THE AJMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



507 



0U3 readers, as well as yourself, the 

 following name for consideration. 

 This name I at least consider well 

 adapted, and as appropriate as every 

 one can understand what is meant 

 when we say this is " quick drained 

 honey." This name I propose, as the 

 honey has to drain down on the inside 

 of the extracting can, and does it 

 quickly. This I prefer to "quick 

 strained honey," as in olden times it 

 was all drained or strained honey that 

 was not in the comb ; but the drained 

 was the cleanest and freest from dirt 

 and other impurities. The honey 

 crop in this Slate is almost an entire 

 failure, caused from a cold, backward 

 spring, followed by a hot and dry 

 summer. 



[Webster says that the word 

 " drain " is derived from drop, tear, 

 etc. It means to " draw off by de- 

 grees ; to cause to flow graductlly ont.'" 

 Honey, when being taken from the 

 comb, is thrown violently out. 

 Drained honey is therefore not appli- 

 cable ; extracted as a name is far su- 

 perior to drained .—Ed.] 



Good Yield from Clover.— H. P. 



Faucett, Dilworthtown,cx Pa., Aug. 

 1, 1887, writes : 



Bees are just "booming" on the 

 second crop of red clover. I have 

 Alsike clover in bloom now that was 

 sown in the wheat last spring. My 

 bees gathered a good crop of cherry- 

 blossom honey. Apple, locust, and 

 poplar, which are the main honey- 

 producing flora, were a complete fail- 

 ure ; but clover produced more honey 

 than in any year for 15 years. I had 

 20 colonies that stored 700 pounds of 

 surplus, nearly all comb. I had 16 

 swarms. I have taken 800 pounds of 

 surplus, and have 200 uncapped sec- 

 tions besides. I have now .50 colonies 

 with plenty of stores to winter on. 

 Black bees stored no surplus. Ital- 

 ians did the best. Holy Lands next, 

 and Carniolans did middling well. 



No Honey, etc.— V. W. Keeney, 

 Shirland,5 Ills., on Aug. 1, 1887, says: 



I have not taken one pound of 

 honey from 40 colonies, and had only 

 one swarm. I have been waiting for 

 sometime to see the " big " reports 

 come in, but everybody seems to be 

 quiet this season. There is no honey 

 in this part of Illinois, and a good 

 prospect to feed the bees and all other 

 stock soon. 



Bee-Keeping in Texas, etc.— J. H. 



"Woodman, Stephenville,6 Tex., on 

 July 25, 1887, writes : 



The honey and grain crop in this 



Eortion of Texas is another failure, 

 .ast year and this year has been the 

 hardest years on bees and people, on 

 account of drouth, since 1860. Cotton 

 is drying up as well as the late corn ; 

 early corn is ripe. There is no honey 

 nor grain to spare in this locality. I 

 commenced the bee- business on the 



improved plan on April 17, 1886. I 

 spent nearly $200 before I could stop, 

 for bees and fixtures, looking forward 

 for the income ; but it has not come 

 yet. My bees were poor and weak 

 when I bought them. I fed them 400 

 pounds of sugar lust year, to get them 

 through the winter. I did not lose 

 any, and I had but little increase. 

 This year the queens have stopped 

 laying, and the bees are killing off 

 their drones, and tearing out drone- 

 larvae. I sowed buckwheat, mustard 

 and rape seed this spring, getting a 

 fair flow of honey and pollen for 

 brood-rearing, and a fair crop of seed. 

 I also sowed some white Dutch clover 

 seed, and some Alsike seed ; neither 

 of them did any good. I want to try 

 some sweet clover and alfalfa clover 

 seed. Has any one given them a trial 

 in Texas ? Let us hear concerning 

 such plants as will stand the severe 

 drouths of Texas. 



Absolutely Pure Honey.— C. H. 

 Chapman, Cohoctah,o. Mich., on July 

 28, 1887, says : 



Not seeing my favorite name for 

 " extracted " honey yet mentioned, I 

 would suggest that it be called " ab- 

 solutely pure honey." Would not 

 that fill the bill V I shall try it on the 

 next lot of labels I get. Sometime 

 ago in explaining to parties in a 

 neighboring town what extracted 

 honey was, I called it " absolutely 

 pure honey " — pure as God places it 

 in the flowers, and the bees gather it 

 therefrom ; when I received at once 

 an order for a five-gallon crock full. 

 So I have since called it extracted or 

 absolutely pure honey. 



[Inasmuch as '' absolutely pure 

 honey " would also be applicable to 

 honey in the comb, it would not be ad- 

 missable to adopt it as a name for 

 honey out of the comb ! It would only 

 confound matters. Suppose an order 

 should be sent to an apiarist or dealer 

 in honey for 100 pounds of " absolutely 

 pure honey ;" he could not fill the 

 order without writing for an explana- 

 tion, asking if it was desired to have 

 it in the comb or out of the comb 1 I 

 Oh, no ! such a name is too indefinite 

 and meaningless ! It is not half as 

 good as the old name— " extracted!" 

 —Ed.] 



Disposing of the Small Crop, etc. 

 —Henry K. Staley, Pleasant Ridge, 9 

 O., on July 27, ISsT, writes : 



The honey crop of this part of Ohio 

 seems to be a complete failure, little 

 if any surplus being gathered. Bees 

 built up nicely during white clover 

 bloom, filling the brood-combs and 

 rearing young, but what was the use V 

 About this time the excessive drouth 

 set in, which has been so continuous 

 that there is nil, comparatively speak- 

 ing, from which the bees may gather 

 honey, and the bees may be seen 

 banging in huge bunches on the out- 



side of the hives. All those who have 

 honey had better hold it, and obtain a 

 good price. Do not send it to large 

 cities like New York, Cincinnati, and 

 Chicago, but dispose of it at home, 

 unless you know who and what your 

 recipient is. 



It is amusing to observe the various 

 hallucinations about sophisticated 

 comb honey in the city of Cincinnati, 

 and its surrounding environs. The 

 prestige of the dirty lies published by 

 petty country newspapers concerning 

 the adulterating of comb honey still 

 seems to be augmenting. No time 

 should be lost in counteracting these 

 lies by our apiarists. True is the 

 aphorism, " Evil news rides fast, 

 while good news baits." 



" Expelled " Honey.-R.McKnight, 

 Owen Sound, Out., on July 30, 1887, 

 says : 



If Mr. Deraaree wants a new name 

 for extracted honey, how would " ex- 

 pelled honey " suit him ? 



[As a name, " extracted honey " is 

 infinitely superior to " expelled." The 

 latter, even though quite correct, by 

 its familiar use suggests exile, eject- 

 ment, banishment, and punishment. 

 No ! we do not want a change, merely 

 —it must be an improvement. — Ed.] 



Very Poor Season.— H. J. Rogers, 

 Stanard's Corners,? N. Y., on July 

 28, 1887, writes : 



In regard to the season of 1887 as a 

 honey season, I can say that it is the 

 poorest I ever knew. The apiarist 

 who has a suflicient store of fortitude 

 to carry him over this year is the 

 "happy man." From 70 colonies I 

 shall get on an average 20 pounds to 

 the colony. This will include the 

 buckwheat, which is coming in now. 

 My bees did well on raspberries for 10 

 days, and about one week of bass- 

 wood. The early and continued drouth 

 destroyed almost every vestige of 

 clover. I do not think I have 10 

 pounds of clover honey, all told. I 

 shall hold what honey I have for an 

 advance, and I hope for a more favor- 

 able season next year. 



Poor Season— Chaff Hives.— J. G, 



Norton, Macomb, K3 Ills., on Aug. 2, 

 1887, says : 



The honey season of 1887 can now 

 be said to have closed. The hot, dry 

 weather destroyed all the clover, so 

 that there was scarcely any honey in 

 it, and burned up everything that we 

 might expect in the way of fall 

 flowers. Bees will not have enough 

 for winter supply, aud will have to be 

 fed, or perish. This is the worst sea- 

 son I have seen in the 14 years that I 

 have kept bees. In reading the dif- 

 ferent letters objecting to chaff hives, 

 I cannot but conclude that those per- 

 sons have never used a genuine chaff 

 hive, or they would have been more 

 successful. I have been testing them 

 in this changeable climate tor six 



