Chapter C: L. Doyle

Fayette Corners, Tenn.

=Half a Crop—Golden Italians, Etc.=

The common verdict regarding the honey season in this locality is but half a crop. A cold, wet and late spring left the colonies in such a weak condition, that were they not stimulated, they would have been in no condition at all when the honey-flow came. We had a splendid flow from honey-locust, although there were such high winds and continual rains during the bloom, that the bees could work scarcely a day at a time.

Right here I want to say one good thing for those golden 5-banded Italians, which race almost every one wishes to condemn. They were working almost every day, while the others did not dare venture out. This shows them to be very strong on the wing, but as to their superiority as everyday honey-gatherers, over the leather-colored variety, I am not prepared to say. For a hardy strain, long livers, and a business class of bees, give me uniformly marked leather-colored Italians, every time.

To return to our honey-resources: White clover was almost a total failure, as a severe drouth existed during the bloom, and it did not secrete much nectar. Smartweed was our main stand-by, with golden-rod a close second. They yield an excellent honey.

My style of marketing is three one-pound sections in a frame, for which I had no trouble in obtaining 60 cents. Extracted brings 12½ cents, although there is complaint of adulteration in our market.

Our bees are in fine condition for winter, and we have hopes for a better season next year.

J. C. WALLENMEYER.

Evansville, Ind., Dec. 17, 1893.

=Good Season in 1893, Etc.=

A queer winter we are having thus far. The forepart of December was cold, the mercury reaching zero a number of times, with very little snow. The middle of December it warmed up, the snow all disappeared, and on the 22nd it was 70 degrees in the shade; on the 25th it was 60 degrees, and I let my bees have a flight. They were not as thick as in June.

The last season was a good one in this locality. I never saw white clover so thick before. We had a heavy wind and hail storm in buckwheat bloom, which was a complete stop to the buckwheat flow, which started in well. Golden-rod and asters did not yield much. There were a good many runaway swarms the past season, quite a number being found on the lake shore. I got four. The lake takes off one-half, or nearly that, of my pasture (being situated on the shore). We have about 8 inches of ice now, and have had very good ice-boating so far.

S. H. EASTWOOD.

Cicero Centre, N. Y., Jan. 8, 1894.

=Won't Winter on Sorghum.=

On page 559, of the BEE JOURNAL for 1893, there is an item concerning sorghum for wintering bees. Mrs. Atchley suggests that I try it and report, which I will do with pleasure.

I can only report failure. Mrs. Atchley reports that she could not get her bees to take hold of sorghum. I had 5 colonies which I fed on it last October, sufficient to carry them through the winter. They are now all dead but one colony, and that one is reduced in numbers to a mere handful of bees. They all had plenty of sealed stores when they died, and fell down on the bottom-board. All of my other colonies are wintering well, that have honey stores.

Now, if Mrs. Atchley wants to try sorghum next winter, I think if she will go to some of her colonies of bees in warm, dry weather in October—some that have plenty of bees and not much honey—and raise the front end of the hive a little higher than the back, and pour in the pure sorghum just a little for one or two evenings, to get them started to eating it, then increase a little more, feeding every evening, I think in a week or so her bees will have plenty of sealed stores to last them through the winter—if they should live that long. But I don't think they would.

I don't wish Mrs. Atchley to feed her bees on sorghum, nor any one else, unless you want to lose your bees, for that you will do if they are fed on pure sorghum.

Some Northern bee-keepers may think there is a disease among my bees, but such is not the case. There never was any disease among bees in this country, that I know of.

N. E. CLEVELAND.

Decatur, Miss., Dec. 23, 1893.

=Getting Statistics on Bee-Culture.=

I notice on page 743 of the BEE JOURNAL for 1893, under heading of "Comb Honey in the United States," a request for all manufacturers of honey-sections to report all sales of sections to Dr. Miller, for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of honey produced, etc. That would be one way to guess at the amount, but I don't think it would be very much of a guess.

It appears to me that there is but one way to get at the amount of honey produced in the United States. Every assessor has a long list of questions provided on purpose to get at the statistics of the country. When these statistics are finally compiled, they are sent out all over the country, and we can see at a glance just how much wheat, oats, corn, etc., each State has produced the previous season. Now, I don't think it would require very much persuasion on the part of the bee-fraternity to secure the placing of two or three more questions on that list, viz.:

1. How many colonies of bees did you have, spring count, on June 1st, last year?

2. How many pounds of comb honey did you produce?

3. How many pounds of extracted honey?

This would bring out a full report of the amount of honey produced in the United States. It would also show the number of colonies of bees kept by the States.