1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



301 



took a breakfast at the grand Tampa Bay 

 Hotel (cost one dollar and tifty cents), and there 

 I found "orange honey" on the bill of fare. 

 But there was such a grand array of good 

 things displayed on this menu that I did not 

 call for it. 



At Atlanta, Ga., I also found "orange hon- 

 ey," and this time called for it. I was brought 

 a dark liquid resembling Florida syrup — fully 

 as dark— which had a bitter and astringent 

 taste. I could not eat it, and called for maple 

 syrup. At another hoiel I got some comb hon- 

 «y. The comb was white and tender, but the 

 honey was darker than any fall honey I ever 

 saw in the North. The quality was a great 

 improvement upon the first, but not up to our 

 standard. I should like to hear from A. I. Root 

 in regard to the honey he found in P^lorida. 



XJPW^AKD VENTILATION WITH A VENGEANCE; 

 A SINGULAR CASE. 



A friend in Kentucky kept bees many years 

 ago. Thirty years ago he had some of his bees 

 in movable-frame L. hives, and a very nice 

 little apiary; but in the pursuit of other mat- 

 ters he soon lost interest in them, ceased to care 

 for them, would not hive new swarms or have 

 any one else do it. He had so completely aban- 

 doned and banished them from his mind that 

 he did not know whether there were bees on 

 his farm or not when I visited hira last fall. I 

 looked around his place where he used to keep 

 his bees, but could see nothing left of the old 

 frame hives except the body of one up in the 

 garret of his two-story house, where a line colo- 

 ny had once flourished and stored large quanti- 

 ties of surplus honey. The hive contained the 

 litter of the combs, eaten up by mice and moth. 

 The frame hives outside were all gone, but 

 there were a few remnants of box hives, some 

 partly broken up, some filled with moth- 

 cocoons, and one without cap or cover, with 

 live bees in it. All were nearly rotten. I do 

 not know positively how long these bees have 

 been in that hive, but I think they have been 

 there 13 or 15 years, and probably longer. The 

 hive had a l^^-inch auger-hole in the center of 

 the top — uncovered — exposed to rain and snow. 

 To protect them a little I kicked an old hive to 

 pieces (and it was easily done), and laid one of 

 the pieces over the top, with a stone on it. But 

 as there were some strips on top of the 

 hive the board did not fit down close to the 

 hole; it was still open. So much for the intro- 

 duction, now for the sequel. My friend, his 

 wife, and myself went to Florida. They will 

 remain there until April. I returned March 

 5th, and am staying at their house with their 

 two sons. I went to look at the bees, and found 

 the hive turned completely upside down, with- 

 out any cover over it; but the bees were alive, 

 and seemed to be quite strong. I called up the 

 colored man, who seems to be a kind of fore- 

 man while the owner is away, and asked him 

 what he knew about the bees. He said, "I 



reck'n the mules must have knocked it over; 

 they were in the yard here the other day. They 

 knocked it over once before in cold weather, 

 and I turned it up again." But he could not 

 tell me how long it remained turned over either 

 lime. In another place, in the orchard, March 

 13th, I found another box hive turned upside 

 down and full of comb, no cover on it, and, to 

 my surprise, there were live bees in it. I care- 

 fully turned it up and sought the colored man 

 again, who, by the way, is quite intelligent and 

 very reliable. He said the hive had been in 

 that position all winter; he thought the bees 

 were all dead, and he did not pay any attention 

 to it. From the indications around it, and the 

 impression on the grass, where the hive stood, 

 I am satisfied that it did stay in that position 

 all winter; and this has been the coldest win- 

 ter known here for many years. In December 

 the thermometer was 14° below zero, and in 

 February 18° below, and either down to zero or 

 below every day for three weeks in February. 

 This is a case of extraordinary upward ventila- 

 tion, and shows what an amount of exposure 

 bees will sometimes endure. But why is it 

 that this is only sometimes ? There must be 

 some cause for it. 



I have a theory in regard to this particular 

 case. There was a great deal of snow— ground 

 covered all the time of the cold weather, and 

 no rain all winter. The combs were level with 

 the bottom of the hive (now top), old and 

 strong, and became covered with snow which 

 remained until warm weather, it being too cold 

 for the heat of the bees to melt the snow above 

 them. This was some protection to them dur- 

 ing the coldest weather; but when this melted 

 off they remained in that unprotected condi- 

 tion up to the time that I discovered them. 

 March 19th I examined the hive to see if the 

 bees needed feeding; and in raising the box up, 

 every comb in it dropped out. The exposure 

 to rain, snow, and frost had loosened all the 

 combs from the box. The colony was not large, 

 and there were but comparatively few dead 

 bees. Two combs contained large patches of 

 brood, and they still had plenty of honey. I 

 transferred them to a clean box, and they are 

 doing well. These hives are cases of extreme 

 ventilation, and of upward ventilation at that. 

 They wintered well, but probably will not de- 

 cide the much-mooted question of sealed covers 

 or upward ventilation. I merely give the facts, 

 without entering into the discussion. 



Midway, Ky. 



[In regard to the honey I found in Florida, I 

 would say I saw^ little or none on the tables of 

 the hotels; but 1 found beautiful honey in great 

 plenty at the homes of all the bee-keepers. I 

 do not think I saw any poor honey even once. 

 Very likely they brought out the best, or saved 

 up some of the best for me. I learned to be very 

 fond indeed of honey from saw-palmetto. And 

 that makes me think I am guilty of putting a 

 wrong title undercut on page 14G. It should be 

 saw-palmetto and not cabbage. The cabbage- 



