CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



cess. The man or woman, and the flora, are the 

 main stays of a successful honey crop. 



Our crop of honey this year has not been large, 

 but we are well pleased that it was as good as it is. 

 The quality is of the very best. We commenced 

 the season with 20 colonies, only in fair condition; 

 made no increase, and have taken 2000 lbs., all ex- 

 tracted, qunlity excellent. It was sold by the gal- 

 lon at $1.25, all at home, except 20 gallons to A. I. 

 Root, and 40 to Dr. L. H. Harris, Pittsburg, Pa. 



Our bees are located at St. Francis, on the St. 

 John's River, 10 miles from Deland. The honey 

 gathered there can not be excelled in the State, and 

 I very much doubt whether it could be in any oth- 

 er State. 



I see that Mr. C. E. Jones says he is going to 

 move 200 colonies to Florida for the orange-blos- 

 som honey. I hope he will come. The orange hon- 

 ey is very fine, and the bees are a great help to the 

 setting-on of the fruit, carrying the pollen into the 

 bloom as soon as it opens, thereby causing a more 

 complete fertilization than would be without their 

 aid, when the bloom first opens, when all its nature 

 is complete. I can not well dismiss this subject 

 of the honey-bee being a great help to the orange- 

 groves. They carry the pollen into thousands of 

 flowers that are pendent, that would perhaps nev- 

 er be reached by any other source, or, if so, only by 

 the floating particles. More than this, my atten- 

 tion has been called to some of the groves in this 

 vicinity; and where there were bees kept, this sea- 

 son the orange crop is very fair, fruit evenly dis- 

 tributed, while other groves, not having any bees 

 near them, are not so full of fruit, and not so even- 

 ly distributed; and I think the day is not far distant 

 when the large grove-owners will solicit bee-keep- 

 ers to bring their bees within reach of their groves, 

 thereby benefiting both parties. 



1 see, friend Root, you have been up among the 

 northern bee-keepers. Could you not make a visit 

 to Florida this winter, and call and see us? I think 

 you would enjoy it, and also in the trip call on 

 friend Poppleton over in Cuba. Do come— our latch- 

 string hangs outside the door. 



John Craycraft. 



Altoona, Fla., Aug. 24, 1889. 



A REFERENCE TO QUESTION 111. 



GENTLE BEES, BETTER WORKERS, AND SMALLER 



CONSUMERS. 



'HICH will make the better working colonies 

 during the working season— that is. secure 

 the most honey— those that require 20 to 25 

 pounds to carry them through, or those 

 that will get along on from 5 to 10 pounds 

 while in winter quarters? 



The various answers to this question, and your 

 remarks, set me to looking back for several years, 

 and thinking up concerning various strains that I 

 have had for the past 13 year6. That there is 60 

 much difference in different strains concerning the 

 amount of stores consumed between November 1 

 and April 1, I can trace back to 1876, on a queen 

 that came from C. C. Vaughn, whose stock was al- 

 ways strong, as were also those of her daughters 

 and granddaughters. From the time of the end of 

 the fall harvest to the time of pollen and honey 

 in the spring, it was a rare case to see the workers 

 fly out much; and for 7 or 8 years that I kept this 



strain as near pure as possible, it was very notice- 

 able what a small amount of stores was consumed, 

 and it was also noticeable to the same extent where 

 this blood was intermingled with some other 

 strains 



Between 1876 and 1882 I obtained new queens 

 from 15 different strains; and among them were 

 several that were noticeable for their extreme 

 activity, as were those referred to from C. C. 

 Vaughn, and two other places, for their extreme 

 quietness. Those that were s<~> active consumed 

 pro rata as much more stores as the quiet ones did 

 in minima. These quiet strains always came out 

 strong in the spring, were always in readiness for 

 the harvest, were gentle to handle, were good to go 

 to work in the boxes, and did a good business at 

 boxing; and just the reverse were the results from 

 those that were active, and consumed a large 

 amount of stores from November 1 till April 1. 

 These various differences were noticed by other 

 parties in this locality for 12 or 15 miles in all direc- 

 tions, and by those wintering in the cellar, in 

 clamps, or on the summer stands; and as those 

 that were quiet built up strong and fast in the 

 spring, just as noticeable was the spring dwindling 

 of those that had been active; and the active ones 

 were, in the same proportion, irritable, and prone 

 to sting. These qualities were so apparent, that 

 several of the bee-keepers I know of made it a 

 point to keep weeding out the active propensities 

 as fast as possible. The active ones were more in- 

 clined to swarm, and were quite often very much 

 given to not freely taking a new queen, and to very 

 often ball their queens whenever the stocks were 

 examined. The workers of these active stocks 

 were generally among the brightest-colored of the 

 apiary, and the quietest were among the dull and 

 darker colored ones, and were quite often called, 

 by those that were not experienced, the " hybrids." 



These quiet ones, when started to breeding in the 

 spring, usually consumed stores enough to make 

 up for their lack when in winter quarters, and not 

 uncommonly surpassed the amount used by the 

 active strains; so you see that the experiences of 

 the past 13 years here in Connecticut are in accord 

 with Mr. Doolittle's, and why should they not be? 

 because bees at several of the apiaries contained 

 blood of his strain, and from the Dadants' too. and 

 from stock from imported queens from A. I. Root, 

 and from queens from the Oatmans, Alley, and 

 Nellis. That there is a vast difference in regard to 

 the uneasiness, activity, and amount of stores con- 

 sumed, seems to be qualities possessed by various 

 strains or families of bees; and that these propen- 

 sities are perpetuable characteristics, are things 

 that I am not the only one who is convinced that we 

 must guard against. There are apiarists within a 

 few miles of me who think as much of keeping a 

 record and pedigree of their bees as any Jersey, 

 Durham, Devon, or Holstein breeder does of his 

 cows; and by these memoranda for from 10 to 20 

 years they have arrived at the conclusion that blood 

 will tell in the bees as much as anywhere else in 

 the animate kingdom; and yet one will preach out, 

 " It's pollen;" another will preach, "It's poor hon- 

 ey;" another, thatit's the weather. Why, Mr. Root, 

 I know where there is a bee-keeper— yes, several of 

 them— who will tell you, and prove it by practice, 

 that it is an absolute necessity for the bees to have 

 lots of pollen that they may winter well, and they 

 have followed the practice ever since 1877, and they 



