136 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Field Notes From Iowa. 

 J. W. STINE, Iowa Deputy Bee Inspector. 

 The prospect was never better for a good crop of white clover 

 than it has been last Fall and this Winter. There was a good growth 

 in the Fall, and this month we are having quite a heavy fall of snow. 

 The great need of the bee-keeper will be to watch his colonies in the 

 Spring that plenty of honey is near the brood-nest. The great 

 amount of warm weather during December and January took a large 

 amount of honey, and brood rearing was carried on in some colonies 

 to a greater extent than I ever knew of before during those months. 



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Mr. John Thomas tells an experience with a new swarm which 

 was hived in the morning and a large number of bees were seen leav- 

 ing the old hive late in the evening for the new swarm. Mr. Thomas 

 also tells of a swarm of bees which had a queen that stayed in the 

 hive all summer and never laid an egg. The queen looked normal 

 and was a fine-looking queen, and the bees seemed to be contented 

 with her, but became so depleted that they were united with another 

 small colony later with a different queen. 



* * * 



When the warm days come which cause the bees to undertake 

 a flight, it would be well to shade the part of the hive the sun shines 

 on and put straw or other material in front of the hives for the bees 

 to light on when they take their flight. A great many bees dropping 

 into the snow are unable to make their way back to the hive again. 



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Quite a little alfalfa is being sown in different parts of Iowa, and 

 this with this favorite sweet clover is receiving' attention by many 

 who are becoming' acquainted with it as a fertilizer and food value 

 for stock, and gives us two sources for honey that are a great help 

 to the bee-keeper. These two sources of nectar, together with. the 

 fruit bloom, which enables the colonies to build up early for the 

 clover flow in June and July, and the Fall or late flow from heartsease, 

 Spanish needle and asters, make Iowa a good State for the produc- 

 tion of honey. 



The Secretary's Corner 



GEO. W. WILLIAMS, Redkey, Ind. 



A Bird's-Eye Viezv of the Situation. 

 '^^^ HE National Bee-Keepers' Association will endeavor in the 

 \^J future to push the honey business as it never has before. It 

 will endeavor to induce every member, whetlier producer, manu- 

 facturer, dealer or editor, to lay aside all differences and join forces 

 and "boost" the honey business. 



