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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



completely changed they marked the 

 place well before leaving for longer flight. 

 Quite a few went back to the old location, 

 but after flying about a few minutes, 

 would return to the new place. I could 

 not detect a particle of loss and they had 

 no trouble in finding their hives. 



Let me also give some experience in 

 marking hives at ^ c : 



r 1 riTZD MATING TIME. 



^ The past season I was handling 2 out- 

 apiaries. They were run for honey alone, 

 no increase being allowed and all queens 

 removed during the honey flow. Most 

 of the queens were killed and each colony 

 allowed to rear one queen, and so 

 re-queen the whole apiary. 



One of the apiaries, 65 colonies, was 

 located on open ground, with the hives 

 in long rows and as close together as 

 convenient to work between. Because 

 of lack of time, this apiary did not have 

 the hives properly marked so as to be 

 easily recognized by the queens. The 

 result was that between ^ and }i of 

 them were lost in mating. 



The other apiary, 60 colonies, had the 

 hives placed in more varied positions, 

 hives farther apart, little flags, boards, 

 papers, etc., placed in front, besides 

 having the advantage of some natural 

 marking such as small trees. 



In this apiary only 4 queens out of 60, 

 were lost in mating. 



This difference was due alone to the 

 markings. Each had nice weather, clear, 

 dry and warm, right in the midst of 

 honey flow and only 4 to 5 days differ- 

 ence in time, and located about 2^4 

 miles apart. It pays to mark well at 

 mating time, 



Holyoke, Colo., Dec. 25, 1890. 



Honey CroB from WMte Cloyer. 



A. H. DRAPEK. 



The main dependence for a crop of 

 honey in the United States, with the 

 exception of California, the Rocky 

 Mountain States, and perhaps Wisconsin, 

 is white clover. 



Now, if the whole nature of this plant 

 could be thoroughly understood, and I 

 do not see any reason why it could not, 

 it would be a great blessing to the 

 fraternity. I believe the percentage of 

 a white clover crop can be pretty closely 

 estimated for the ensuing season, as 

 early as January. I wrote to Mr. A. I. 

 Root 3 or 4 years ago, my letter was 

 published in Gleanings at the time, I 

 think it was in the Fall of 1888, saying 



that the heavy Fall rains would enable 

 white clover to spring up in abundance, 

 so that we could expect a heavy honey 

 flow the following Spring. In an essay, 

 read at the Capital Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion, held at Springfield, Ills., Sept. 26, 

 1890, I- called attention to the same 

 thing. (Published on page 700, of the 

 Bee Journal. ) 



We had just had two heavy rains, the 

 last one on the morning of Sept. 26. This 

 made an encouraging prospect for a 

 white clover crop for next year. But 

 from that time until Dec. 24, we had 

 another drouth. So that at this date the 

 prospect is not nearly as encouraging as 

 it was on Sept. 26. 



Now for the situation. I have exam- 

 ined all the white clover, within several 

 miles of my home apiary. Generally the 

 side hills and the high lands are almost 

 bare of white clover, and blue grass 

 seems to hold possession, but on the low 

 ground in the valleys and hollows, and 

 along the ditches, white clover is pretty 

 well set. There is nothing like as much 

 white clover within reach as there was 

 last year, or the year before. At Spring- 

 field, and westward to Keokuk, there 

 seems to have been less rain than there 

 was here during September, October and 

 November. Still the soil is different in 

 that region, and I do not believe a 

 drouth in July or August will affect the 

 white clover yield of nectar the following 

 season. But let the drouth be continued 

 later in the season and the chances for a 

 crop are very slim. 



A good illustration is furnished by the 

 corn crops. If a shower comes when the 

 corn is beginning to set, it is almost sure 

 to make a crop. This season, although 

 corn is almost a failure in several States, 

 there are many places where, on small 

 areas, they got a few showers just in the 

 nick of time to make good crops. Do not 

 these showers affect the clover in the 

 same way ? 



While on the train going to Keokuk to 

 the International Convention, Dr. Mason 

 and Mr. Root claimed that they had been 

 having very wet weather for a month or 

 more, in Ohio and all over the Eastern 

 States. This being the case, if my theory 

 is correct, Ohio and the Eastern States 

 can confidently expect a heavy crop of 

 white clover honey during 1891. 



White clover needs a great deal of 

 moisture to develop it properly. The 

 drouth here was excessive during July 

 and August. On the grazing land the 

 stock had consumed every particle of 

 grass and clover, but the rains, during 

 September, started both grass and clover 

 with new life, which was followed by 



