594 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



Chemists, and is and has been for seven years 

 its permanent secretary and executive officer. 

 At the present time he is president of the 

 American Chemical Society— a rapidly growing 

 national organization numbering over live 

 hundred members, and embracing many promi- 

 nent American chemists. He has published a 

 large number of scientific papers, together with 

 numerous addresses and government reports, 

 both of a technical and popular character, and 

 has announced for publication a text-book on 

 Agricultural Chemical Analysis, which will be 

 the most elaborate work of the kind ever issued 

 from the press. At the present time Prof. 

 Wiley is Chairman of the Joint Committee 

 having in charge the World's Congress of 

 Chemists, which is to meet in Chicago on the 

 21st of August proximo. 



justifies the trial of more, well and good. We 

 are glad that our correspondent has written as 

 he has. because we fear there is a tendency on 

 the part of bee-keepers to rush to the other 

 extreme.] 



FLORIDA. 



THOSE NEW-FANGLED TRAPS. 



WILL IT PAY THE AVERAGE BEE-KEEPER TO 



INVEST IN THEM? THE LANGDON NON- 



SWARMER, ETC. 



Dear Frieiid Root: — I have been reading 

 Gleanings with much interest for some time 

 back, and in particular what pertains to self- 

 hivers, non-swarmers, and queen-traps. Now, 

 do you really think that it is best for us, all 

 things considered, to adopt so many new traps 

 simply to try to make our bees do something 

 contrary to their natural instincts? And don't 

 we lose, by so doing, the snap and vigor with 

 which a new swarm goes to work after being 

 hived in the good old way? Besides that, I 

 think the majority of bee-keepers agree with 

 me, that they can get more honey, especially in 

 the comb, from the old colony and its swarm 

 than they could if the old colony did not swarm 

 at all; and as to the increase of stock, I don't 

 think there will be much kicking on that score 

 as long as we have winter losses like the past 

 winter. And is it really cheaper and better to 

 invest in those new inventions than to hire 

 help during the swarming season ? Those 

 traps and devices must be put on the hives 

 and taken off again, as well as looked aft- 

 er while on. We must also have a place 

 to store them when not in use. I think that, 

 by looking this question squarely in the 

 face, and considering all things connected with 

 it, there will be fewer of these devices in use 

 ten years from now than there are at present. 



Some few people may find trouble in getting 

 help. They can't find a suitable man? Well, 

 then, what is the matter with hiring a woman? 

 or perhaps you have a daughter who would 

 take an interest in bees, and hive swarms, if 

 paid four or five dollars a week; if not, there is 

 always some other man's daughter in your 

 neighborhood who would be glad to take the 

 position rather than to go to some factory to 

 work, as a great many girls and young women 

 do in this district (of course, this is not intended 

 for the Rambler). And, by the way, I think 

 we should be doing more good to the communi- 

 ty by paying our money to some person in need 

 of employment to hive our swarms, if the 

 results were the same as far as our bees are 

 •concerned, than by using the devices alluded to. 

 Graysville, Pa., July 8. P. D. Miller. 



[There is danger in going to extremes both 

 ways. It is folly for the average bee-keeper to 

 invest in evei'y new thing; and on the other 

 hand it is folly to always go along in the same 

 old rut, without looking for some better way. 

 A wise discrimination should be exercised, and 

 new tilings that promise well should be tried 

 on a limited scale; and if the trial of a few 



grapevines for shade; honey candying, 



ETC. 



In reply to W. U. R.'s question, page 525. July 

 1, I will say there is no better shade for bees in 

 Florida than the scuppernong family of grape- 

 vines. Build an arbor such as is illustrated on 

 page 635, September 1st Gleanings of 1890, 

 and cover it the same way, and you have al- 

 most a perfect shade for bees, and an abundance 

 of fine fruit. It will not take over two years to 

 cover the sheds (or arbors) if vines are set forty 

 feet apart on each side; and after that some 

 can be taken out as they get crowded. I con- 

 sider the Thomas variety the best. It is a large 

 purple grape. They drop their leaves in win- 

 ter and let the sun in on the hives, and put on 

 leaves to shade them at the right time in the 

 spring. One vine under favorable conditions 

 may be made to cover densely a quarter of an 

 acre, and there are vines much larger than this 

 that bear so many bushels of grapes I dare 

 not give the figures. My grape crop from these 

 vines this year will net me as much as my 

 honey crop, according to present prospects. 



While the vines are small the sheds can be 

 covered with cabbage-palmetto leaves tied on 

 to wire or nailed on to 1x3 wooden slats. These 

 once properly put on will last until the vines 

 cover the sheds. 



I set my posts 8 feet apart each way, and use 

 3x4 scantling 10 feet long to tie them crosswise 

 and support wires or slats. These are nailed at 

 a height to clear the head at the front, and 

 some 6 to 8 inches higher at the back. 



S. P. (page .526) can not keep his honey from 

 candying. It will not ripen in the hive so but 

 that it will candy more or less, even though 

 left right there; and when his bees are raising 

 brood in the latter part of winter and early 

 spring he will find little white pellets of it tum- 

 bled out of the hive by the bees after they have 

 sucked out all the liquid honey that they can 

 get. I have evaporated saw-palmetto honey 

 (that least liable to granulate) down to where 

 it felt like putty, in my sun evaporator, and 

 still it will partly granulate. Why not let it 

 granulate all that it will, and educate consum- 

 ers up to the fact that the granulation Is a 

 guarantee of purity that can not be disputed, 

 and that it takes only a little heat to liquefy it,, 

 as is the case with maple sugar? 



The honey crop here is almost a total failure 

 up to date; and even should the mangrove 

 yield honey from this time until the close of 

 the bloom, but little honey would be gathered, 

 as the bees are not in shape to do rapid work. 



This is the first season in my sixteen years' 

 experience in bee-keeping here that the black 

 mangrove has put on a liberal bloom and yet 

 secreted no honey. 1 believe it to be in this sec- 

 tion as reliable a honey-producer as there is in 

 existence. Its roots are covered twice each 24 

 hours by the tides. We have had a very dry 

 May and June, but it would seem as though 

 drouth should have little or no effect upon it. 

 Some climatic or electric condition unknown to 

 us is probably responsible for keeping several of 

 our apiarists away from the World's Fair who 

 had calculated on their honey crop to supply 

 the means. As the orange-groves are flourish- 

 ing, I think you will soe me there a little later, 

 brothers Root and Mason. 



