 

 give thorough ventilation and kept 

 the temperature from 42^ to 48'J. 

 Some claim that bees cannot be win- 

 tered well in a cellar during a warm 

 winter like this, but my experience is 

 against it. We have had no zero 

 weatlieryet; 1.5'^ above is the coldest 

 we have had. L. W. Van Kirk. 



Washington, Ph. 



Very Mild Winter.— My bees have 

 all come through except 1 colony. 

 They were busy carrying in pollen the 

 2nd "inst., and yesterday they seemed 

 to be getting honey from some source, 

 but I cannot think where they would 

 get honey this time of the year. 

 Slaivh is here, and at this place we 

 had no zero weather tlie past winter. 

 Tlie coldest it has been was 4^ above 

 zero, which was on the 24th of Jan- 

 uary, while the average temperature 

 for the month of December was 34^ 

 above zero. The average for Jan- 

 uary, 24'^, and the average for Febru- 

 ary, 32^ above zero. So, you see, we 

 have not had much cold here, but we 

 have plenty of rain. I went into 

 winter quarters with 11 colonies, 

 packed in chaff on their summer 

 stands ; have lost but one so far — 

 cause, sudden cold overtaking them 

 before they could regain the clustor. 

 The other colonies are all in good 

 shape except 2, which are weak. 



J. H. Eby. 



Nortli Robinson, O. 



Preparing for Spring Work.— I am 



a disciple of Langstroth, and, on ac- 

 count of liis poor health, am without 

 a leader. My bees are all pure Ital- 

 ians, and are in Langstroth hives. 

 The queens are from 4 to •") years old ; 

 each colony is in fair condition, but 

 yet not as strong as I should like. All 

 'have full sets of combs for upper and 

 lower stories, but drone and worker 

 comb is in the same frame. I am not 

 so desirous for increase as I am for 

 lioney, and liave never tliought that I 

 got as much as I should. Please in- 

 struct me as to the best mode of pro- 

 ceedure the coming season V I want, 

 as soon as possible, to have my bees 

 in the best condition, for honey 

 gathering. What should be the dif- 

 ference in price, between extracted 

 honey in bulk, and the same put up 

 in one pound square glass jars, neatly 

 labeled and capped. 

 Oxford, O. Lynn Bonham. 



[On page 133 of the Bee Journal 

 for Marcli 1, you will find an article 

 from the pen of G.M. Doolittle, treat- 

 ing upon the subject of spring prepar- 

 ation. We can heartily commend its 

 careful perusal to any bee-keeper who 

 prefers to run for honey, supplement- 

 ing it, however, with tlie advice to 

 carefully trim out all patches of drone 

 comb with a narrow- bladed, sharp 

 knife. This, of course, can be done 

 without injuring worker brood, and 

 if done early will be rebuilt with 

 worker comb, if given to the colony 

 only as fast as required. 



The difference in price of extracted 

 honey in bulk, and the same in at- 

 tractive small packages of any kind, 

 neatly labeled, should more than 

 balance the difference in cost of pack- 

 ages, the time and expense of prepara- 

 tion, and a remunerative profit as 

 recompense for superior taste and 

 care. Where honey is sold in bulk 

 the producer has only to convince the 

 first purchaser as to purity and de- 

 sirableness of the article, after which 

 he becomes unknown in connection 

 with future transactions ; but with 

 the small packages, wlien neatly 

 labeled, and with producer's name 

 printed or written on eacli label (as it 

 should be) as a guarantee or voucher 

 for the article, he becomes morally 

 accountable to each individual con- 

 sumer, and the profits should be pro- 

 portionate to the responsibility or ac- 

 countability.— Ed.] 



Bees Doing Well.— Bees are carry- 

 ing pollen and some honey from early 

 fruit blo(mi and breeding up rapidly. 

 We have had no winter here;not4 

 days together that bees could not fly. 

 My early garden plants, etc., are all 

 up and growing fine. 



E. P. Massey. 



Waco, Texas, March 4, 1882. 



