I'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



613 



^oxtts^fomltnct. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near me center ot the state named ; 

 6 northof the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 •O west; and this<^ northeast; >3 northwest: 

 <>• southeast ; and 9 southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee Joomal 



Canses Of Drontli-Plansililejf correct. 



W. J. CULLINAN. 



On page 582, Mr. J. M. Hambaugh 

 undertakes to give the causes of 

 drouth and methods of securing rain- 

 fall. Now, while I do not pretend to 

 be meteorologist enough to fully ex- 

 plain the causes of the present severe 

 drouth which has prevailed almost all 

 over the whole country, I will give 

 my views, like Mr. H., for what they 

 are worth. 



He says he believes " that when we 

 remove the natural cause of rainfall 

 by drainage and tileage, we may rea- 

 sonably expect a reverse of the nat- 

 ural laws in the shape of drouths." 

 This, while it may seem plausible to 

 some, is to me very imcomplete ; for 

 had we to depend upon local evapora- 

 tion from the very small portion of 

 land drained by tile {which will prob- 

 ably not average one acre in one hun- 

 dred), drouths would indeed be fre- 

 quent. When we take into considera- 

 tion the fact that three-fourths of the 

 earth's surface is covered with water, 

 while the remaining one-fourth is 

 largely intersected by rivers, creeks 

 and branches, and thickly dotted 

 throughout its length and breadth 

 with lakes and ponds, both natural 

 and artificial, and containing millions 

 of acres of wndrained land, ''drainage 

 and tileage" as a cause of drouth falls 

 into such utter insignificance as to be 

 hardly perceptible. 



And further, if local evaporation 

 were sufficient to produce rain, one 

 would think that Mr. Hambaugh, 

 whose farm lies adjacent to the 

 Illinois river, that has rolled by it for 

 ages, and never yet showed the bot- 

 tom of its channel to the sun, and in 

 the midst of thousands of acres of 

 MJidrained and untiled swamp lands, 

 would have been blessed with suffi- 

 cient rainfall to answer all ordinary 

 purposes. But, alas I it was as dry on 

 Mr. fl's farm as it was on farms 

 twenty miles distant from any river, 

 lake or pond (if such a farm can be 

 found); thus showing conclusively 

 that local evaporation has very little 

 to do with it. 



I do not know what may have been 

 the peculiar position of the planets 

 which are said to affect the weather, 

 but I firmly believe that the absence 

 of high winds, and almost entire 

 immunity from storms of various 

 kinds has been chief among the causes 

 of the present generally severe and 

 protracted drouth. 



Again, Mr. H. says that " by a 

 plentiful rainfall we may avert, to 



some extent, the ravages of the 

 cyclone." Perhaps the atmosphere 

 never was freer from moisture than it 

 was the past summer, yet how many 

 cyclones did we have V How does the 

 cyclone record compare with three 

 years ago when we had a plentiful 

 rainfall i* This is ample proof that 

 dryness of the atmosphere is not con- 

 ducive to cyclones as much as damp- 

 ness, if affected by either. 



The drouth— here, at least— has not 

 been nearly so disastrous as Mr. H 

 would make it appear, where he says 

 that had we gotton rain. " in the place 

 of barren or burnt up Qelds, we would 

 have them heavily laden with the pro- 

 ducts of the soil. In the place of 

 empty hives, we would have them 

 filled with honey, etc." " Instead of 

 barren and burnt up fields " we have 

 had this year, without any exception, 

 the largest wheat and oat crop that 

 was ever known in this section of 

 the country; and I see the same re- 

 corded for Missouri and other States. 

 We had a fair crop of hay, and will 

 have more corn than we had last year. 

 We have also double the yield of 

 clover seed that ever was known be- 

 fore. It is true the honey crop has 

 been a partial failure. 



In places, I admit, the drouth has 

 been disastrous, but this seems to be 

 nature's method of resting the Earth, 

 and allowing her to recruit her wan- 

 ing powers. There are men who 

 would " ride a free horse to death," 

 and there are also those who would 

 tax the face of Mother Earth until 

 they had wrested the last atom of 

 fertility from her bosom, if nature 

 did not come to the rescue, and by 

 withholding the necessary rain, give 

 her the rest she so much needs. True 

 it is, that " The ways of the Lord are 

 past finding out ;" and just as true is 

 the fact that what we consider dis- 

 astrous to our interests is often a 

 blessing in disguise. Such I consider 

 the failure of the honey crop to bee- 

 raen-proper, weeding out, as it will, 

 many of the side-issue individuals, 

 cleansing the woild's markets of sur- 

 plus honey, creating a better demand, 

 and giving better prices another year. 



Here I rest, and leave this matter 

 ot rainfall and the causes of drouth 

 to wiser heads and abler hands to 

 fathom if they can, and give us the 

 correct solution. 



Mt. Sterling,*o Ills. 



Indiana Farmer. 



The Drofltli, SliaJe for Hives, etc. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



T keep an apiary of from -50 to 120 

 colonies of bees, and am deeply in- 

 terested in the new and thriving in- 

 dustry of honey producing. Bee- 

 culture is affected by drouth perhaps 

 more than any other rural pui'suit. 

 The drouth has been more general 

 the present season than in any season 

 since the decade of drouth years set 

 in. and there is a wider-spread com- 

 plaint of short honev-yield than at any 

 time heretofore. How long this state 

 of things will last is a discouraging 



problem. For one I do not partake 

 of the dark forbodings of a majority 

 of writers on this subject. I have 

 lived long enough to know that there 

 have been decades of dry years, and 

 decades of seasonable years hereto- 

 fore, and I believe that we may rea- 

 sonably expect the same state of 

 things in the future. 



Although the honey-yield in this 

 part of Kentucky was lighter than at 

 any time heretofore, our bees are in 

 better condition now than they were 

 last season at this time. Notwith- 

 standing the drouth, my bees have 

 gathered a little nectar in the morn- 

 ings, and the queens have continued 

 to keep the hives well stocked with 

 brood. It has been a rare case in the 

 past to see so much brood at the first 

 of September as is to be seen in my 

 hives now. I may have to feed some 

 for winter stores, but my bees will go 

 into winter quarters well stocked with 

 vigorous young bees. 



It has been frequently asked if it will 

 do to locate an apiary where there 

 are no shade-trees to shade the hives 

 in the heat of the day. My experience 

 the past heated spell has satisfied me 

 on this subject. There are no trees 

 near enough by to cast a shade over 

 any of my hives. My hives are about 

 4 inches from the ground, on a smooth 

 blue-grass plat of ground which is 

 protected by a planar and wire fence. 

 The grass is kept closely mowed so as 

 not to interfere with the flight of the 

 loaded bees. Each hive has a shade- 

 board over the hive-cover. This is 

 all the shade the hives had during the 

 late heated term, and not a single 

 comb in mv large apiary melted down. 

 The "shade-board" over the cover 

 of the hives, so as to have an air- 

 space between the cover of the hive 

 and the shade-board, is ample pro- 

 tection to mv hives, and gives me a 

 clean, smooth apiary yard, free from 

 trees or other obstructions to operate 

 in. 



Christiansburg, 5 Ky. 



For the Amenoan Bee JoomaL 



Lane Honey-Yield froni Bassw oofl. 



M. A. GILL. 



The season in southwestern Wiscon- 

 sin has been a very peculiar one. 

 Bees came out of the cellar in good 

 condition; the season opened un- 

 usually favorable, and all went well 

 until clover bloomed, when the re- 

 lentless drouth kept us from getting 

 any honey from that source. I did 

 not even see one cell full of clover 

 honey. 



K«pberrv and sumac were equal to 

 the demand for brood-rearing, so that 

 by the middle of June the bees were 

 booming with everything but honey. 

 When basswood bloomed (two weeks 

 earlier than is usual) I think that two 

 persons with a good appetite and a 

 few warm biscuits could have eaten 

 all the surplus honey from 88 colonies. 



When basswood first bloomed the 

 bees were too young to be ready for 

 it. I doubled my colonies down to 80, 

 and took the queens away. They had 



