410 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



season, we should have felt well paid for our trou- 

 ble. 



MOVING BEES FROM THE NORTH TO FLORIDA NOT 

 RECOMMENDED. 



Some parties have talked of moving bees from 

 the North to Florida, to get our winter flow of hon- 

 ey, and especially orange honey. I do not know 

 whether any one has done so or not; but I will ven- 

 ture the opinion that they will do it but once. 



PRESENT OUTLOOK FOR FLORIDA NOT ENCOURAG- 

 ING. 



The present honey season in Florida is likely to 

 be a very disastrous one. The winter was very 

 warm and dry, and we got no honey. The 1st day of 

 March we had a good rain, followed the next night 

 by the first frost of the season. In two weeks came 

 another frost that did great damage throughout the 

 entire South. Thousands of acres of tomatoes and 

 other tender plants just ready for market were cut 

 to the ground. In many places young orange-trees 

 were killed to the ground, and orange and many 

 other honey-yieldiug blossoms were destroyed, 

 leaving nothing for the bees. The winter had been 

 so warm that most things had started to grow. 

 The consequence will be, that our Northern friends 

 will not have so many oranges from Florida the 

 coming season. In the interior, bees will probably 

 have to be fed during the whole season or else 

 starve. Saw-palmetto generally blossoms about 

 May, but it throws out its long panicles of buds 

 long before that time, anJ most of them were killed 

 where they were not protected by the leaves. We 

 have been feeding our bees up to the present time. 

 I have not learned what the prospect is for man- 

 grove honey. Geo. W. Webster. 



Florida, May 10. 



DB. C. C. MILIiEK. 



BY THE HALF-TONE PROCESS. 



A short time ago we received information 

 that Mrs. Miller did not like the wood en- 

 graving of her husband, Dr. C. C. Miller, in 

 the A B C of Bee Culture. The cut was 

 very good, but it was not exactly natural 

 around the eyes and mouth. We according- 

 ly have had another one made by the half- 

 tone process ; hence I take pleasure in again 

 introducing our old friend and correspond- 

 ent, Dr. C. C. Miller, of Marengo, 111. 



It is almost unnecessary to tell who the 

 doctor is, or what claims he has on the 

 hearts of bee-keepers. We can say of him 

 as we can say of very few bee-keepers, he 

 has no enemies. In fact, it would be a very 

 hard matter to quarrel with him or make 

 him talk back. He sometimes, like Dr. Ma- 

 son, has a blunt way of talking in conven- 

 tions, for the sake of a joke. 



There are several men who always help 

 materially in making a good convention. 

 Not mentioning the others, I will say Dr. 

 Miller is one of them. I remember, at the 

 International, at Brantford. everybody in- 

 quired, "Where is Dr. Miller?'' or, " We 

 need /nm." 



We hold Dr. Miller, here at the Home of 

 the Honey-bees, in very high esteem, not 

 only as a personal friend, but for his opin- 

 ions upon any phase of the subject of bee 

 culture. He has twice revised the ABC 

 book, and twice added his comments in the 



back portion of the work. In fact, he is 

 consulted in regard to this, that, or the 

 other improvement in hives and other ap- 

 purtenances. A^ery often, when a new thing 

 comes up that 1 think is going to displace 

 every thing else, I write to Dr. Miller, and 

 ask him to find all the fault he an cwith it. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. 



And his criticism is genei ally heeded. Our 

 correspondence in Gleanings shows that 

 we do not always agree; but the fact that 

 he is so often consulted is somewhat of a 

 measure of the value we place upon what 

 he says. 



If some of our new subscribers want to 

 know when and where he M'as born, wheth- 

 er he is short or tall, broad or slim. I would 

 refer them to a short biographical sketch by 

 the writer, in the A B C of Bee Culture. 



Ernest. 



CALIFORNIA. 



BACKWARD gPRING. 



Bees have wintered well in this part of the coun- 

 try. No losses, except where they starve, and not 

 many of them so far. The spring hasbeen very un- 

 favorable up to date. There have been but few days 

 that bees gathered any honey. Kain, rain, rain, is 

 the order of the day. Our spring was like yours last 

 year. There were only two days vhen bees could 

 work on apple-blossoms. In my apiarj' they are de- 

 stroying the drone larva', and expelling the mature 

 drones. The queens have slacked laying, yet I am 

 feeding whenever bees can fly. 



I fear that I shall not get bees enough to get much 

 surplus, if this weather continues much longer. I 

 am feeding sorghum, diluted to thin syrup, placing 

 it about two rods from the hive. There is no fighting 

 or robbing among the bees. S. L. Craig. 



Oakland, Cal., May It, 1890. 



