626 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jllv 15 



The honey crop in Mesa County promises to be a 

 good average one Bees began work late; but alfalfa 

 is being allowed to bloom more fully before cutting 

 than has been the custom in past years. This alone 

 should cause the bees to make up for lost lime. 



Debeque, Colo., July 0. McKay & Stroud. 



Our season is now over, and the poorest honey crop 

 in thirty years. J. E. Williams. 



Sparks, Ga. 



The crop outlook of white-clover ■ ield is good. No 

 flow from basswood. E. C. Whekler. 



Marshalltown, la., July 0. 



We have been having a very good flow of white 

 honey during the past month, which continues with 

 good prospects. J. Blackman & Son. 



Nevada, Iowa, July 7. 



Fields are white with clover blossom; nights too cold 

 for nectar secretion. No basswood blossoms; perhaps 

 Yi crop: 25 sections to colony, spring count. No honey 

 up to June 15. Bees flitting on blos.'oms; too much 

 moisture in the ground; sweet clover in bloom. 



Des Moines, la., July 6. Jas. Cormac. 



For Jackson Co., la., the white-clover crop is beyond 

 all precedent It began about June 1, and will con- 

 tinue two weeks longer if weather conditions are fa- 

 vorable. F. M. Merritt. 



LaMotte, la., July 6. 



Prospects are better than last year; excessive cold 

 rains and cloudy weather; swarming more natural than 

 a year ago. If the 65 colonies give me enough for my 

 own table I shall be satisfied. I,et's go fishing, Ernest. 



Moorland, la , July 5. J. P. Blunk. 



[Yes, when I come up your way again. Thanks. — Ed.] 



The prospect for a honey crop is very good here, 

 and the honey is snow-white. I never heard of so 

 much swarming and absconding. The crop is all clo- 

 ver honey, before sweet clover bloomed — something I 

 never heard of before. Joseph Mason. 



Fairdale, 111., July 9. 



Bees swarmed too much. More white clover than 

 common. Flow of honey good, and good quality. I 

 think the hot sun will soon dry up and stop the flow. 



Kasbeer, 111., July 8. E. Pickup. 



I can report an extra good harvest from white clo- 

 ver—about 40 lbs. average of section honey, finished to 

 this date. F. H. Cogswell. 



Virden, 111., July 7. 



This part of the world is covered with white clover, 

 hence a good flow of honey — the best for years 



Wyanet, 111., July 4. James P. Hall. 



I will place the fourth super containing forty 1%-in. 

 sections on one colony, all from white clover. Who 

 can beat it? While I "work bees I have a deputy to 

 work the office. M. S. Brewer, P. M. 



Philo, 111., Julys. 



The white clover here is unusually good. Honey- 

 flow is very good since June 15. Honey is white as 

 snow. Cold and rain interfered for a few weeks in 

 June. Bees are booming now; sweet clover is also 

 coming bountifully— best year in twenty. 



Springfield, 111., July 4. M. Harts. 



One hundred miles west of Indianapolis. Honey 

 crop good here— one of the best in the past s- ven years. 

 Home market is good also, and dealers pay 15 cents 

 by the case for comb. C. F. Bender. 



Newman, 111.. July 7. 



The honey-flow up to date has been by far the best 

 I ever saw; fields white with clover which is full of 

 nectar. R. B. Rice. 



Mt. Carroll, 111., July 4. 



Located five miles south of LaSalle. White clover 

 abundant and yielding well. E. H. Whitaker. 



LaSalle, 111., July?. 



I never before saw such a sea of white clover, and 

 never expect to see it again. Nuclei become so cram- 

 med with honey that I must be constantly taking out 

 the filled frames; and combs with a little honey set out 

 weeks ago for the bees to rob out have still honey in 

 them, although a few bees seem always at work on 

 them. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., July 8. 



Our reports show that the far East has practically 

 no honey, and the far West perhaps not more than half 

 a crop. The central portions of the country seem to 

 be having an enormous flow; especially is this true of 

 the locality within, "say, 300 miles of Chicago. The 

 demand for bee-keepers' supplies has not been so 

 great in ten years. It seems that everybody wants a 



lot of supplies, and wants them right away. There 

 seems to have been a great deal of swarming, and a 

 good yield from white clover. Personally, we have 

 never seen such a perfect mat of white-clover bloom as 

 there is in this locality this sea.son. 



We doubt if it will be necessary for the price of honey 

 to be lowered vei y much, if any, from the price of last 

 season. We think the people are ready to buj' honey 

 more freely than ever before. This, we think will be 

 especially true as the bulk ot the hone3' produced is of 

 white clover, and that seems to be the kind preferred 

 by the majority of the people; at leist they think that 

 is the kind they ought to have. The joke is usually on 

 them, as they are apt to call nearly all kinds of honey 

 clover honey. There is practically no new honey on 

 this market as j'et, but we suppose it will begin to 

 come in very soon. George W. York. 



Chicago, 111., July 1. 



The crop is very good right around us, all clover. 

 The cool weather did not seem to do it any harm, and 

 we believe that there will be a very good crop of 

 bright-colored honey. Personally we have harvested 

 a larger yield than for 13 years past. Our home apiary 

 will average over 130 lbs. per colony at this date, be- 

 sides more swarms than common, for we rarely have 

 much swarming. Dadant & Son. 



Hamilton, 111 , July 2. 



Generally, throughout the State, the yield has been 

 the best for ten years. The flow has been prolonged, 

 and I have had several reports from reliable sources 

 of an average of over 100 lbs. to the colony from white 

 clover. Walter S. Pouder. 



Indianapolis, Ind., July 1. 



I wish to state that the honey prospects for North- 

 east Indiana have not been better in the last twelve 

 years June 25 I placed a fair average colony on 

 scales and found they gained 7 lbs. during the day, 

 and also for two preceding days the gain was 7 lbs. 

 per day. As this colony is only one out of forty doing 

 equally well, it certainly ought to make the heart of 

 any bee-keeper rejrice. White clover is abundant 

 everywhere. S. Farrington. 



Kendallville, Ind., June 29. 



We have not a pound of honey in this immediate lo- 

 cality for market. It requires some hel p from the bee- 

 keeper to keep bees alive, or abundant enough for use 

 next month. March maple bloom during 15th to 20th 

 caused bees to whiten combs even more than fruit- 

 bloom later, and three to four weeks later farmers 

 were reporting swarms. Some have been taking a 

 super from best hive-s — dark honey. Some white clo- 

 ver with honey-dew mixed. One farmer reported 

 honey-dew from oats-field. I think we should be safe 

 in counting -JO to 75 lbs. average, according to ability 

 and management of bee-keeper with our best apiaries, 

 and of this crop our home markets have been using 

 nearly all. Prices will be maintained as well as last 

 year, as our market is well sold out, and towrs north 

 of us will need supply. W. Vickery. 



Evan.sville, Ind , July 3. 



White clover is splendid; basswood, off year. Col- 

 ony on scales gained 38 lbs. in five daj's; b; st day, 9 

 lbs.; poorest, 7. Many working in third super. 



Kendallville, Ind., July ti. S. Farrington. 



Throughout the fore part of the season the outlook 

 was poor, though the earth was covered with white 

 clover. The weather was so damp and cool the bees 

 did not fly. But about the middle of June a wonder- 

 ful flow began, and has kept up to the present. I have 

 about 1000 well-filled Danzenbaker sections, and 

 nearly that many more on that bid fair to be filled, as 

 the flow is as abundant to-day as ever, owing to pow- 

 erful rains a few days ago (49 colonies). At the north 

 Mr. Baker has done still better. His 50 colonies will 

 yield him 5000 lbs. He has about half that amount 

 already. Jacob Tate. 



Peru, Ind., July 4. 



Bees have done but little, just barely kept alive, too 

 cool and wet. The freeze of April 30 and the flood of 

 June 1 have taken all the bloom. The second crop of 

 alfalfa is now just coming on, and in a week or ten 

 days it will be in bloom. I fed my bees through June 

 to pull them through; no swarms but 5 out of 100, and 

 had to feed them to save them. Outlook is slim for a 

 honey crop unless the alfalfa does well from now on. 



Hutchinson, Kan., July 6. J. J Measer. 



April, May. and part of June, mostly cool and rainy. 

 Even when the sun shone we had many cool days, 

 and bees could not gather nectar to amount to any 

 thing, and brood-rearing was much retarded. White 

 clover bloomed in greater abundance, I think, than I 

 ever saw it. Since about June 7 the weather has been 



