4.jO 



CiLEANiXGS In liEH CULTURE. 



July 



trances open, sheet of factory only over the frames, 

 perfect darknesp, (juictude, even temperature 

 (about 44°). If these conditions are oliserved, I do 

 not gri'eatly care whetlier the cellar is damp or dry; 

 they will "hibernate" very comfortably throiiph all 

 the changing- seasons outside, <iuitc as obli\ious of 

 passing time and winter's storms as those bats of 

 the Mammoth Ca\e A. I. Root d-scribed to me the 

 other evening. 



Last, but not least, when you Ix-came a Christian 

 (how well 1 remember when that numbei- came) 

 you undertook an experiment which has jiroved 

 the greatest success of your life, and I trust for 

 one you will still from time to time give to your 

 great circle of readers a leaf from your life's chap- 

 ter, as it goes on. How I wish our friend Mr. .Jones, 

 now that he has given us a ('. />'. .7., would "go and 

 do likewise": .).('. Thom. 



Streetsville, Ont., Can., June Ui, issr,. 



Please accept my heartfelt thanks tor your 

 very kind words, friend T. MayCiod help 

 me to let my li^ht shine in sncli a manner as 

 will be most helpful to my fellow-men I— 

 Speaking of the L. frame, "J hardly believe 

 you are correct, my friend, in saying that 

 those.who have lostmost heavily have used 

 the L. frame. The A. B. J. has given sever- 

 al tables in regard to losses, comparing tiie 

 L. frames with other frames. If I am cor- 

 rect, it did not show any tiling in favor of 

 deeper.'frames.— I suppose your concluding 

 sentence means that we shoiUd be glad to 

 see Bro. Jones give ns something in his pa- 

 per, a little in the line of my moral talks ; 

 fori am happy to tell the fiiemls who do 

 not know it already, that I). A. Jones is not 

 only a good sound man in every respect, but 

 lie is also a Christian, and a very prominent 

 helper in the cause of Christiaiiity and the 

 upbuilding of churches and Sabbath-schools. 

 and also in cZi.scouraging saloons, intemper- 

 ance, and iniquity of every kind. I presume 

 Bro. Jones will pardon me for telling this 

 much of what I know. 



FLORIDA. 



ITS .A.DVANT.\GES AND DISADVANTAOES FOU BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



Concluded from last issue. 



fHE first questions one will naturally ask who 

 desires to change his location are, What are 

 the advantages and disadvantages of the 

 proposed new location? 1 will try to answer 

 these questions as well as I can, so far as 

 Florida is concerned; but I shall try to be the most 

 particular in telling the disadvantages, because 

 the advantages have been told over and over again 

 by writers from that State, who usually foro^t to 

 tell the other side. Some, like Mr. Hart, tell both 

 sides; btit the majority see only one side. 



First among its advantages is the unrivaled cli- 

 mate, probably the finest in the United States. 

 Contrary to the usual rule in warm climates, winter 

 is the dry season and summer the wet, the line be- 

 tween the wet and dry seasons being much more 

 marked the further south in the State we go. This 

 absence of much rain during the coolest part of the 

 year, and its abundance during the warmest, is 

 much pleasanter and more healthful than the re- 

 verse conditions would be. The absence of great 



variations of temperature is also a vei-y valuable 

 feature of the climate, the extreme variation at 

 New Smyrna being about T0,° from about 28^ to 9s° 

 above zero, while at Cape Sable the variation is 

 jirobably about ')!.." degrees only, from 45° to !»'>". 

 At my house here in Iowa, the e.vtreme range is 

 over 140 —that is, from 40° below zero to 10;}° above. 

 Why the temperature should be higher in the 

 northern jiart of Florida than in the southern, is a 

 |)uzzle to many; but such is the fact, the extreme 

 being sometimes 4 to ■)' higher in the northern halt 

 of the State than on its southern coast. If climate 

 only were considered, I should most decidedly pre- 

 fer the most southerly location in the State that I 

 could get. The great heat of the sun in Florida is 

 always tempered by breezes from off the ocean or 

 the gulf, and such sultry and oppressive days as we 

 frequently experience in the North are unknown 

 there. 



Of course, the question of how to safely bring our 

 pets through the winter possesses no interest what- 

 ever to a Florida bee-keeper, there being but very 

 few days during the year but that they fly freely in 

 the open air, and not an entire mouth but that they 

 gather some natural stores. 



The yield of honey that can be ol)tained in a good 

 mangrove location is very large, that obtained by 

 the bee-keepers of New Smyrna having averaged, 

 for several seasons past, nearly 3(;0 lbs. per colony 

 per season. Mangrove is the most reliable and reg- 

 ular yielder of honey of any plant we know of, prob- 

 ably because of its roots always being within 

 reach of salt water, and therefore not at all affected 

 by drought. This is a positive and decided advan- 

 tage. 



I will now try to detail some of the disadvantages 

 of living and keeping bees in Florida, and shall try 

 to ti-eat this part of the subject more thoroughly 

 than any other, because it is less often written 

 about. 



The want of schools, churches, and good society 

 is probably the most serious objection to the mak- 

 ing of a permanent home in that State, and this is 

 especially true with those seeking good locations 

 for bee-keeping, as such locations are nearlj- all in 

 the most unsettled parts of the State; and, what is 

 worse, that part of the State which we suppose to 

 be the best for bee-keeping purposes will be the 

 last to be settled. The wilds of Florida are cer- 

 tainly poor places in which to raise families, at 

 least so far as schools and the best aids to civiliza- 

 tion are concerned. 



Want of tr.nnsportation is a very great obstacle; 

 but this will, of course, be partly overcome in the 

 future. At present the only way to reach most of 

 the coast region is by means of small sail-boats ca- 

 pable of carrying a few thousand pounds at a time. 

 Nearly all settlers on the coast who are able, own 

 one of these boats, and they are almost the only 

 " horses " the coast region possesses. On account 

 of the high price of forage and grain, a much less 

 number of horses is kept in the State than else- 

 where; and whoever needs to hire team work done 

 must expect to pay roundly for it. 



Lack of mills, stores, etc., is quite troublesome. 

 Nearly all the lumber in even as well settled a re- 

 gion as that around New Smyrna, has to be brought 

 from Jacksonville by boat. Some sections of the 

 State are well supplied with mills, but they are not 

 frequent on the east coast yet. The Florida yellow 

 pine makes excellent lumber for hives, and for that 



