THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



427 



presents the appearance of a stormy 

 day. Our bees appear to have aban- 

 doned clover for a white- blossomed 

 weed that is a great pest in old mea- 

 dows. It is now in full bloom. The 

 prospects for a surplus of honey are 

 very gloomy at this time. Queens 

 have seemed to do their best to render 

 the hives populous, but nothing could 

 prevail against such wholesale de- 

 struction of workers, and so many 

 adverse circumstances. 



John C. Peden. 

 Lawrenceburg, Ky., June 26, 1882. 



[Our correspondent, we hope, will 

 yet realize a good honey crop, despite 

 the apparent unfavorableness of the 

 weather. If summer and fall flowers 

 are usually abundant in your locality, 

 the weather of which you complain 

 will be the very best for developing 

 them. Last season your prospects 

 were much gloomier than now, and 

 yet the asters came in with an abun- 

 dance of nectar never before equalled 

 by it, and you rojoiced over the 

 happy termination of your misfor- 

 tunes. Even, however, if your worst 

 fears are realized for this season, it 

 cannot be expected that a territory as 

 vast as ours, with a climate so varied, 

 should every portion be equally as 

 productive in one season, any more 

 than that all soils should rival your 

 famous blue-grass pastures, or that 

 all herds of cattle should equal your 

 incomparable shorthorns.— Ed.] 



Ready for Linden Bloom, — During 

 the months of April and May, my 

 bees got very little honey and as a re- 

 sult, feeding was necessary to keep 

 away the pangs of hunger. I now 

 have them in a condition where I can 

 muster a large army of workers to 

 take the field as soon as the linden 

 blossoms, which will be in a few days. 

 Mustard is blooming quite profusely 

 now, and bees are working on it some. 

 I saw some dogwood and elder blos- 

 soms to-day, but no bees about them. 

 Does it yield any honey or not V The 

 crop prospects here are good. 



W. H. Martin. 



Falls City, Neb., June 25, 1882. 



[They undoubtedly both yield honey, 

 but it is either difficult to obtain or 

 obnoxious to the bees ; it is seldom 

 they are seen to work on either if 

 anything else is in bloom.— Ed.] 



Bees have Prospered. — Notwith- 

 standing the cold, backward spring, 

 bees in this locality have prospered. 

 I wintered 50 colonies out of 54. Have 

 had a few natural swarms. Nearly 

 all my colonies are storing honey in 

 the surplus boxes, and some are ready 

 to be raised up. White clover is in 

 full bloom, is abundant, and every- 

 thing looks promising for a good 

 honey harvest. 



Mrs. a. M. Sanders. 



Sheridan, Mich., June 23, 1882. 



ImproTement in Dispositions. — Bees 

 are doing better. The Syrians are far 

 more amiable than they were last 

 year. Can it be handling V My class 

 of 30 go among them with no protec- 

 tion, and receive no harm. They are 

 a great improvement, I believe, on 

 the Italians. I am very sorry for Mr. 

 Jones. It is too bad. For his great 

 enterprise— one of the greatest ever 

 undertaken on behalf of apiculture. 

 He -gets only loss, and very little 

 thanks. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., June 23, 1882. 



[Yes, Professor, you are right in 

 your surmise ; frequent careful hand- 

 ling, as we discovered years ago, will 

 very much improve the amiability of 

 almost any colony. Here, again, 

 might arise a doubt, whether it is all 

 instinct which teaches the bee that its 

 proper manipulation is for its benefit, 

 and not to do harm; and this, too, may 

 have given rise to the thought that 

 bees learn to individualize, for we 

 frequently hear old bee-keepers say 

 that their bees can distinguish them 

 from strangers, when it really may be 

 a peculiarity in dress or in the manner 

 of handling. — Ed.] 



Motherwort for Bees. — Prospects 

 for a honey crop are very discourag- 

 ing here. Bees have built no comb in 

 the sections as yet, and are not more 

 than making a living. Cold and wet, 

 with but little clover in bloom. 

 Motherwort seems to be yielding 

 more honey than any other plant so 

 far. I have about 2,000 plants of it 

 under cultivation in my experimen- 

 tal garden, and I think 10 acres of it 

 planted the same as corn one way and 

 drilled the other way, would support 

 100 colonies of bees. 



W. T. Stewart. 



Eminence, Ky., June 22, 1882. 



Wired Foundation.— Will you please 

 inform some of your old subscribers, 

 through the Bee Journal, if the 

 wired foundation can be used in the 

 body of the hive ; it twists so I can- 

 not use it '? G. Cholwell. 



Red Hook, N. Y. 



[The strongest recommendations 

 urged by the friends of wired founda- 

 tion are that it is proof against twist- 

 ing and sagging. We have used but 

 little of it, and then only in an ex- 

 perimental manner, but were not 

 troubled with its twisting.— Ed.] 



A Sad Accident.— On the 4tliof June 

 I started for Ilammondsport, where I 

 have a vineyard, when my horses be- 

 came frightened and ran away, 

 throwing me out and breaking my 

 leg. I was badly bruised otherwise. 

 I have been unable to attend to my 

 bees since, and as it has been such 

 weather that they required especial 

 care, they have suffered in conse- 

 quence. I have lost 5 colonies by 

 starvation. D. S. McCallum. 



Big Creek, N. Y., June 15, 1882. 



A Valuable Seedling.— I herewith 

 send you a specimen ot white clover,, 

 which you see is very large, and the 

 blossoms are perfectly white. It 

 blooms from 12 to 15 days before the 

 common or Dutch white clover or the 

 alsike or red clovers. I first noticed 

 it last year growing in front of one of 

 my bee hives, and this year it lias 

 spread until there is a patch about 2 

 yards square, with the seed now ripe, 

 while the common white clover near 

 it, a specimen of which I send, is only 

 coming into bloom. Is this a new 

 seedling, or what is it V My bees are 

 doing first rate, and the fields are 

 perfectly white with clover. 



H. Besse. 



Delaware, O., June 27, 1882. 



[It is undoubtedly a new seedling,, 

 although the size and shape of the 

 seeds differ materially from those of 

 any other variety with which we are- 

 acquainted. It is, however, worthy 

 of cultivation, and will prove very 

 valuable because of its extra large 

 size and early maturity. Do not neg- 

 lect it.— Ed.] 



Late Feeding.— Bees came through 

 the winter good, but we had a very 

 severe spring on bees ; some had to be 

 fed as late as June 17th. They are 

 doing well now, June 23d. It is- 

 strange how they have swarmed, even 

 in May, without a pound of honey in 

 the hives, and none coming in. 



Hartford, Wis. I. S. Crowfoot. 



More than Doing Well.— The thin 

 foundation is the knob of perfection 

 maqnifico. Bees are more than doing- 

 well now. Swarming has commenced. 

 P P Nelson 



Manteno, 111., J une il, i882. 



The Apiary Register. 



All who intend to be systematic in 

 their work in the apiary, should get a 

 copy and commence to use it. 



For 50 colonies (120 pages) $1 00- 



" 100 colonies 220 pages 1 5a 



" 200 colonies (420 pages) 2 Oa 



The larger ones can be used for a 

 few colonies, give room for an increase- 

 of numbers, and still keep the record 

 all together in one book, and are there- 

 fore the most desirable ones to pro- 

 cure at the start. 



Bee Pasturage a Necessity.— We have- 

 just issued a new pamphlet giving our 

 views on this important subject, with 

 suggestions what to plant, and when 

 and how. It is illustrated with 20 en- 

 gravings, and will be sent postpaid to- 

 any address for 10 cents. 



I®" Those who may wish to change- 

 from other editions to the Weekly ,can 

 do so by paying the difference. 



