258 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 1. 



known to be a very old one. it is not advisable to 

 re-introduce her, as tiie colony would be likely 

 to throw oif a swarm at any time during the 

 summer. 



Now, here is another way to manage the trap 

 at swarming time. If the colony that swarms 

 needs a new queen, and it is not convenient to 

 purchase one, let the old queen remain in the 

 trap till the twelfth day, or until there is no 



Erobability of more swarms issuing from that 

 ive. In the meantime, all the queen-cells that 

 were in the hive when the swarm issued will 

 have hatched, and perhaps several dead queens 

 will be found in the trap. Now the trap should 

 be removed so the young queen can take a mat- 

 ing-flight. The only objection to this last meth- 

 od is the loss of brood that would occur while 

 the colony is rearing a queen. Should this occur 

 during the last days of the honey-How, the dam- 

 age to the colony from loss of brood would be 

 very slight. Some would claim that it is a de- 

 cided advantage. 



If desirable to preserve the queen-cells reared 

 in a colony that has cast a swarm, the combs 

 should remain undisturbed until the seventh 

 day after the swarm issues. I have found, in my 

 long experience in queen-rearing, that it is a 

 dangerous thing to handle queen-cells before 

 the embryo queens are pretty nearly matured. 

 When capped seven days, the cells will stand 

 rough handling and a temperature a good many 

 degrees below that of the hive the cells were 

 taken from, and not be in the least damaged. 



When the cells are removed from a colony 

 that has swarmed, one of the largest and finest 

 cells should be selected as the one to remain. 

 Remove all others. As it is difficult to find all 

 the cells, the trap should not be taken from the 

 hive till the twelve days have expired, as a sec- 

 ond swarm might issue in the meantime. A 

 queen usually hatches on the eighth day after 

 the first swarm issues, and it is on that day that 

 the second swarm will come off'. 

 Wenham, Mass. Henry Ali,ev. 



[We shall endeavor to experiment again along 

 the line that Mr. Alley has indicated. In the 

 meantime, see our editorial elsewhei-e.l 



Lad/es' Conversazione. 



LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



MKS. IIARKISON TELLS SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 



Mr. Editor: — I have spent several days of this 

 week out in the country, among the homestead- 

 ers, and a little of what I saw may be of interest 

 to your readers. I had been requested to go to a 

 town eight miles distant, on the banks of this 

 ovely bay. to talk bees. As an additional at- 

 traction, several musicians went along, and 

 sang and played" Dot Happy Bee-man" and oth- 

 er bee songs familiar to those who attend bee- 



onventions. 



The musicians went there in a sail-boat; but 

 as I desired a closer acquaintance with the pine 

 woods I requested permission to ride with a wo- 

 man returning to her homestead, in a wagon 

 drawn by a yoke of oxen. I enjoyed this ride ex- 

 ceedingly, looking at the tall pines, the bloom- 

 ng ti-ti, th(3 lupens, sage, and other liowers. 

 My pleasure was marred only by pity for the 

 poor oxen. Their mistress guided them with 

 ropes round their horns. One of them she called 

 Diamond; the other, Joe. Diamond cheerfully 

 obeyed her directions, but was mad if she want- 

 ed him togoaroad not leading toward their 

 home, and would pull in a different direction 

 until he was whipped into submission. vShe 



would talk to them as if they were children: 

 "Joe, why do you act so? why don't you be good 

 like Diamond ? he is a good ox." Joe saw a toad- 

 stool in the road, which appeared to be a tempt- 

 ing morsel for him; and in getting it he ran his 

 horn under a stump, and she said, " Joe, why 

 don't you behave youi'self ? you came very near 

 breaking your horn off." 



This woman told me that, if I would come out 

 to her homestead next day she would yoke her 

 oxen and take me two miles to another home- 

 stead to see a tea-tree higher than my head. I 

 did so, and on the way she pointed to a large 

 magnolia-tree, saying, ■" There is the best spring 

 that I ever saw, coming out clear and cool under 

 that tree.'" 



When we arrived at the homestead I was 

 pleased with what I saw. Here was a poor fam- 

 ily of eleven — father, mother, eight children, 

 and a grandmother nearly ninety years old. 

 They were too poor to buy trees: but by graft- 

 ing and budding they had thrifty trees of all 

 kinds belonging to temperate and semi-tropical 

 climates. Whenever there is danger of frost 

 killing their fruit they stay up all night and 

 keep fires burning, and have saved their fruit in 

 this way. The father of the family, and two 

 large boys, have a fish-house on the bay, and 

 catch and sell fish and oysters to teams who 

 come for them from the back country, while the 

 mother and smaller children tend the orchard. 

 She knows every tree, bush, or vine, and loves 

 and watches them with a mothei'"s care. Ap- 

 ples, pears, quinces, and every bush oi' vine, will 

 grow from cuttings in this soil and climate. vShe 

 pointed to a very large grapevine, saying. "That 

 is a wild vine, and I want some more of them, 

 for the bees like them so well." In answer to 

 my inquiry as to how much honey she had last 

 year, she said. "About half a barrel." Their 

 bees are kept in box hives, and Til take back all 

 I ever said against them when I se(> poor fami- 

 lies enjoying this luscious sweet when a mova- 

 ble-fi'ame hive is beyond their means. 



The tea-trees were very luxuriant, and belong 

 to the same ordei' as the Cdinellla Japonicd, 

 which they resemble. These trees were raised 

 from cuttings, and I purchased a small one, 

 which had a mass of fibrous roots, which were 

 tied up in an old cloth. I looked around for 

 something to carry it in, when I spied a large 

 gourd which answered the purpose well. All 

 trees and plants from China and Japan, such as 

 plums and persimmons, cherries, etc., take kindly 

 to the climate, and I wonder if there are no bees 

 thatcould be introduced from thatcountry. Dur- 

 ing the Centennial at Philadelphia, among the 

 Japan exhibit I saw a painting of a swarm of 

 bees in the air. and the Japs after them. 



AMONG THE PINES. 



On this trip I was at five different lioraes, and 

 there were bees at all of them — only a few colo- 

 nies, though, kept in box hives, and they were 

 the smallest black bees that I ever saw. I bade 

 good- by to the woman whose hospitality I had 

 enjoyed, and walked through the pines to the 

 postolfice, to take passage in the mail-boat. Be- 

 fore it arrived she cami' in. saying. " All of our 

 trees, and everything that we had, is burned 

 up." As she was alone, and worn out with fight- 

 ing the fire, heat, and smoke, I returned to the 

 homestead with her, and assisted in putting out 

 the tii'e. I found that a picket fence surrounding 

 the house was remaining: the bees. pigs. Joe 

 and Diamond; and that but few trees in the or- 

 chard were injured. The fire came through the 

 pines faster than the fleetest horse, with a ter- 

 rific roar, and the tops of the burning pines at 

 night resembled electric lights. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



St. Andrew's Bay. Fla., March 2:?. 



