June, igri. 



American Hee Journal 



the 1st of January and ends the 31st of 

 December; but there need not often 

 be any great hurry unless one gets be- 

 hind with his work. 



Bees get pollen here, generally, in 

 every month of the year, and, of course, 

 consume stores rapidly while breeding, 

 so that the early sources of honey are 

 appreciated, and appear nearly every- 

 where in this State; and although the 

 readers may have read a good deal 

 about the honey resources of South 

 Georgia, it may not be amiss to men- 

 tion some of them again. 



There are many minor sources of 

 honey, but after fruit blooms the first 

 storing is sometimes done here from 

 black gum (Nyssa biflora), and in places 

 corn - itch vine (Tecoma radicans), 

 which are of short duration and bloom 

 about the last of March. Further south 

 the black tupelo gum (Xyssa uniflora), 

 and the early ty-ty (Cliftonia mono- 

 philla) give a much better yield and 

 earlier, and are closely followed by the 

 white tupelo gum (Nyssa ogechee), 

 which is said to be a very rapid yielder 

 for about 10 days. 



About the first week in .\pril the 

 holly (Ile.x opaca), blackberry and pop- 

 lar (Liriodendron) all come into bloom 

 here, and yield pretty rapidly for about 

 a month, closely followed by the gall- 

 berry (Ile.x glabra), a fine yielder of 

 the best honey for about 2 weeks, and 

 in a few places the white holly (Ilex 

 myrtifolia), and these are followed in 

 most places by the late ty-ty (Cyrilla 

 racomiflora), which comes in June 

 here, and lasts about 3 weeks, after 

 which there is nothing that will yield 

 surplus, but many things that keep the 

 bees from being very idle, and one of 

 these (Ampelopsis arborea) is a vine 

 of the grape family, may yield a little 

 surplus. Cotton commences about 

 July 1st, and continues to yield some- 

 thing — it depends upon the kind of bees 

 and the weather how much — for the 

 rest of the season. 



In places, and perhaps nearly the 

 whole of southeast Georgia, the saw 

 palmetto (Serenoa serrulata) abounds, 

 but I think it is an uncertain yielder, 

 while nearly all of the others that I 

 have mentioned rarely fail entirely, and 

 there are many localities where nearly 

 all of them abound, so that south Geor- 

 gia may be considered as affording as 

 safe places to keep bees, especially, 

 and, at least, a fair amount of honey 

 every year, as anywhere in the United 

 States. 



All the honey produced in this re- 

 gion is at least fairly good, as com- 

 pared with the average honey of the 

 North — the worst is the poplar, which 

 is dark, and does not sell very well for 

 table use after it is kept a jnonth or 

 two. 



We have never had honey-dew here 

 to any damaging extent. Here we 

 never have a heavy yield, and never a 

 total failure so as to have to feed — ex- 

 cept sometimes a few weak colonies. 



I am not sure that we have found the 

 best bee for this section, but we are 

 coming at it, and you may hear from 

 me later on this subject; but it is not 

 the same strain that is best for Iowa, 

 for we must have a bee that will keep 

 up sufficient brood-rearing through 

 the long summer, or we will get no 

 surplus honey from cotton. 



The conditions here of many sources 

 of honey — often several different kinds 

 coming in at the same time, and often 

 short cessations of the flow, and seldom 

 a very rapid flow, so that it has usually 

 to be left on longer, and as propolis is 

 very plentiful, it is impossible to pre- 

 vent travel-staining of a large part of 

 the crop, which makes it a poor place 

 for section-honey production, notwith- 

 standing that bees produce wax and 

 build comb rather more readily than in 

 the North, and much of the wax-secre- 

 tion is involuntary — they use a large 

 amount in building brace and burr 

 combs, so it is best always to keep 

 them with a little new comb to build. 



Bulk-comb honey will certainly pay 

 better here than section honey, for we 

 must have a convenient way of keeping 

 our honey in a marketable condition 

 after we get it, which is hard to do 

 with section honey, the finest of which 

 comes early, and unless disposed of 

 immediately will keep one in anxiety 

 until sold, on account of the numerous 

 and ever-active insect pests. Some 

 bees will not ripen cotton honey so 

 that it will keep liquid in sections, but 

 extracted cotton honey is all right, 

 even if candied, which it is sure to be 

 soon after extracting. Bulk - comb 

 honey in the North will not likely find 

 much favor on account of candying, 

 but extracted honey is all right every- 

 where — where people t/ii/ik rightly. 



Leslie, Ga. T. W. Livingston. 



Apiary Work for June 



The honey-flow from cotton will 

 come on next month in the great cotton 

 belt of the South, and this month's api- 

 ary work is of vital importance, for the 

 bees should be made ready for the har- 

 vest, which will begin slowly ne.xt 

 month. 



In our last month's apiary work we 

 endeavored to set forth the great im- 

 portance of obtaining and introducing 

 better stock of bees in our apiaries, 

 and removing all surplus honey, etc. 

 Now we are ready to look into the 

 brood-nest and start bee-production. 



At this season of the year there is, in 

 most locations, a great supply of pol- 

 len, which the bees are carrying in 

 along with a little nectar, and the 

 weather is settled and warm, making 

 conditions ideal for brood-rearing, and 

 if the queens are prolific, they will get 

 active at once, after the slack from 

 the spring flow. 



But at this season of the year the 

 brood-nest is usually crowded with 

 honey, especially in comb-honey api- 

 aries, for when the spring honey-flow 

 began to pass off, the queens slacked 

 in egg-laying, and the bees crowded in 

 behind them, filling the combs with 

 honey, and the queens can never highly 

 populate their hives again until next 

 spring, by which time the bees have 

 eaten away this bulk of honey, and the 

 queens can occupy this comb again. 

 Now, this honey should be removed, 

 one or two frames at a time, and ex- 

 tracted, and the comb inserted into the 

 middle of the brood-nest, or exchanged 

 in some way for empty combs, so as 

 to give the queens the use of them 

 again, and as fast as she will fill them 

 with eggs give them to her, and in this 



way produce the bees for the approach 

 ing flow. 



Of course, precaution should be used, 

 and not all the honey extracted from 

 the brood-nest, for the bees might run 

 short of stores and have a set-back be- 

 fore the flow came on. The usual rims 

 of honey around the frames of brood 

 should be left, where it is not too deep. 



If any colonies have run short of 

 stores on account of being weak dur- 

 ing the spring flow, these frames of 

 honey can be given them and they built 

 up to strong colonies during the honey- 

 flow, by constantly spreading the 

 brood-nest, inserting empty combs in 

 them, and if the queens are not stimu- 

 lated enough from the frames of honey 

 given to occupy them readily, a little 

 feeding can be done. 



It is yet not too late to introduce 

 better stock, and a good time to get 

 ready to transfer from bo.x-hives dur- 

 ing the honey-flow from cotton, or buy 

 bees and establish apiaries, etc. 



Editor E. R. Root in Dixie 



Mr. E. R. Root, editor of Gleanings 

 in Bee Culture, spent several weeks in 

 Dixie during February and March, and 

 while here touched at mauy points in 

 visiting bee-keepers, and it was a rare 

 treat to us, who had the pleasure of 

 meeting him, and having a face-to-face 

 talk with such a noted editor. He 

 touched at this point last on his return 

 to Medina, and expressed himself fully 

 as to what he saw of bee-keeping here, 

 and of its future, and was surprised to 

 find so many of us so extensively en- 

 gaged in bee-keeping, and how we op- 

 erated with such a small amount of 

 labor. Well, it is this way with many 

 of us: 



Our first honey-flow comes the latter 

 part of February, and the last flow goes 

 off in November, with perhaps a few 

 days, or may be 3 or 4 weeks, interven- 

 ing between some of the flows during 

 this time. So we have over 8 months 

 to harvest and market a crop of honey. 

 Then, too, in most locations we never 

 have an overwhelming crop of honey, 

 owing to the honey-plants being scat- 

 tered, etc., the average being about the 

 same, year after year. So we don't 

 need so much help, but we need it for 

 a longer time. 



Editor Root was also surprised to 

 know what serious problems we were 

 often confronted with here, some of 

 which came under his own observa- 

 tion while here, that he had never 

 heard of before, of which we shall 

 know more later. 



Another thing that seemed to sur- 

 prise Mr. Root, was that our queens 

 occupied the comb right down to the 

 entrance, even in cool and changeable 

 weather, seemingly in preference to 

 that in the remote parts of the hive. 

 This scores another point in favor of 

 ventilation, which we so strongly advo- 

 cate. 



•I 111, iiiM ,. .i; Honey-Spoon and the Ameri- 

 can Itt-i- lonrnal for one year— both for only 

 $1 75. Send all orders to to George W. York 

 & Co.. 117 N. Juffc-rson St.. Chicago. HI. 



