THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



445 





Well Satisfied with the Haryest. 



The season is over, and I am well 

 pleased with it. I extracted from 

 about 80 colonies of bees, and realized 

 about five tons of honey. A new dis- 

 covery has been made in this valley, 

 by a well-known bee-keeper named 

 Hugo Sontag, who had about 300 

 colonies of bees in his apiary, in the 

 last part of May. He found a queen 

 with four yellow stripes on her ab- 

 domen, and the wings are scarlet. 

 This queen he put into a colony of 

 bees, which swarmed twice this sea- 

 son, and he realized 17.5 pounds of 

 extracted honey from it. Mr. Sontag 

 desires to have these queens in his 

 whole apiary. He thinks they are 

 more prolitable than the Italians. 



A. CORSEN. 



Cucamonga, Cal., Aug. 22, 1883. 



Verbenas. 



Please tell me through the columns 

 of tlie bee-keepers' standard friend, 

 the Bee Journal, the name of the 

 enclosed bloom, and its merits as a 

 honey plant. I never saw but very 

 little of it here, before this season, 

 and at this date it is thick on the road 

 sides and pastures, and green vacant 

 lands. It commenced to bloom about 

 the 10th of July; there are three colors 

 of bloom : blue, purple, and nearly 

 white, and is about 2 to 3 feet high, 

 and looks as though it might bloom 

 till frost. It seems to be a favorite 

 with the bees. They work on it from 

 early morn till late sun down. My 

 bees are in white, red and sweet clo- 

 ver up to their eyes now, early and 

 late, and a 5-acre sheet of silver hull 

 buckwheat bloom to breakfast on 

 every morning at day break. We have 

 a good harvest yet. R. M. Osborn. 



Kane, 111., Aug. 11, 1883. 



[This is one of the four quite com- 

 mon vervains {Verbena hastata). It 

 doubtless has been plenty in certain 

 places in the neighborhood before, 

 but escaped observation. It is a very 

 good honey plant.— T. J. Burrill.] 



My Houey S.ilesnien. 



The Madison County Fair Associa- 

 tion (held at Ilichmond, Ky.,) did not 

 offer any premiums on bees or honey. 

 I made a display of Italian bees, 

 about .500 po\inds of honey, hives, 

 sections, smokers, knives,' Given 

 foundation press, extractor, etc., and 

 distributed 100 pamphlets on " Honey 

 as Food and Medicine." My display 

 attracted considerable attention, for 

 it was something new to most of the 

 people. I think I attained my ob- 

 ject, viz. : To create an interest in 

 bee-culture, and I am sure the 100 

 pamphlets on " Honey as Food and 

 Medicine," which I distributed, will 

 sell a great quantity of honey. 



C. D. MiZB. 



Cleveland, Ky., Aug. 26, 1883. 



Too Dry for Buckwheat. 



The season here has been rather 

 behind the average for honey, as the 

 weather was poor in the best honey 

 season. Bees are getting a comfort- 

 able living now, and enough to cap 

 up unfinished work. Goldenrod is 

 just beginning to show, and they may 

 get something from that, if there 

 should come a shower and warmer 

 weather soon. There is some buck- 

 wheiit in bloom, but it is too dry now 

 for buckwheat to yield much. 



J. O. Shearman. 



New Richmond, Mich., Aug. 25, 1883. 



Tropical Honey Tree. 



I send bloom and foliage from a 

 branch broken off an ornamental tree 

 20 to 25 feet high, in one of the south- 

 ern cities of this State, by a neigh- 

 bor who is an admirer of and has a 

 number of fine Italian bees, who was 

 attracted to it by the hum of the bees 

 that were around and upon it, gather- 

 ing the honey. He says that it is the 

 most wonderful attraction for bees 

 that he ever saw ; that a plate of honey 

 out ni an apiaiy in the month of Au- 

 gust would not produce a greater 

 excitement. The property on which 

 the tree stood was occupied by a ten- 

 ant, who could not give any informa- 

 tion about it, only th.it it is a great 

 attraction for bees. Will you please 

 give us the name and nativity of the 

 tree, and oblige. 



C. C. Richardson. 



Tipton, Ind., Aug. 9, 1883. 



[The tree is one of the numerous 

 species of Aralia, natives of Tropical 

 America, allied to the well-known 

 Hercules club, {Aralia spinosa). 

 Nothing is known of the species as 

 honey producers, but from the struc- 

 ture of the flowers, one would be led 

 to suppose they might be very attrac- 

 tive to bees.— T. J. Buhrill.] 



lutroducing: a Queen in Au!>:ust. 



The following may encourage some- 

 body. I ordered an early queen in 

 May ; she arrived in August during a 

 rain storm, when I did not want her. 

 I took two frames of brood, etc. with 

 bees adhering and put them in a 

 small hive, smoked them and stopped 

 them in. The next day 1 put the 

 Italian queen in her cage, at the en- 

 trance of the hive, and the day after 

 that I turned her in, smoked them, 

 and shut them up for two days. They 

 accepted her. R. B. Dranb. 



Edenton, N. C, Aug. 23, 1883. 



Smart- Weed Honey. 



The flow from smart-weed com- 

 menced 10 days ago here, and is im- 

 meme. There is only 4 or 5 acres of 

 it, and about 200 colonies of bees 

 working on it. Each colony will gather 

 as much from the 4 or 5 acres, as they 

 would from 100 acres. I firmly believe 

 if there was 400 colonies here, each 

 would gather just as much as if there 

 were but one. If bees were as strong 

 in numbers at this time of the year as 

 they are at the time horsemint blooms, 



they would gather just as much 

 honey ; yet there are 50 acres of horse- 

 mint where there is one of smart- 

 weed. It seems that every time the 

 horsemint fails here, the smart-weed 

 takes its place. In 1870 the horsemint 

 failed, and there was an immense flow 

 from smart - weed, some colonies 

 gathering a surplus. In 1881 the horse- 

 mint yielded very little honey, and 

 the smart-weed yielded plenty for 

 w'inter supplies. Last year the horse- 

 mint flow was immense, and we got 

 none from smart-weed. 



W. S. Douglass. 

 Lexington, Tex., Aug. 20, 1883. 



How is This Z 



2,825 pounds of honey from 28 colO' 

 nies, spring count, and the fall honey 

 yet to be gathered. I have increased 

 to 55. I and my better-half extracted 

 900 pounds in one day. I have sold 

 about 1,400 pounds already ; the bass- 

 wood trees were in bloom 21 days. 

 Some colonies gave 160 pounds. I 

 will send a full report this fall. My 

 honey is No. 1 basswood. 



Fayette Lee. 



Cakato, Minn,, Aug. 26, 1883. 



Bee Balm. 



Please give me the botanical name 

 of the enclosed. It is some kind of 

 mint on which bees work quite exten- 

 sively, but I do not know its botanical 

 name. J. E. Van Etten. 



Kingston, N. Y., Aug. 10, 1883. 



[This beautiful plant is often known 

 by the name of " Bee-Balm," or " Os- 

 wego Tea" (JUbnante diihjma). It is 

 a native of the portions of the United 

 States north of about 41° latitude, or 

 from New England, northern Illinois, 

 northward. It is closely allied to the 

 more common "Horse -Mint," (Mon- 

 arda fistulosa). The plant might be 

 cultivated without trouble, but in na- 

 ture it prefers moist grounds— T. J^ 



BURRILL.] 



Honey Season in Texas a Failure. 



The honey season is over in Texas, 

 and is nearly a complete failuie. Un- 

 less we have rain soon to start up fall 

 flowers, we will have to feed heavily, 

 the coming winter. VVe hope for a 

 mild winter, and, if it comes that way, 

 we are all right, and will be all 

 ready for a boom in 1884. 



E. P. Massey. 



Waco, Texas, Aug, 28, 1883. 



Making: a Local Market. 



My bees for five weeks have done 

 no good ; they are at work now like 

 little heroes. I do not look for much 

 fall honey, as it is dry, and there is 

 not a large crop of flowers. I have 

 sold all of my white clover honey at 

 167s and 20 cents per pound, and could 

 have sold as much more, if I had it. 

 I live in a village, and sold all of my 

 honey at home. Bee men must talk 

 it up at home. I go to a family and 

 try to sell them honey, and if I cannot 

 sell them but one pound, I sell it, and 



