THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



(529 



For tbe American B^e Jouroal. 



Doolittle's Report for 1884. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Not long ago I received a letter 

 from one of our most prominent bee- 

 keepers saying tliat his yield of honey 

 was very light. " In fact," said he, 

 " it is so light that I shall not report 

 at all." It he had added that he had 

 never reported except once, that being 

 a few years ago when he had secured 

 almost tlie largest yield of honey on 

 record, he would have given a truth- 

 ful statement. This bee-keeper is 

 not an exception by any means, for 

 we have many others who never re- 

 port except when they can report a 

 very large production. In this way 

 the showing in our bee-papers and 

 elsewhere is very largely on the bright 

 side of bee-keeping ; for these large 

 reports are copied into nearly every 

 paper in the United States, and per- 

 haps of the world, as was the large 

 report above referred to. 



Our bee-keepers have been severely 

 criticised by sellish apiarists for their 

 giving these large reports, who argue 

 that such reports are given by the 

 editors for the purpose of enticing 

 others to enter the ranks of bee-cuT- 

 ture, thereby giving these papers a 

 larger patronage, and enabling the 

 editors to sell a'larger bill of supplies; 

 which thing is claimed to be for the 

 interest of the supply dealer, and 

 against the producer's interest. It is 

 not my desire, at this time, to argue 

 this point ; for, be that as it may. I 

 claim that it is the bee-keepers who 

 are to blame (if there is any blame) 

 for only this bright side of bee-keep- 

 ing being given. If every bee-keeper 

 should give a report, only in years 

 when they secured but a small crop, 

 or none at all, the thing would be re- 

 versed ; or if, as some claim, that the 

 editors of the different papers would 

 not publish reverses, then no reports 

 at all would be given, till these seltisli 

 fellows could be accommodated by a 

 decrease regarding those who are en- 

 tering the business. 



But no ; these same men who cen- 

 sure will rush into print with a large 

 report, if they have such, while if the 

 yield is light, no report will be given, 

 as the person alluded to at the be- 

 ginning of this article, decided to do. 

 Xow, bee-keepers, either report your 

 failures or else be consistent enough 

 to not blame the bee-papers for pub- 

 lishing large reports when you give 

 tliem only such to publish. My idea 

 has been that, if all would faithfully 

 report, each year, that we should 

 know al)out the truth regarding the 

 profitableness of apiculture, and for 

 this reason I have not failed in giving 

 my report for the past 11 years, and 

 shall now report for 1884. 



I must say it is, by far, the smallest 

 yield of honey that I received since 



1869, which was the first year of my 

 experience with bees. On page 3.56, 

 I gave you a report of my loss of bees 

 during" the winter, which, together 

 with the sale of bees that I had pre- 

 viously contracted, reduced my num- 

 ber (80) in the fall to 40 at the time 

 spring was fairlv opened. Fourteen 

 of the weakest of these were set apart 

 for queen-rearing, which left 26 to be 

 worked for honey. As I had more 

 orders for queensthan I could fill with 

 the nuclei made from the 14 weaker 

 colonies, I had to draw quite largely 

 of bees and brood from the 26 set 

 apart for lioney. to form more nuclei ; 

 so had there been an early supply of 

 honey, this would have been a disad- 

 vantage ; but as there was not, the 

 loss from this source would not exceed 

 100 pounds. 



The first honey . obtained was from 

 the golden willow, which was so 

 meagre that it was consumed for 

 brood-reariug nearly as fast as ob- 

 tained. As there was no hard-maple 

 blossoms, and niv bees were short of 

 stores. I looked forward to the apple- 

 bloom with mucli interest, hoping 

 that it would yield enough honey to 

 carry the bees over the honey-dearth, 

 which we always have for the next 

 two weeks after the bloom from this 

 source is gone. But I was doomed to 

 disappointment ; for with the opening 

 of the blossoms came on a cold rain 

 which lasted all through this bloom, 

 with the exception of one- half of a 

 day. I now had to resort to feeding 

 to keep all my weaker colonies and 

 nuclei alive, which feeding I kept 

 up for nearly four weeks. Locust 

 opened about June 12, when the bees 

 got for a day and a half the most 

 honey they had gathered so far ; but 

 with the afternoon of the second day. 

 clouds and a cold wind arose, followed 

 by rain which lasted until the bloom 

 was past. After this we had splendid 

 honey-weather till July 6 ; but as our 

 fields are kept constantly under the 

 plow, we have little white clover save 

 along the sides of the road. From 

 this, and the little raspberry and 

 sumac bloom, the bees got a living, 

 while a few of the stronger colonies 

 stored a few pounds in the combs. 



On July 6 it came off cold, with dis- 

 agreeable, cloudy and windy weather 

 wliicli lasted for over a month, with 

 the exception of now and then a day 

 when the sun would shine a part or 

 all of the day. Basswood, which 

 gives our main honey-crop, opened on 

 July 14, but it was of no use to the 

 bees for a whole week, for they could 

 not get to it on account of the wind, 

 clouds and cold ; besides, in such 

 weather, honey does not secrete to 

 any amount. At the end of a week 

 one good day came, and the bees 

 rushed for tlie basswood as if they 

 were crazy ; but with the next day the 

 cold and clouds came again, when 

 four days more passed with the bee- 

 yard nearly as still as winter. At 

 this time we had another day of 

 honey, with one-half of a day more, 

 after another cool day. Then the 

 cold and clouds kept the bees at home 

 during all the rest of the bloom, ex- 

 cept as they got a chance to go out an 

 hour or so occasionally when the sun 



would light out a little through the 

 clouds. 



After tlie basswood bloom was over, 

 a little honey was secured from teasel 

 during the next ten days when the 

 weather would allow the bees to fiy, 

 after whicli no more honey was 

 secured, allliough the month of Au- 

 gust (after the 10th) and the first half 

 of September were very warm ; the 

 absence of fall (lowers and but very 

 little buckwheat accounting for it. 



Thus ended the poorest honey-sea- 

 son since l,s69— tlie poorness of which 

 was caused bv bad weather during 

 the bloom of all our honey-producing 

 flora. As a result I have taken only 

 711 pounds of honey— 272 pounds 

 being extracted, and 439 pounds comb. 

 This gives an average of 277s pounds 

 for each of those set apart for honey, 

 in the spring : and considering the 

 few days in which they could work, 

 they secured more than I could rea- 

 sonably expect. I shall put in winter 

 quarters .5-') full colonies and about 20 

 small ones whieli will be made up by 

 uniting nuclei. Most of the full col- 

 onies have nearly enough honey to 

 winter them, but the united nuclei 

 will have to be fed. 



I have received nearly $500 for 

 queens and bees, while the comb 

 honey at 15 cents, and the extracted 

 at 10 cents per pound amounts to $93, 

 thus giving $593 the gross amount re- 

 ceived from my apiary. From this I 

 have to deduct about $63 for the sugar 

 which was fed, which leaves $530 as 

 my pay for the labor expended on the 

 bees. By dividng $530 by 40, the 

 number of colonies, spring count, it 

 will be seen that I received an aver- 

 age of $13.25 each, as a cash profit ; 

 which is not a bad showing. How- 

 ever, had it not been for the queen- 

 rearing part of it, I could well say 

 that bee-keeping for 1884 has been 

 nearly an entire failure. 



Borodino, X. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees. 



A. H. BUTTON. 



One who is but slightly acquainted 

 with practical bee-keeping might sup- 

 pose that the above subject, if he 

 were to glance over the past numbers 

 of the Bee Journal, was an apia- 

 rian topic stale, dry as dust, and 

 threadbear to tlie point of general 

 dissolution. This a priori notion, 

 however, is a mistake, and that for 

 two reasons : 1 . Perfect certainty in 

 wintering is a thing yet unattained by 

 our oldest and most scientific apiar- 

 ists. 2. New men are continually en- 

 tering the field eager for the latest 

 information concerning this, one of 

 the most vital matters in connection 

 with the bee-business. Hence, we 

 shall give a general recapitulation of 

 the subject up to its latest develop- 

 ments, and if any hint may be drop- 

 ped to those who are veterans in the 

 ranks, or guidance to those who are 

 just enlisting, I shall feel repaid for 

 my trouble. 



In the problem of wintering, failure 

 springs from the violation or natural 



