THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



427 



the hive, and insure a safe return 

 from her wedding flight. 



In the warmest part of the after- 

 noon, when the drones are flying, she 

 will spread her beautiful wings and 

 soar into the air to mate with a drone. 

 If successful, she will bear the marks 

 of it on her return ; if not, she will, 

 after a time on the same day, come 

 out again and again, until it is accom- 

 plished. She will then return, going 

 quietly into the bive, and in a day or 

 two she will commence to lay ; so 

 that, generally, from 8 to 9 days after 

 emerging from the cell, the queens 

 are laying. Should the weather be 

 unfavorable, and she fails to meet the 

 drones within about 20 days, she will 

 become only a drone producer.— Ed. J 



Basswood Promising.— Dr. A. B. 

 Mason, Auburndale,-o O., on June 25, 

 1887, writes : 



Bees are in fine condition, but have 

 no surplus from white clover. Linden 

 (formerly basswood) looks exceedingly 

 promising. 



Severe Drouth.— M. M. Rice, Bos- 

 cobel, pWis., on June 24, 1887, writes: 



Bees are not doing anything this 

 season. It is so very dry— we have 

 had but one good rain this spring. 

 Our pastures are all dried up, and 

 clover is all dead. Basswood is two 

 weeks earlier than usual, but if we do 

 not have rain we will have no honey 

 from that source. Bees have not 

 honey enough in their hives to last 

 two weeks. The outlook is very dis- 

 couraging. 



More Rain Wanted.— Jas.W. Mills, 

 Melleray,o Iowa, on June 19, says : 



We had a tolerably good rain last 

 evening — the first for some time. This 



Eart of the country was suffering 

 adly for the want of rain, and we 

 want more. Bees have done poorly. 



No Surplus Honey— A. F. Stauf-, 

 fer & Co., Sterling,*o Ills., on June 25, 

 1887, say : 



Bees are hardly making a living. 

 There has not been apouna of surplus 

 honey taken in this neighborhood, so 

 far this season. 



A Swarm of Drones, etc.- E. 

 Jarvis, Fairgrove,o* Mich., on June 

 23, 1887, writes : 



A swarm of drones went from one 

 hive to another on June 22, to one 

 from which a swarm issued the day 

 before. Has any one known such a 

 circumstance 'I Two of us saw them 

 come out and go into the other. Bees 

 have done very well here, and es- 

 pecially in swarming. There is some 

 surplus honey. In time of dandelion 

 bloom, there was not much else in 

 bloom, and I took from the hives 

 10 pounds of honey, which I think 



was all dandelion, as it was very 

 yellow and tempting to look at, and 

 not much stronger than raspberry 

 honey, which came next. There is a 

 great deal of white clover here, but it 

 seems it is not overflowing with 

 honey. In natural swarming does the 

 old queen lead out the first swarm 'i 



[Yes ; the old queen goes with the 

 first swarm, though she does not lead 

 the swarm ; in fact very often she is 

 the last to leave the hive after the 

 swarm has left, and not finding the 

 queen with them, the bees return to 

 the hive to try it again, and some- 

 times again and again. If unsuccess- 

 ful tlien, the bees will geherally wait 

 for a new queen to be hatched, and 

 take her with them.— Ed.] 



Linden and Sweet Clover.— C. II. 

 Dibbern & Son, Milan, v3 Ills., on 

 June 23, 1887, write : 



The season here may as well be put 

 down as an entire failure, as far as 

 surplus honey isconcerned. Although 

 our hives have been overflowing with 

 bees since early in May, yet they 

 have not held their own in weight. 

 Linden gave us some honey ; but it 

 came so early, and was of so short 

 duration that the bees made but a 

 sorry showing in the sections. The 

 linden is now about done blooming, 

 and sweet clover is just opening, but 

 there is not enough of It to give us 

 any surplus honey. Altogether the 

 outlook in this part of the country is 

 not encouraging. The general report 

 is, " few swarms and no honey." 



[How remiss have they been in 

 their duty, who have neglected to 

 provide their bees with the abund- 

 ance of pasturage which sweet clover 

 gives.— Ed.] 



Basswood Full of Buds, etc.— J. W. 

 Buchanan & Bro., E'ldora,© Iowa, on 

 June 23, 1887, write: 



This spring has been the hardest on 

 bees that we have ever experienced. 

 In April we put out 19 colonies of 

 bees, wintered in the cellar and a 

 cave. We lost in wintering 18 colo- 

 nies, and since putting them out 14, 

 making a total loss of 32 out of 37 put 

 into winter quarters. All left plenty 

 of honey in their hives ; not one 

 starved. White clover is a failure so 

 far this spring and summer, but we 

 have some hopes for it yet. Bees are 

 working on sumac now, and basswood 

 is commencing tobloom. It has been 

 quite cool for the last two or three 

 days,gind there seems to be no honey 

 in the blossoms as yet. The trees are 

 very full of buds, and if the weather 

 should prove favorable, we look for a 

 good flow of honey from basswood. 

 Some readers may say, " If I should 

 lose so heavily as that, I would quit 

 the business.'' But we do not propose 

 to do so. We are going to keep bees 

 any way ! We shall make it win after 

 awhile. I am glad to see that the 

 editor, takes so decided a stand on the 



" Kissing Bees " articles. It seems to 

 us that this concerns all bee-keepers, 

 and I think he will be pleased to 

 know that he has their approval. 



Hoary Vervain, etc.— T. M. Her- 

 rick, Woodstock,©, N. Y., on June 22, 

 1887, says : 



I send you a sample of flower which 

 grows abundantly in this locality 

 along the streams, and on which our 

 bees work eagerly. I have noticed 

 them working in great numbers late 

 in the afternoon on it. Please inform 

 me through the Bee Journal what 

 it is, and if it belongs to the known 

 famous honey-plants. White clover 

 is just beginning to bloom in this 

 section. Dry weather in May pre- 

 vented much early honey-gathering, 

 and therefore prevented early swarm- 

 ing ; but they are doing better now, 

 and most of the colonies are storing 

 in the sections. I wintered 26 colo- 

 nies on the summer stands, and lost 

 none, all coming out strong but one, 

 which was kept too warm with a quilt 

 stuffed with cotton under the chaff 

 packing. 



[The stem and flower is that of the 

 hoary vervain (t'erftena siricta), which 

 grows abundantly along the streams, 

 and in barren waste places in the 

 Northwest. It grows 2 or 3 feet high, 

 and has a dense spike of blue flowers. 

 It is a good honey-producer.— Ed.] 



Very Little White Honey.— John 

 A. Thornton, Lima, »o Ills., on June 

 23, 1887, writes : 



Our prospect of getting any white 

 honey in this locality is very slim. 

 My bees were in most excellent con- 

 dition when clover began to bloom, 

 but although there was an abundance 

 of white clover bloom, bees scarcely 

 gathered enough to fill their brood- 

 chambers, and get well started to 

 work in sections before the yield was 

 past. I think the most there was 

 secured came mainly from red clover, 

 as more bees were at work on the red 

 clover, seemingly, than on white 

 clover. Basswood is in full bloom at 

 present. The past two days has been 

 so cold, and strong winds from the 

 north, that no honey from that has as 

 yet been gathered, and at its best 

 there will not be much, on account of 

 the scarcity of trees. Swarming did 

 not amount to much ; I have had 20 

 swarms from 130 colonies that were 

 worked for comb honey, in two api- 

 aries 5 miles apart. I should not put 

 our average per colony, of surplus 

 honey, at over 10 pounds, and expect 

 it will be less when taken. I should 

 be glad to hear from other localities, 

 through the Bee Joubnal, in regard 

 to the yield of honey up to this time. 

 The severe drouth that we have had I 

 suppose caused the scarcity of nectar 

 in clover, and changeable weather, 

 from sultry heat to almost frosty 

 nights part of the time, no doubt 

 helped to cause a scarcity of nectar. 

 Our bees are in good condition, if any 

 unforeseen flow of honey does come. 



