Floating Apiary. 



Mr. C. O. Perrine has started up the Mis- 

 sissippi River with his Floating Apiary. |i It 

 contains 1000 colonies, and he intends fol- 

 lowing the honey bloom up the Eiver, from 

 lower Louisiana to St. Paul, a distance of 

 2,000 miles, which he expects to reach by 

 the end of July. This he will do by "easy 

 stages," remaining but a day or two at a 

 landing, and move up each time to another 

 landing and a fresh field. He thinks the 

 bees of from 1,000 to 2,000 colonies will take 

 the cream from the country around the 

 landing from 1 to 2 miles distant, in 1 or 2 

 days. Returning, he will halt about two 

 months somewhere above St. Louis, and 

 will reach Louisiana with his bees in Octo- 

 ber. It will be his object to take the 

 autumnal flowers at each point in their 

 prime, precisely as he takes the spring 

 flowers in his advance up the river. He 

 expects his early swarms on his boats to 

 increase his colonies to 2,000 in April and 

 May. The following is a description of the 

 whole outfit : 



The hives stand in four walls, five hives 

 one above the other, nearly the whole length 

 of the boat, about 250 hives in each line. 



The walls of colonies on the right side 

 and left side have openings for the bees to 

 come out on the water-front ; a space of two 

 feet between the hives and the guards 

 answers for a gallery for the bee-man to 

 walk on in front of the hives. 



In the middle of the boat there are two 

 other walls of colonies, 250 hives in each, 

 facing an inner court six feet in width. The 

 bees from these colonies reach the open air 

 through the sky-light opening in the roof 

 above the court. 



Between the first and second rows of hives 

 from tiie outside there is an aisle three feet 

 in width, for the convenience of handling 

 the hives and the honey. 



The distance from the barge deck to the 

 roof over the colonies is fifteen feet. The 

 space below the deck is ten feet in width 

 and about seven feet high, and is to be used 

 for sleeping apartments, making and repair- 

 ing hives, handling and extracting honey, 

 and putting it in marketable shape. The 

 dining-room and cooking will be on the 

 steamer that tows the bee fleet. 



To run the steamer and manage the barges 

 and bees fifteen to twenty hands will be 

 needed. The cost of the whole establish- 

 ment, barges, bees, steamer, and the com- 

 plete outfit, will not be umch short of fifteen 

 thousand dollars. 



J^" We expect an importation of Import- 

 ed Italian Queens about the middle of May. 

 Those desiring any from that shipment 

 should send at once for them. 



It^" By about the 15th of May w^e expect 

 to be able to fill the many orders we now 

 have waiting for Prof. Cook's new Manual 

 of The Apiary. It has gi'eatly overrun the 

 intended dimensions of the work— making 

 about 50 extra pages. It gives very full and 

 explicit descriptions of the honey-producing 

 Plants, Trees and Shrubs, as well as inter- 

 esting details concerning the "Care and 

 management of the Apiary," and the Natural 

 History of the Honey Bee. A specimen 

 page will be found in this issue, containing 

 an engraving of the Tulip tree bloom. The 

 illustrations throughout are magnificent, 

 and the work is the best, as well as the 

 cheapest that has ever yet been published 

 on the Apiary. In consequence of the 

 addition of one-fifth to the number of pages 

 in the work, the price will be increased to 

 $1.00 for it, when bound in paper covers, 

 and $1.25 when bound in cloth with gilded 

 back. 



1^ The Santa Barbara Press has re- 

 vived the old story of a wonderful cave 

 of honey, in the following language, 

 which is now going the rounds of the 

 Press. It appeared in a late Prairie 

 Farmer, without comment, headed "A 

 Monster Bee Hive." Here is the item: 



"In the second canyon west of the 

 Mission creek is a huge rock almost per- 

 pendicular and standing about 150 feet 

 high. The face is marked with three 

 or four deep crevices, tAvo of which stop 

 at about 100 feet from the base. In 

 these crevices bees have swarmed for 

 years and have their nests. This mon- 

 ster hive was discovered some 19 years 

 ago by some Mexicans and has never 

 been disturbed. It is calculated that 

 the rock must contain several tons of 

 honey, but it is almost impossible to get 

 at it. " 



What a pity that so many tons of 

 honey should be " un-come-at-able "! 

 It is a very fine story, but one entirely 

 without foundation. 



Impobted Cyprians.— We learn that C. 

 W. & H. K. Blood have sent a messenger to 

 the Island of Cyprus, who understands ship- 

 ping bees, for the purpose of properly pack- 

 ing and provisioning an importation of small 

 colonies, which tiiey expect to receive at an 

 early day. In order to cover expenses, we 

 are informed that they will have to charge 

 $30 each for them. 



