874 



brood inspectors, both European and Amer- 

 ican foul brood have been brought largely 

 under control. The inroads of these dis- 

 eases have eliminated to a great extent the 

 farmer who kept a few skeps of black bees ; 

 but the large producers — that is, those who 

 make beekeeping a business and the small 

 beekeepers who are keeping up with the 

 times — are as much in evidence as ever. 



We found a large and enthusiastic con- 

 vention at Rochester, Dec. 2 and 3. In 

 point of attendance it probably surpassed 

 any similar meeting this year in the United 

 States. The discussions were pi'aetical, in- 

 teresting, and lively. In our next issue we 

 hope to give a brief digest of the proceed- 

 ings. 



THAT CARLOAD OF BEES SHIPPED TO FLORIDA ; 

 HOW^ THEY ARE PROGRESSING. 



The latest advices from our apiarist, Mr. 

 J. E. Marchant, at Apalachicola, showed 

 that the bees were doing finely. The weather 

 has been extremely mild, and the bees have 

 been gathering natural pollen, and are rear- 

 ing brood at a rapid rate. No honey is 

 coming in, however; but we are feeding to 

 keep the bees on the boom. Mr. Marchant 

 appears to be very enthusiastic about the 

 way things are moving, for he is very anx- 

 ious to have the project prove out a suc- 

 cess. A further examination showed that 

 three colonies were dead, and 25 weak. The 

 rest, however, are in good condition, making 

 in all 273 fair colonies on arrival, and 25 

 weak ones. 



But one must not imagine that traveling 

 down south with a carload of bees in a fruit- 

 car is like traveling in a Pullman. It is far 

 from that. Mr. Marchant Avrites that he 

 secured but little sleep ; in fact, he had to 

 be up with the bees almost night and day. 

 In the midst of the trip some of the staging 

 broke down, and he had to stop and take 

 out over a hundred hives, make repairs, and 

 load the bees on again. The extremely 

 warm weather during which the bees wore 

 moving made his trip a peculiarly hard 

 one ; but, as we said in our last issue, all is 

 well that ends well. 



If our bees continue to gather natui-al 

 pollen, there will be no doubt as to onr 

 ability to make a fine increase, and that is 

 what we are after. If we get a crop of 

 honey in addition, from tupelo, we shall 

 consider ourselves as so much ahead. 



A gi'eat deal of interest has been aroused 

 among the beekeeping fraternity, and they 

 are watching this experiment with not a 

 little interest. In the mean time, the bees 

 up north are breeding finely — so much so 

 that there will be danger of starvation un- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



less the beekeeper himself keeps close tab 

 on his stores. 



don't let YOUR BEES STARVE; OUR HARD- 

 CANDY FEEDING DURING MIDVFINTER. 



Our Mr. Mel Pritchard, the man who 

 raised over 3000 queens last season, is win- 

 tering some colonies outdoors on dry combs 

 with a little pollen with no other stores than 

 slabs of hard candy. Brood-rearing is going 

 on at a rapid pace with these colonies. 

 There will be no danger of starvation, be- 

 cause it is very easy to determine whether 

 the bees have sufficient stores by lifting the 

 packing over the brood-nest. One advan- 

 tage of the candy is that it is a concentrated 

 food, and that it can be so easily renewed. 

 But its chief advantage lies in the fact that 

 the bees are directly under their food sup- 

 ply, and can not starve. In case of combs 

 filled with stores, the bees are liable to eat 

 away a space, leaving themselves an inch 

 or two away from the main supply, and 

 during a cold snap will starve. This can 

 not take place with candy. A full set of 

 jjhotos and further particulars will be given 

 later. 



But, to return to the Florida bees. Mr. 

 Marchant has taken a number of fine snap 

 shots, and is preparing to write up his ex- 

 periments for Gleanings. 



E. R. Root expects to visit the Apalachi- 

 cola section about the last of January. H. 

 H. Root, after E. R. returns, will then go 

 down and assist in extracting during March 

 or April. 



Later. — Another blizzard of snow has hit 

 us again. Our men are out with team and 

 sled to bring two of our outyards of bees 

 in that we did not take down to Florida. 

 Snow closes the entrances while the bees arc 

 being hauled. On arrival they will be load- 

 ed in our bee-cellar under the big ware- 

 house. 



THE GRAND OLD MAN OP BEEDOM ; HIS RECORD- 

 BREAKING YIELD OP COMB HONEY. 



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

 nearer being the " Grand Old Man of Bee- 

 dom " than perhaps any other one we could 

 rame. There are other men in the ranks 

 who are as old as he (82 years young), but 

 none who have kept continuously at the 

 l^roduction of honey for over fifty years. 

 To cap the climax of his useful career he 

 secured a crop of comb honey this year 

 which for a general average per colony is a 

 record-breaker. See his report in this issue 

 nf Straws. If there is any other man in the 

 United States or Canada who has secured an 

 average of 266 lbs. of comb honey from as 



