FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 117 



little time before bees commence work in supers, little bits of 

 pure white wax will be seen stuck on the old comb about the 

 upper part, yet 1 hardly wait for this, but go rati.er by the 

 clover. 



Another year (1884), I saw the first clover-blossom on 

 May 21, apple beiny still in full bloom; and I commenced put- 

 ting on supers June 2. One year, I remember, clover failed on 

 July 4, the earliest I ever remember. 



MEMORANDA OF 1901. 



Turning to another year, the year 1901, I give a few 

 entries: 



March 17. — Bluebirds, prairie chickens, robins, larks. 



March 25. — Frogs. 



April 5. — Soft maple. 



April 28. — Dandelion. 



May 1. — Hard maple, plum. 



May 2. — Cherry. 



May 5. — Apple. 



May 6. — Strawberry. 



May 23. — White clover. 



June 20. — Sweet clover. 



June 29. — Linden. 



WHITE CLOVER UNCERTAIN. 



That year, 1901, had perhaps the finest show of white- 

 clover bloom e\er known, but it was a dead failure, perhaps on 

 account of the terrible drouth, although sometimes white clover 

 blossoms bountifully and fails to yield honey when nothing 

 that can be seen in the way of weather is at all at fault. About 

 the middle of August the bees began storing, perhaps from 

 cucumbers and sweet clover, and gave a surplus of 16 pounds a 

 colony. It would ha'^e been better to have had it all stored in 

 brood-frames, I think. 



The following year, 1902, was still more exceptional, ^s 

 already told, the bees would have starved in June but for feed- 

 ing, yet later on they did some good work, some colonies yield- 

 ing as much as 72 sections. The bulk of this was stored toward 

 the last of August or later. 



