,THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



205 



for surplus, is poplar from April 25 to 

 May 15; blackberry from April 22 to 

 May 20; June not giving much ; then 

 comes sourwood, a great yielder of 

 honey, clear as crystal, during July. 

 Along our mountain caves, linden or 

 bassvifood comes in June 20, lasting 

 only a veeek or ten days ; on some 

 farms white clover g'-ows profusely, 

 but in my little experience, not much 

 honey has come from it ; it blossoms 

 April 30 to Sept. 30. Last year 1 kept 

 a record of the time of blossoming and 

 and of honey yield, of all the different 

 kinds of plants and trees upon which 

 I saw bees at work. The articles of 

 Messrs. Heddon and Doolittle, in the 

 Journal, are just splendid, but tliey 

 have collided on the building up or 

 stimulating early breeding question. 

 J. A. r. Fanchek. 

 Fancher's Mills, Tenn., Mar.29, 18S3. 



Swarming in Tennessee. 



The honey crop in this section, last 

 year, was a failure ; less honey being 

 produced than iiny year since I liave 

 been in the business, which dates back 

 to the year 1874 ; and, consequently, 

 the loss of colonies, this winter, has 

 been very heavy. Many have lost 

 half; the average loss, I think, will be 

 about one-third. When the winter 

 set in, I had 185 colonies; this spring 

 I still had 140, some of them not doing 

 well, but the most of them in good 

 condition, working finely, bringing in 

 pollen and some honey from peach 

 bloom, and it looks as thougli the 

 swarming fever was beginning to run 

 over them. One of my neighbors had 

 a fine swarm on the 3d inst. 



J. VV. Howell. 



Kenton, Tenn., April 7, 1883. 



Bees All Right So Far. 



I placed 80 colonies of bees in the 

 cellar on Dec. 7 (a part with top, and 

 apart with bottom ventilation) ; but 

 as they have all come through with- 

 out the loss of a single colony, it does 

 not prove anything on that point. My 

 cellar is 22x30 ; the fire flue extends to 

 the bottom in the centre, with a 6 

 inch ventilating tube. The thermom- 

 eter has ranged from 32'-' to 35°. The 

 loss of dead bees was about ?^ of a 

 bushel ; our coldest day was March 5, 

 when it was 8'^ below zero. Those 

 who have wintered their bees on the 

 summer 'stands, without protection, 

 have lost about 50 per cent, of them. 

 My bees have consumed a very small 

 amount of honey, and are in splendid 

 condition. C. H. France. 



Erie, Pa., April 9, 1883. 



Planting for Uojicy. 



I notice in, the Bee Journal, that 

 Jolm H. Martin has made a failure of 

 one of the best honey plants there is 

 (in my opinion), viz.: sweet clover. 

 Having liad some experience in sow- 

 ing, 1 will give it to the readers of the 

 excellent I5ee Jcjurnal. In the fall 

 of 1881 I sowed an acre on fresh-plow- 

 ing, harrowed it over lightly, and 

 awaited the results. In the spring of 

 1882, not seeing enough young plants 

 to insure a good stand, 1 sowed the 

 same ground again with the same 



amount of seed ; also, about ^^ of an 

 acre as Mr. M. says, gravelly loam ; 

 the result is as good a showing of 

 plants from 6 inches to 2 feet high as 

 any one could desire. It will grow in 

 almost any place, that anything else 

 will grow ; even in the fence corners 

 where the soil is never disturbed. I 

 also have had some experience with 

 the Simpson honey plant. Last year 

 I sowed it with catnip, mustard and 

 motherwort, and I have a showing of 

 all of them. The ligwort growed 3 or 

 4 feet high, and after the other bloom 

 had almost entirely failed, the bees 

 were swarming on it until frost 

 stopped them. J. E. Pryor. 



Arbor Hill, Iowa. 



Success in Wintering. 



I put into winter quarters, on Nov. 

 23, 170 colonies of bees (lOS in two bee 

 houses, and 62 in the cellar). I took 

 them out of the bee houses on March 

 1 ; those in the cellar, on March 9 ; all 

 in splendid condition except two, 

 which were queeuless. Nearly all ap- 

 pear as strong as when put into winter 

 quarters ; all have plenty of honey. I 

 use lioney-boards,and till the caps with 

 tine shavings ; and give no direct up- 

 ward ventilation. 1 have an inch 

 auger hole in the front of the hive, a 

 little above the centre, which is kept 

 covered with perforated tin. I give 

 the same ventilation at the bottom of 

 hive, as I do in summer, and keep the 

 temperature at 42^, as near as possi- 

 ble. I have always had good results 

 when I have wintered in this way ; 

 but this winter better than ever. I 

 prefer indoor to outside wintering, 

 and I have tried both. 



H. F. Putnam. 



Galesburg, 111., April 4, 1883. 



Good Work for an Amateur. 



We could not do without the Bee 

 Journal ; even at three times its 

 cost. We had 2 colonies of black bees 

 in the spring of 1882; increased to 7 

 by natural swarming and. division ; 

 have now also 1 colony of Italians. 

 We have lost none this winter (pretty 

 good for an amateur, thanks to the 

 Bee Journal and Cook's Manual), 

 although they wei'e imprisoned for 

 months without a flight, which they 

 enjoyed yesterday and to-day, to the 

 fullest extent. We took 200 pounds 

 of coinb honey. We intepd to fill 15 

 hives the coming season. We win- 

 tered in a clamp, packed with shav- 

 ings. A. C. Parfey. 



Richland Centre, Wis., April 9, 1883. 



"Saved the (jneeu." 



As I am one of the many " bee 

 mourners," I am not discouraged 

 yet. I put into winter quarters 18 

 colonies of Italians, with good stores 

 of honey. Up to date, I have lost 

 seven of that number, and, all but 

 one, left " good estates " of honey. 

 Among the number lost, was my 

 choicest Italian. The queen I pur- 

 chased from II. A. Burch & Co., in 

 1881. The 2d of this month I cleaned 

 them up. anil in " removing the dead " 

 bees, I found the remains of ray prize 

 queen. I carefully removed her to a 



shelf in a warm room ; after a few 

 hours, to my great surprise, I noticed 

 her crawling up on a pile of papers. 

 I at once made ready to save her, by 

 fitting up a nucleus hive, with three 

 frames, in which I found quite a 

 "good showing" of larvse and young 

 bees ; and, to-day, I examined the hive 

 and found a nice supply of eggs. 



H. B. IIammon. 

 Bristolville, O., April 9, 1883. 



(fathering Pollen and Honey. 



Our bees are gathering an abund- 

 ance of pollen and some honey ; soft 

 maple, willow and elm are the sources. 

 The condition of our bees are just the 

 reverse of what it was a year ago, at 

 this time. Our 53 colonies all win- 

 tered well ; with not even a missing 

 queen, so far. The number of weak 

 colonies is small (4 or 5), but all have 

 hatching brood. S. A. Shuck. 



Bryant, 111., April 10, 1883. 



Wintered Bees on the Summer Stands. 



The winter just over, has been a 

 very cold one. I wintered my 30 col- 

 onies on the summer stands. About 

 half of them are weak ; the rest of 

 them are strong. V. Fischer. 



fronton. Wis., April 7, 1883. 



Evaportion of Honey. 



1. Has the California honey evap- 

 orator, mentioned on page 405 of the 

 Bee Jorunal for 1882, or something 

 similar, been used in the Northwest, 

 and with what success V 



2. How long can extracted honey be 

 exposed to air without injury? 

 Should it be bunged up tight to re- 

 tain its excellence V 



3. Can the rank flavor of fall honey 

 be diminished by evaporation, or any 

 other method. H. W. Funk. 



Bloomington, 111., April 9, 1883. 



[1. Not, that we are aware of. 



2. Almost any length of time. It is 

 better to give it air. 



3. No.— Ed.] 



A Lady's Apiary. 



I have 39 fine colonies of Italian 

 bees that I manage all by myself. My 

 place covers a half-block. I have my 

 hives all nicely arranged along on one 

 side of the lot, except some few along 

 the grape arbors. I find it a most de- 

 lightful pastime for a lady ; so much 

 pleasanter and healthful than doing 

 nothing, all the time, in the house. 

 The swarming season is just begin- 

 ning. Mrs. Dr. E. II. Mason. 



Vmcennes, Ind. 



Bees Carrying Pollen. 



Bees have wintered with but little 

 loss here. In the fall of 1880 I put 

 100 colonies in the cellar ; I lost all, by 

 dysentery, but one, and that came 

 through in a very weak condition. 

 The cause was poor honey and long 

 confinement. In 18S1 I built up 9 

 good colonies, which I wintered with- 

 out loss. I sold two last spring, leav- 

 ing 7, which I increased to 25 last sea- 

 son. I obtained about 400 pounds of 



