1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



417 



length of time, the Teredo navalis will eat it 

 full of holes and make it worthless; whereas, 

 if the boat had been taken out of the water, 

 and kept in the air, it would have been un- 

 harmed. So you see Florida is harder on slip- 

 shod managing than almost any other place. 

 Every little while we see the results of sloth- 

 fulness in beautiful boats that cost large sums 

 of money being left in the water, to be eaten up 

 hy the teredo until they are next to worthless. 

 Another insect delights in making little holes 

 through the sides of honey-barrels, or any 

 other kind. Friend King says that, no matter 

 whether your barrels are made of oak, cypress, 

 or any other timber, and no matter how care- 

 fully you put them away where they won't dry 

 out, it is never safe to put honey in them until 

 you have waxed the whole inside according to 

 the directions so many years ago laid down in 

 the ABC book. Wax the barrels just before 

 they are filled, and they are safe and sound, 

 and honey may be shipped clear to New York, 

 without the outside becoming sticky in the 

 least. He finds paraffine to answer just as well 

 as beeswax, and it is very much cheaper. 



Talking about shells reminds me that, while 

 visiting Harry Mitchell, near Hawk's Park, we 

 were shown a strip of ground in front of the 

 house, all covered with broken shells. It was 

 outside of the dooryard, along the main road- 

 way, and I was much surprised to learn from 

 friend Hart that they secured excellent crops 

 of onions and other garden vegetables right in 

 among these shells, although we could hardly 

 find a bit of soil of any account. 



This recalls that I omitted in the proper place 

 to mention the very pretty little home belong- 

 ing to friend Mitchell nnd his good wife. An 

 artesian well of considerable volume attracted 

 my attention in the back yard; but it was too 

 warm, and too strongly impregnated with sul- 

 phur, to prove very palatable. Friend M. has, 

 besides his apiary, quite a pretty yard of fruits 

 and flowers, and a valuable collection of curi- 

 osities from Florida and other parts of the 

 world. Although he himself is in quite poor 

 health, we are reminded, by looking back at 

 pages 860 to 863 inclusive, of Gleantngs for 

 Nov. 15, 1894, that he secured last season the 

 enormous honey crop of 21,.'>00 lbs. from .57 hives, 

 or an average of about 377 lbs. per colony. 

 If anybody has ever made a better report than 

 this, either in Florida, California, or any other 

 part of the world, it seems to me it can not be 

 very much ahead, all things considered. • ■ 



Sanford. Fla., is a very pretty town of about 

 2500 inhabitants. I was much interested in the 

 spacious waiting-room at the depot, especially 

 as said room contained a large open fireplace 

 with a cheerful fire burning, made of pine logs 

 resting on old-fashioned andirons, I had been 

 suffering a good deal from chills, and it seemed 

 hard work, a good many times, to get thor- 

 oughly warmed up, even down in that land of 

 flowers and sunshine; but the big fire of pitch- 

 pine logs filled the bill to my heart's content. ^ 



After getting weii warmed up I enjoyed a 

 walk for a couple of miles to the little station 

 of Fort Reed, where friend McMillan has his 

 home. Here I met with such a warm welcome 

 from all the inmates that I did not quite under- 

 stand it. My friend and his good wife, how- 

 ever, made haste to explain. If I am correct, 

 they moved to Florida on account of ill health. 

 There they found good health, but did not suc- 

 ceed in finding any thing suitable to their case 

 for earning a livelihood. While thinking over 

 the matter, and. I believe, praying over it (for 

 they are devoted Christians), a sample copy of 

 Gleanings fell into their hands. Both hps- 

 band and wife soon became deeply interested, 

 got some bees, and commenced. Although they 



are well along in years, and in feeble health, 

 as the bees increased their enthusiasm and 

 strength seem to increase also, to meet the 

 emergency; and right in the spot where no- 

 body else ever thought of raising honey they 

 have made excellent crops, and increased their 

 bees to something like 100 colonies. Instead of 

 selling honey at five and six cents a pound, as 

 some others have done, friend M. started out to 

 develop his home market. He carried samples 

 to the big hotels, and took oi'ders at from eight 

 to ten cents per pound, if I remember correctly, 

 being exceedingly careful to furnish only a first- 

 class product, even though almost their only 

 source of honey is the saw- palmetto; and that 

 is why they sent me an invitation to call, and 

 felt so glad to welcome under their own roof the 

 man who wrote the ABC book. 



I have before mentioned that a new industry 

 has sprung up in Florida during the past winter, 

 in the way of furnishing firewood. I was sur- 

 prised to see the number of colored men with a 

 bright new one-horse wagon, ditto harness, and 

 a fair-looking mule with which to draw wood 

 to town. They go out of Sanford a couple of 

 miles, and get a very nice pine-ti'ee. as it stands 

 in the woods, for 25 cts. The horse stands 

 hitched to a tree while the owner cuts up the 

 load of wood. Then he drives to town and gets 

 a dollar for it. I suggested, as a matter of 

 economy, that the man employ somebody else 

 to cut the wood whil3 he goes with a load, thus 

 taking ever so many more loads in a day; and 

 I said, also, that one man could drive two 

 horses as well as one, and thus double the out- 

 put. Friend M. assured me, however, that I 

 did not understand the colored race at all. or I 

 would not make such suggestions. He said it 

 was accepting considerable responsibility al- 

 ready for one of these men to keep his horse 

 going everyday, let alone hiring somebody to 

 help, or, worse still, thinking of having the 

 care and responsibility of two horses. And ob- 

 servation seemed to back up his assertion. 

 Every thing is done on the one-horse plan — 

 especially where the colored people manage it; 

 and the one horse, instead of doing a whole 

 day's work, stands still in his new harness, 

 hitched to the brand-new wagon the greater 

 part of the time. 



In the vicinity of Sanford are many beautiful 

 lakes, and some of the finest orange- groves, 

 perhaps, in Florida. Where there was so much 

 lamentation because the garden-stuff was killed 

 by the frost, I suggested to quite a number of 

 the gardeners that they try their hand at 

 hardy vegetables that would stand a freeze: and 

 at Sanford I found an onion-patch of nearlv an 

 acre that was comparatively unharmed. The 

 proprietor, however, was a little above the 

 average gardener. He had got his ground un- 

 der high cultivation, and made very rich, so 

 that the onions had vigor and vitality enough 

 to stand the blizzard and to keep on growing. 



I found one of friend McMillan's boys very 

 busily occupied, together with a neighbor's boy, 

 in building a boat. This boat was to be launch- 

 ed on Lake Jessup, within a short distance of 

 their home. The boys were making their boat 

 of sufficient size so they could camp out in it 

 for several weeks, and have room enough for 

 their provision, bedding, etc. By taking ad- 

 vantage of the lakes and rivers, they can get so 

 near Indian River, that, by hiring a team to 

 pull their boat across a mile or two, they can 

 go clear down to Lake Worth, and from there 

 back UD to Daytona and Ormund. Of course, 

 the vessel is to be run by sails, so the boys may, 

 by giving their time, make quite an exploring- 

 excursion, and see a good deal of the world, be- 

 ing out of pocket only what is necessary for 

 food and clothing. A great many have made 



