480 



rtmrn MMERicsif be© j@^Rr«sir. 



Expects a Surplus from Bass- 

 ■\voo«l.— B. W. Peck, Richmond, Ohio, on 

 June3S, 18S8, says: 



Bees in this locality are not storing honey 

 very ta>t yet, and now it is wet and rainy. 

 The bees are in tjood condition, however, 

 and basswood is budded, so we may get a 

 fair surplus yet. I lost only one colony out 

 of 48, altliougli 3 or 3 colonies just squeezed 

 through ; they were too weak to build up, so 

 X will u-ie them to hatch queen-cells, and 

 work 4.5 colonies for honey. Bees are 

 swarming but very little yet. 



IVo SM'arnis aud Little Honey.— 



S. K. Carson, Chatsworth, Ills., on June 38, 

 1888, says : 



Bees are doing nothing here this season. 

 The winter losses were very heavy. 1 saved 

 14 colonies out of 96, and tnat is about an 

 average throughout this part of the coun- 

 try. What colonies are left are now strong 

 in bees, but there is little houey even in the 

 brood-combs, and no swarms have issued. 



Honey Prospects in IMiciiigan. 



— S. J. Youngman, Lakeview, Mich., on 

 June 24, 1888, writes : 



The strongest colonies of bees have 

 stored from one to two gallons of honey, 

 from white ami Alsike clover, with but little 

 increase. Many colonies have failed, how- 

 ever, to store any surplus as yet ; and owing 

 to the extremely hot and dry weather, the 

 clovers have begun to fail, and are yielding 

 but little nectar. 1 have been building 

 great hopes on the basswood, but upon 

 felling a large tree, I find that there will be 

 but little nectar from that simrce, as there 

 are but few buds put forth for bloom, for 

 .some reason ; consequently it really looks 

 bad for the b'^e-keep>'r in this part ot ALchi- 

 gan. We may get a large crop of honey 

 from buckweat, of which a large amount 

 has been sown. It certainly looks discour- 

 aging, as we had a poor season and liglit 

 crop last year. 



cleansing fiiszht, and at night replaced them. 

 I left them in until April 26, wheu I placed 

 them on the summer stands. They were all 

 in good condition excepting one colony', 

 which was queenless, and it was united 

 with another. 1 replaced that colonj by 

 buying another one. My apiary has in- 

 creased to 38 colonies, and now the bees are 

 booming on white clover. 



Some bee-keepers advise starting with one 

 colony, and working up ; but I believe that 

 a person who has energy enough to succeed 

 in bee-keeping, can as well start with 30 

 colonies as with one. At first no one need 

 expect to succeed unless he educates him- 

 self in the business, by reading at least the 

 leading works and periodicals published 

 on bee-culture. Six of my colonies were 

 in box-hives, but 1 transferred them into the 

 Langstroth hives, by the Heddon method. 



My bees have been gathering surplus quite 

 fast"for a few days. I sowed 9 acres of 

 Alsike clover mixed with red clover and 

 timothy, and I am sowing about 5 acres of 

 buckwheat. I have the only bees within 

 three miles of this place. 



Bees «lid ^Vell on YVIiite Clover. 



— W. Addenbrooke, North Trairie, Wis., on 

 June 27, 1888, writes : 



The following is my report for the winter 

 of 1887-88 : 1 put 130 colonies into winter 

 quarters, and removed trom the cellar 117 

 colonies in good condition on March 19, 

 1888. I sold 9 colonies, and liave now 93. 

 We had a cold, wet spring, and I had to 

 feed my bees until two weeks ago, when 

 white clover came into blossom; we have 

 had very hot weather for one week— over 

 90» every day. Bees did well, tilled up their 

 hives, and some colonies very nearly tiiiished 

 one set of sections ; but the last four days 

 have been cold and wet, and bees have not 

 been able to fly for two days. It is cold and 

 raining yet. It was the worst spring lor 

 setting colonies in good condition in time 

 for white clover, tliat I have ever seen. 



Experience >vitli Bees Mr. L. 



D. O'Dell. Protection, N.Y., on June 30, 

 1888, writes : 



A year ago I bought one colony of bees, 

 whicli cast one good swarm, and stored 27 



Founds of comb honey. In November, 1887, 

 bought 8 colonies, which I put into the 

 cellar. In January I bought .'5 more colo- 

 nies that were on the summer stands. 

 Owing to tlie severe weather, I did not 

 move them until Feb. 20. when I brought 

 them home (22 miles) and put them into the 

 cellar. On March 20 I put them out for a 



Favorable Prospects for Bass- 

 wood.— Christian Weckesser, Marshall- 

 ville, O., on June .W, 1888, writes : 



Our clover season is pretty much a fail- 

 ure, hut bees have been getting considerable 

 aphides honey ot very poor quality ; though 

 being mixed with clover honey, we think it 

 will answer for wintering. The prospects 

 for some surplus fiom basswood are favor- 

 able, and recent rains have revived white 

 clover, so that it looks more promising than 

 before. During such seasons we find it 

 more profitable to have only from 15 to 20 

 colonies at a place, about two miles apart ; 

 as they almost always get enough honey so 

 as not to require any feeding. 



made ; in fact it so fiaming that I am 

 tempted to believe that none would think it 

 true were I to tell it. When the paintings 

 get faded, 1 have them re-painted and 

 varnished. 



With the above arrangements I can keep 

 bees as well in the winter as in the sum- 

 mer. The bees work nights, Sundays only 

 being excepted— (this last idea would suit 

 some farmers, all but the "Sundays ex- 

 cepted"), as I have tliis room so well plan- 

 ned with reflectors so arranged as to collect 

 the rays of the moon and throw them just 

 where they are most needed. There may 

 be some Mr. Wiley, for instance, who is in- 

 credulous enough to doubt this statement. 

 To those I would say, do not go to New 

 York or Boston, thinking to find it. It is a 

 Western enterprise. 



n'ailins' tor BassMood and 

 Bneli-»veat.— 0. R. Goodno, Carson City, 

 Mich., on July 1, 1888, writes : 



At this date from 100 colonies I have not 

 had a single swarm, and as yet I have not 

 seen even one drop of honey in a case, 

 though I have several cases on the strongest 

 colonies. La-.t jear our swarming had 

 nearly ceased by this time, and our surplus 

 was li^-arly all gathered ; none was gathered 

 after July .5— the bees only sealrd up the 

 partly filled combs. Last year the first 

 basswood was in bloom on June 26; but it 

 will be several days before the first will 

 open this year. Basswood aud buckwheat 

 are our only hope this year. 



^Vorse than moonsUine. — Ben 



Foggy, ot Iowa, describes his apiary and its 

 surroundings in the following graphic man- 

 ner : 



I must fell you how I manage my bees. 

 They are beautiful creatures, being instead 

 ot 60,0110 in my colony, only about 100. 

 These bees are large and golden in appear- 

 ance, and about the size ot a bumble-bee 

 without the bumble. I liave them situated 

 in a room on whose walls are hanging the 

 most natural paintings of all the best honey- 

 producing plants in this vicinity— such as 

 sweet William, honey-suckles, sweet Cicely, 

 etc., and thesn are framed in gilt frames, 

 from which the bees gather pollen. When 

 I desire a certain kind of honey, I take 

 down all of the other paintings, and so 

 secure just what I want. 



In one corner of this room I have all the 

 best honey records in the world, and the old 

 saying being true, that the bees will par- 

 take of the spirit of the master, these IJees 

 will not be surpassed in any respect, and 

 tlieir record outshines any record ever 



Poor Prospects ior Honey. — 



Reuben Havens, Ouarga, Ills., on June29, 

 1888, says : 



I put 104 colonies into the cellar, strong in 

 bees, but some of them were light in honey. 

 I have lost 45 colonies, being the heaviest 

 loSH I have ever had. 1 examined some of 

 my best colonies this week, and I find but 

 little lumey, and not a queen-cell in any of 

 them. There is not one pound of surplus 

 h(mey. White clover is nearly all winter- 

 killed. The prospects for a honey crop are 

 the poorest that I have ever seen. Bee- 

 keepers here are all discouraged, and many 

 disiiusted with the business. Many have 

 lost all their bees. More than one-iialf of 

 the bees in the county are dead. I have 

 been so crippled with rheumatism for the 

 la^t 15 years that I could do no heavy labor, 

 and a great part of the time helpless ; hence 

 I have depended, to a large degree, upon my 

 bees for my bread and butter. With almost 

 a failure last year, aud a prospect tor an en- 

 tire failure this season, the future does not 

 appear very encouraging. I shall try to 

 keep what there are lett in as good condi- 

 tion as possiole, and hope for a change in 

 the programme. 



Excellent Prospects.— Jno.Blodget, 

 Flag Springs, Mo., on July 1, 1888, writes : 



My bees are booming. Mv 9 colonies 

 came through the wint»-r all right. I lost 

 only one, which was weak, and one packed 

 in chaff on tlie summer stands. I have to- 

 day hived the twelfth natural swarm, and I 

 have made 3 by dividing. Fifteen are work- 

 ing in the sections, 5 have two racks on each 

 liive. 1 never saw better prospects, so far. 

 I expect to have several more swarms, and 

 a large report this fall. Linden is on the 

 eve of blooming now, there is clover enough 

 for what bees are left, and the nice rains we 

 are having will keep it fresh for a long 

 time. We had a fine rain last week, so that 

 it hindered plowing corn for four daj;s. 

 Wheat, oats, corn and hay are very promis- 

 ing ; in fact everything is lovely. 



Always mention your Post-Office, 

 County and State when writing to this 

 office. No matter where you may happen 

 to be for the hour when actually writing— 

 never mention anything but your perma- 

 nent address. To do otherwise leads to 

 confusion, unless you desire your address 

 changed. In that case state the old as well 

 as the new address. 



Please to get your NeiBlilJor, 



who keeps bees, to also take the A.merican 

 15ee Journal. It is now so cheap that 

 no one can afford to do without it. 



