778 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The season's achievement, both of 

 honey and increase, figures thus for 

 eacli of the 33 colonies : Ninety-six 

 pounds of honey and 2 1-16 swarms; 

 this represents a cash value of $19.77, 

 figuring the honey at 12 cents per 

 pound, and $1 for each swarm. 



We have also several hundred 

 pounds of honey stored away in 

 brood-corabs, which were taken in the 

 course of the season i we keep them 

 for feeding purposes in case of neces- 

 sity, and do not add them to the crop. 



Naples.KD N. Y. 



Florida Times-Union. 



Bee-Keeping in Florida. 



W. S. IIAUT. 



Florida, though possessing within 

 her borders all the requisites for suc- 

 cessful beekeeping, is in that, as in 

 manv other branches of industry, one 

 of the last States of the Union to have 

 her wonderful resources developed by 

 the magic wand of skilled labor. Not 

 until within the last four or live years 

 has her honey been known iu the 

 markets of the North. 



To those who know Florida as the 

 " Land of Flowers," of sunshine, of 

 snowless winters, the home of the 

 lioney-bee, where no diseases of any 

 kindhave ever been known to effect 

 them, it seems strange that skilled 

 apiarists should not have been at- 

 tracted to her pleasant shores rather 

 than trust their fortunes in Ohio, 

 New York, JNIichigan or Canada, 

 where many a fine apiary is nearly or 

 quite destroyed, and tlie hopes of its 

 owner blasted, by the cold and its 

 after effects, each season. How often 

 does the evening's mail bring to the 

 writer the sad story of the Northern 

 bee keeper, telling of the loss of 20, 50 

 or 1(10 per cent, of his bees by " freez- 

 ing out," starving out at a time when 

 they could not be fed, " spring dwind- 

 ling," or diarrhea, and expressing the 

 hope that he might soon migrate to 

 this favored State where none of these 

 troubles are known. 



It may be supposed by some, as a 

 possible reason for this slow develop- 

 ment here, that perluips our honey is 

 of i)oor quality, small in quantity or 

 uncei tain in its How, or that the bees, 

 learning that they can get enough to 

 eat at almost any tinie, get lazy and 

 will not store much surplus; neither 

 of which surmises is true, as can be 

 shown by the experience of the writer 

 who, eight years ago, took home two 

 colonies of bees, since which time he 

 has Increased his apiary to 148 colo- 

 nies, and never until this season got 

 an annual average of less than 130 

 pounds of extracted honey per colony. 

 The present season has so far given 

 a yield of about 100 pounds per colony, 

 and an increase to the present number 

 from 117. spring count. The season 

 of 1884 1 started with 88 colonies, 

 increased to 117, and took a little over 

 23,000 pounds, or 11^^ tons of honey, 

 being an average of 2-'A pounds of 

 extracted honey, by actual weight, 

 per colony. 



My bees have had close attention, 

 and have done better than the aver- 



age, but I feel sure that there are 

 many locations in the State where 

 much larger crops can be obtained 

 with the same amount of care. So 

 much then forquantity,lazy bees, and 

 the reliability of the crop. 



As to the quality of our honey : I 

 could give the highest testimonials 

 from a great number of the leading 

 bee-keepers and honev -dealers of the 

 United States and o"ther countries. 

 The honey from the cabbage pal- 

 metto, and the black mangrove blos- 

 soms, constitutes the bulk of our 

 surplus crop. The latter is a semi- 

 tropical tree, and does not grow to 

 any extent above the 29th parallel. 

 It "is the best honey-producer known 

 to the writer, as its flow of honey is 

 always large, the color tine, and the 

 flavor delicious. It grows along the 

 coast of Southern Florida, where its 

 roots are covered at high tide by salt 

 water, which prevents its being 

 effected by drouth. 



In the counties of Dade, Monroe 

 and Manatee, the tine crop from the 

 mangrove is supplemented by one, 

 which, I am told by reliable parties, 

 is almost equally tine and abundant, 

 that is gathered' from the wild penny- 

 royal throughout the winter months. 

 The abundance of these two honey- 

 producers in the before-named coun- 

 ties, gives them, in the opinion of the 

 writer, who has a very large corres- 

 pondence with bee-keepers all over 

 this and other countries, some of the 

 finest locations for honey-production 

 in North America. 



Of course there are drawbacks here 

 as elsewhere. An excess of annoying 

 insects, which are always found in 

 the best honey sections, and the lack 

 of transportation being the principal 

 ones. But insects gradually disap- 

 pear as the country becomes settled, 

 and as the best locations are close by 

 salt water, all products are easily and 

 cheaply transported to the nearest 

 shipping-point, in one's own boat or 

 lighter. The interior is more free 

 from insects, but the honey-flow is 

 not so abundant, or certain, and the 

 quality not so line. 



One of the peculiarities of bee-keep- 

 ing in this section is the fact that the 

 bees commence swarming in February 

 or Marcli, and have the .iob done up 

 in season to build up strong again for 

 the main honey- flow, so that a large 

 increase of bees, instead of reducing 

 the honey crop for the season, largely 

 augments it. As an example, show- 

 ing that a large increase is not incon- 

 sistent with a fair crop of honey, Mr. 

 F. B. Sackett, of Indian River, in 

 1883, began the season withli colonies, 

 increased them to 62 colonies, and by 

 Aug. 1 took 1,234 pounds of honey, 

 leaving the bees plenty for winter 

 stores. 



The writer is not well posted as to 

 the advantages of the northwest por- 

 tion of the State for bee-keeping. 

 Messrs. Alderman & Roberts, of 

 Wewahitchka, in Calhoun county, 

 who probably liave the largest apiary 

 in the State, report good crops of 

 honey and liberal increase. They also 

 state that their honey is of good 

 quality. 

 Hawk's Park, ©Fla. 



F*or tbe American Bee JommaL 



A Woman's View of Bee-Keeping. 



DB. W. G. PHELPS. 



The following is an amusing letter 

 sent to me in answer to a call for 

 " experiences in bee-keeping for the 

 year 1884." It may interest some of 

 the readers of the Bee Journal : 



" Lancaster, <x Pa. 



My husband has 28 colonies of bees 

 in fine order, which he is wintering 

 on the summer stands packed in 

 cliaff. He has a honey-house where 

 he theoretically does his work, but 

 practically my kitchen is his work- 

 room. I am disgusted with the whole 

 business. In tlie fall when comfort- 

 ably seated for a quiet afternoon's 

 sewing, machine in splendid order, 

 in po|)s the 'Liege Lord' with a beam- 

 ing countenance and the pleasing re- 

 quest to sew or allow him to sew 

 some of his chaff' cushions. Oh, what 

 a muss I needle broken, machine 

 dirty and carpet littered. No nice, 

 quiet time after all. In the spring 

 when busy with house-cleaning on 

 one of our beautiful balmy days. In 

 he rushes with, 'My dear, please come 

 and assist me to get my sections in 

 order.' When asked to postpone it a 

 day, he replies, ' Oh, I can't, I shall 

 lose hundreds of pounds of .delicious 

 honey by the delay.' Again it is the 

 wax-extractor (or distractor) on the 

 back of the kitchen stove on wash 

 and ironing days. Wax, wax, wax, 

 until I ' wax wrothy ' and declare 

 war. 



" When the hot, sultry days of 

 July come, and perhaps I have gone 

 to my room for a few moments rest 

 to get cool after the heat of preparing 

 the dinner, I am met with the pleas- 

 ing intelligence that, 'Guess we will 

 extract honey this afternoon.' Then 

 my trouble begins in earnest. Honey 

 daubed from head to foot, bees crawl- 

 ing over everything, and myself 

 almost stifled, until we are compelled 

 to stop, perhaps on account of robber 

 bees. 



" So it goes on from day to day for 

 perhaps ten of them. In an ufllucky 

 hour, in going from kitchen to apiary, 

 an angry bee ' pops ' me between the 

 eyes. Then I have a respite for a few 

 days, or until the swelling has abated 

 sufficiently for me to see. ]?ut holy 

 horrors ! what do I see then V Why, 

 honey in cellar, pantry, closets, and 

 even the front hall— pans, pails, jars, 

 kettles, evervthing full. When asked 

 what this means, he blandly replies, 

 ' Honey barrel sprang a leak.' 



" Lastly comes the sectioiis of comb 

 honey tobe cleaned of propolis, to be 

 lal)eled, jais to be tilled, and so on 

 until I am obliged to go to house- 

 cleaning again to get rid of the muss. 

 If there is a woman aching for any 

 extra household labor, let her insist 

 upon her husband's keeping bees. 



Catharine Foulk." 



" P.S.— Perhaps after all it is proper 

 to add that I do find the extra change 

 that my 'hubby' realizes from his 

 honey crop (quite a sum by the way), 

 sweetens the bitterness of my lot, 

 particularly when he comes back 



