OBSERVATIONS BY APIARISTS. 89 



MRS. L. A. CAREY, Phillipsburg, Phillips county. "Began bee- 

 keeping in 1895; have now twelve colonies. Five colonies this season 

 produced 300 of pounds surplus honey and gave off two swarms. In 

 order to prevent a second swarm, I changed position of old and new 

 swarms in daytime. This causes all the bees in the field to fly to 

 the young colony, builds it up, and weakens the old swarm, so that it 

 does not have the desire for increase. We have to depend on 

 alfalfa here for the main honey crop. It makes a beautiful white 

 honey, like white clover. Alfalfa produces the most honey during 

 the month of July." 



H. M. HILL, Paola, Miami county, twenty stands; Italians. "I 

 do not consider alfalfa a success as a honey plant, as we had a large 

 pasture one-half mile from the bees and received no honey. I am a 

 stock-raiser, and have no time for bees, so they receive. but little care. 

 We consider white clover the best of honey plants, and buckwheat 

 good at times." 



GEORGE YOXALL, Woodston, Rooks county ; twenty stands ; all 

 Italians or hybrids. "Alfalfa is an excellent honey plant here, yield- 

 ing the best white honey, from the 1st of June until the 1st of Sep- 

 tember, and sometimes as late as the 1st of October. Sweet clover 

 may be superior in yield, in a more continuous flow of honey, as there 

 is no check in mowing as there is in alfalfa, and alfalfa does not give 

 the best results on account of taking off the crop just about the time 

 the bees are commencing to work on it, and if there is no seed crop 

 taken, there is not much benefit conferred." 



J. G. BROOKS, Pleasanton, Linn county; forty stands. "Have 

 spent fifty years with bees. I have had no experience with alfalfa. 

 White clover, buckwheat, corn tassel and tree blossoms are good here. 

 Bees should be cared for the same as other stock. Care will pay." 



E. K. TERRY, Burlingame, Osage county; thirteen colonies. "Have 

 had no experience with alfalfa as a honey plant. We have members in 

 our town bee-keepers' association who have quantities of alfalfa on 

 land watered by rains, who report favorably. Mr. Arnold has both al- 

 falfa and alsike, and reports that alsike produces much better-flavored 

 honey and more of it than the alfalfa. I consider the sweet clover 

 one of the very best honey plants. It produces white and good- 

 flavored honey. I would keep bees for the pleasure and honey 

 enough to supply the family. I consider honey one of the greatest 

 table luxuries that it is possible to have. I find that with cellar 

 wintering I can bring out a strong colony in the spring on ten to 

 twelve pounds of honey." 



M. B. GUARD, Beloit, Mitchell county; eleven colonies; all Ital- 

 ians. "Alfalfa honey is better than white clover, because it is richer. 



