668 



THE AMERICAIT BEE JOURNAL. 



country. A collection of hives of the 

 very latest design for profit and ease 

 of manipulation will repay the trouble 

 of inspecting by any bee-keeper of the 

 South.— SoutJurn Planter. 





A Good Report. 



My yield, this year, is from 16 colo- 

 nies", spring count, and is 783 pounds 

 of comb honey and 62 pounds of ex- 

 tracted houey. Over 700 pounds of it 

 v*-as from 10 colonies. The largest 

 yield, 1.30 pounds, was from a colony 

 of hybrids. I now have 26 colonies. 

 R. E. H0LME8.-0 



West "Winsted, Conn., Oct. 8, 1SS4. 



Tar-Weed. 



Here is a specimen of one of our 

 autumn honey plants. Please give 

 its botanical name in tlie Bee .Jour- 

 nal. J. W. Stuart. 



Sonora, Cal., Sept, 23, 1884. 



[It is Hemitonia virgata, one of the 

 so-called Tar-weeds.— T. J. Burrill.] 



A Louisiana Hive. 



I would like to explain, through the 

 Bee Journal, the hive which I use. 

 I claim that it is the very best liive of 

 any in use for producing extracted 

 honey. It is 22x20!>^ inches and W2 

 inches high, holding fifteen frames". 

 The frames are 20x9^8 inches. During 

 a good honey-flow, the bees will flll 

 these fifteen frames with sealed honey 

 every week, and five of these hives 

 wil average forty gallons of honey per 

 year. Now, the reasons why I claim 

 that this hive is better than a two- 

 story one are these : The bees will 

 store more honey in them more read- 

 ily than in others and will do it in less 

 time. 2. They are more easily made 

 and handled, as well as being cheaper 

 than others. A. Y. Lennox, j 



Plaquemine, La., Oct. 4, 1884. 



Only One-Third of a Crop. 



We have only about one-third of a 

 crop of honey this season, or about 

 one-half as much as last year. After 

 apple bloom everything failed until 

 heart's-ease blossomed. Smart-weed 

 was almost worthless. The average 

 was about 2.5 pounds comb and 20 

 pounds of extracted honey per colony. 

 T. A. MOUGAS. p 



Henderson, Iowa, Oct. 10, 1884. 



The Season and my Honey Crop. 



I started in the spring with 60 colo- 

 nies, and I now have 1(10 strong ones. 

 I have taken 2.300 pounds of comb, 

 and 1,000 pounds of extracted honey 

 besides what we have used in our 

 family (which is quite an item, as the 

 children are very fond of it, and the 

 parents think it not unpleasant to the 

 taste), having had it on the table three 

 times a day for nearly every day in 



the year. I see many very discourag- 

 ing reports in regard to the season, 

 such as those of Messrs. Heddon and 

 Doolittle. Although the season for 

 surplus honey here was very short, it 

 has been as good as the average. The 

 most of the surplus was gathered in 

 the month of June, as there was not 

 a pound of basswood, and but very 

 little buckwheat honey on account of 

 cold, north winds throughout the 

 basswood season, and dry weather 

 during tlie buckwheat season. Here, 

 the price of honey is very low on ac- 

 count of the anxiety of many pro- 

 ducers, because of the large surplus 

 in June. I hold best extracted at 10 

 cents per pound, and best comb honey 

 at 16 cents. The price in Grand 

 Rapids is only about 12}^ cents for the 

 best comb honey. A. P. Cowan.kj 

 Grattan, >ilich., Oct. 3, 1884. 



Report for 1884. 



In the fall of 1883 I put 9 colonies 

 into clamps, and last spring took them 

 out and tound 2 dead, and all but 2 

 had the diarrhea. Before the open- 

 ing of spring I had lost all but 4. and 

 2 of the latter were very weak— hav- 

 ing only the queens and a handful of 

 bees. I increased them by division to 

 my original 9, and have taken about 

 300 pounds of extracted and 100 pounds 

 of comb honey, and they are all now 

 in good condition for winter. I took 

 all of my extracted honey from su- 

 pers. Wji. F.Ware. ex 



De Witt, Neb., Oct. 4, 1884. 



An Average Season. 



The last winter was the worst one 

 for bees in 4 years in this locality, the 

 loss being about -10 per cent. My loss 

 was 2 out of 16, but I had some weak 

 colonies. This has been only an aver- 

 age honey-season. I have taken 1.0.50 

 pounds of honey, 100 pounds of it 

 being comb, aiid the balance ex- 

 tracted honev. I now have 23 colo- 

 nies in good condition for winter, 

 with about 3.5 pounds of honey to the 

 colony. I sold my honey at an aver- 

 age of 13 cents "a pound. My best 

 colony produced 175 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, and one swarm. I have 

 one colony of Syrian bees, and I 

 usually handle them without smoke. 

 It is the strouMst colony that I have. 

 I hope that I sliall be able to tell you 

 more about these bees next fall. 



B. W. Peck. 6 



Richmond Centre, O., Oct. 8, 1884. 



Unprofitable Season. 



Bees have done poorly this season. 

 The colonies which did not swarm 

 stored from 2-5 to So pounds of honey. 

 Those that sent out swarms produced 

 little or none ; neither did the new 

 colonies store any in the boxes. The 

 fall bloom was very profuse, and the 

 weather has been warm ; but contrary 

 to all previous experiences, very little 

 honey was gathered. It is said by 

 some bee-men and women, that one 

 might just as well expect milk and 

 butter from a cow without feed as 

 honey from bees without feed. I 

 supposed that it was the business of 

 bees to gather honey from flowers and 



not to store away sugar and differ- 

 ent kinds of syrups and to be called 

 honey ; nor did I think such could be 

 honestly sold for honey. I do not 

 propose to feed bees for honey, nor 

 to watch the queens to see whether 

 they are lazy and un prolific, or tlie re- 

 verse. Their ways are beyond my 

 comprehension, and I propose to let 

 them keep house as is most agreeable 

 to themselves, and in the future spend 

 as little money on them as possible. 

 Waverly, Mo. A. M. Creel. kj 



Wintering Bees. 



In my opinion the only practical 

 method of preparing bees for winter 

 is that described by Mr. A. H. Button 

 in the Bee Journal of Oct. 1, 18«4. 

 As much as has been written con- 

 cerning the wintering of bees, in n)y 

 judgment, nothing came so near the 

 proper way as that given by Mr. D. 

 Robert Corbett. 6 



Manhattan. Kans. 



Only a Drone. 



Dr. J. X. Smoot is puzzled about a 

 strange noise like a boy blowing in a 

 bottle, emanating from one of his bee- 

 hives. It was only a poor drone 

 driven into a vacant part of the hive, 

 by the workers, when the hive acted 

 as a sounding-board, and the poor fel- 

 low gave vent to loud lamentations 

 over the cruelty of his heartless sis- 

 ters. I frequently have heard the 

 same lugubrious soluids in my apiary 

 this fall, after the bees began "to drum 

 out the drones. E. E. E. 



Convention Notices. 



!®" The Iowa Central Bee- Keepers' 

 Association will hold their annual 

 meetin^in tlie Court House at Win - 

 terset, Iowa, un Friday, Nov. 7, 1884. 

 All interested in bee-culture are re- 

 quested to be present. 



J. E. Prtor, Sec. 



A. J. Adkison, Pres. 



^ The Mahoning Valley Bee- 

 Keepers will hold their fall meeting^ 

 in Ravenna, O.. on Nov. 14, 1884. A 

 cordial invitation is extended to all. 

 E. W. Turner, Sec. 



Newton Falls, O. 



Ribbon Badges, for bee-keepers, on 

 which are printed a large bee in gold, 

 we send for 10 cts. each, or $8 per 100. 



^" We can supply photographs of 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth, the Baron of 

 Berlepsch, or Dzierzon, at 2.5 cts. each. 



^° For $2.7.5 we will supply the 

 Weekly Bee Journal one year, and 

 Dzierzon's Rational Bee-Keeping, in 

 paper covers ; or the Monthly Bee 

 Journal and the book for $1.75. Or, 

 bound in cloth, with Weekly, $3.00; 

 with the Monthly, $2.(0. 



