404 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



tion? Is this true? Does this apply 

 only to this locality ? Can any one give 

 us light on this important problem ? My 

 locality is about 40 miles southeast of 

 Columbus. E. B. Woodward. 



Somerset, Ohio, Sept. 14, 1891. 



Poor Season for Bee-Keepers. 



This has been a poor season for bee- 

 keepers in this locality. White clover 

 did not yield well, and basswood only 

 fairly. Many colonies of bees did not 

 store more than 5 to 10 pounds of sur- 

 plus, owing to lack of care in early 

 Spring. I had 6 colonies last Spring, 

 which increased to 10, and gave me 200 

 pounds of comb-honey. I fed 25 or 30 

 pounds of sugar to my bees. 



Ridgeway, O. M. Limes. 



Italian Bees are th.e Best. 



I now have but one black queen in my 

 apiary, and will soon supersede her 

 with a young Italian queen, as I am 

 satisfied that the Italians arc the best 

 bees. I have Italian queens from four 

 of the most noted queen breeders in 

 America, and also some fine queens of 

 my own rearing. My object in buying 

 queens from so many different breeders 

 was to try the different strains of Italian 

 blood, and I have found that by so 

 doing I have produced some very fine 

 bees, with the very best of honey-gather- 

 ing qualities. I wrote to one of our best 

 authorities on bee-culture — he is also 

 one among our largest and best queen 

 breeders — and asked him what he 

 thought of my plan of buying queens 

 from different men ; his answer was 

 that I certainly would improve my 

 apiary. John D. A. Fisher. 



Woodside, N. C, Sept. 9, 1891. 



Cure for Bee Palsy. 



I have seen a good deal in your val- 

 vable periodical lately about the disease 

 among bees known as "bee palsy." I 

 would say that I had a colony very 

 badly effected with it this Summer, and 

 the following treatment cured them 

 completely in four or five days: Take a 

 small cotton cloth about 6 inches long, 

 and put on one end of it a few drops of 

 carbolic acid ; shove that end into the 

 entrance of the hive, leaving the other 

 end out so that it can be easily with- 

 drawn. Renew the acid night and 

 morning until cured. 



Matsqui, B. C. R. L. Codd. 



Smart-Weed. 



I have read a great deal in the Bee 

 Journal about smart-weed as a honey- 

 plant, and have arrived at the conclusion 

 that the correspondents do not always 

 know what they are writing about. 

 Adjoining, and in my apiary, I have set 

 apart for weeds, a piece of ground about 

 4 rods square, and it now contains 

 Spanish-needles, leaden-heart and smart- 

 weed (or water pepper, as it is sometimes 

 called). There are a great many per- 

 sons who do not know the difference, 

 and call them all smart-weed, but they 

 are no more alike than corn and oats 

 are alike. The leaden-heart opens its 

 petals before the sun is up, but closes 

 them after noon, and the bees revel on 

 it. The smart-weed has a tiny blossom, 

 on which I have yet to see one of my 

 bees alight. Both of these weeds are of 

 luxuriant growth, reaching a height of 

 over 6 feet, as the soil is very rich, moist 

 bottom land. I herewith mail you a 

 small specimen of each, for your inspec- 

 tion. J. E. Prichard. 



Port Norris, N. J. 



[There are a great many species of 

 smart-weed, belonging to the genus 

 Polygonum, and although the specimens 

 sent by Mr. Prichard reached the writer 

 in a delapidated condition, they both 

 appear to belong to it. The plant called 

 leaden-heart is one of the large-blos-- 

 somed smart-weeds, upon which bees 

 could readily work, and the other is a 

 species with very small blossoms. — 

 Clarence M. Weed, State College, 

 Hanover, N. H.] 



Honey Crop Less than Last Season. 



The honey crop is not as good this 

 season as last. From 7 colonies of bees, 

 I only secured 100 pounds of comb- 

 honey, and 325 pounds of extracted- 

 honey, and shall be obliged to feed the 

 bees to prepare them for Winter. I get 

 20 cents per pound for comb-honey. 



Birdsborough, Pa. C. C. Yost. 



Losing in Weight. 



Bees have done very poorly here this 

 season. I had 33 colonies. Spring count, 

 not one of which cast a swarm, and I 

 will not get over 100 lbs. of honey, of 

 very poor quality. Those colonies from 

 which I took the honey, are short of 

 stores for Winter, and the remaining 



