AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



481 



I could nOt regulate the seasons, and as 

 I very much disliked to give up a pur- 

 suit that I was becoming very much In- 

 terested in, I concluded to look for a 

 bee that would not be so easily discour- 

 aged and discomfitted as the German 

 bee; one that would brave some adver- 

 sity, and work right on under discour- 

 agements, as long as there was anything 

 to do, making the best of unfavorable 

 seasons. 



After learning what I could from bees, 

 papers and books, of the comparative 

 value of the various races and species 

 of bees in this country, I found no diffi- 

 culty in choosing the Italian. By cross- 

 breeding during the past two years, I 

 now have bees that for size, energy, 

 gentleness and beauty ought to satisfy 

 the most exacting. I shall rear my 

 queens by the Doolittle method, and 

 Italianize the apiaries in this section as 

 far as possible. 



We have excellent bee-pasturage in 

 this part of the State, and with better 

 bees, better methods, and improved bee- 

 keepers, the production of honey ought 

 to be a successful and paying business. 

 We want live bee-papers like the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal circulated among 

 bee-keepers, to let in the light and beget 

 interest and pride in their calling. 



Wyalusing, Pa. 



Bee-Keeplni in Florlla. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



I recently visited two apiaries located 

 on St. Andrew's Bay, and both are man- 

 aged on the "let-alone" principle — you 

 let me alone and I will you. I never saw 

 bees drop down heavier, or carry larger 

 loads of pollen than do these. Almost 

 every place has its plum-trees or 

 thickets, which are now blooming, and 

 the bees are "making hay while the sun 

 shines." I am told by residents here 

 that these plum-trees are of the Chicka- 

 saw or Cherokee variety, but the bloom 

 is much smaller than I have seen on 

 those trees at the North, and the leaves 

 have not yet appeared, but the trees are 

 white with bloom. 



Bees are also working upon peach 

 blossoms, which are quite large, and the 

 trees very full. The peen-tos have been 

 blooming since October, and have 

 peaches larger than peas. There is also 

 another variety, known as the "Angel," 

 which blossomed in January. 



The hives in these apiaries had mov- 

 able frames, but they are never moved, 



and if they are queenless, they say the 

 moths killed them. Hives that contain 

 comb, but no bees, are allowed to stand 

 around and breed moths, in lieu of melt- 

 ing the comb into wax. These apiaries 

 that I visited do not belong to natives of 

 Florida, called " Crackers," but to per- 

 sons who came from the Eastern States. 



The surplus honey is secured in large 

 frames in the upper story, and when 

 they are filled it is cut out, and if any is 

 taken to market, tin cans which have 

 done duty in bringing lard from the 

 North are utilized. 



The market demand for honey is very 

 small, yet there is not enough produced 

 to supply it, while flowers are wasting 

 their sweetness for lack of bees to 

 gather it. 



It matters not where bees are kept, 

 whether in cold or warm climate, if they 

 are of any profit to their owner, they 

 must have intelligent care. A lady here 

 said to the writer that she once kept 

 bees, but the toads and the worms ate 

 them all up. I opine that she was more 

 to blame herself than the toads and 

 worms. ' , 



An intelligent boy who lives in the 

 pine woods, said to me a few days since : 

 " The bee-martins are catching our bees. 

 They sit on the limb of a peach tree, and 

 when the bees come to gather honey 

 from the blossoms, pick them up, and I 

 am shooting them." This boy has the 

 attributes that constitute a bee-keeper's 

 care and watchfulness, and he will never 

 blame the toads and worms for destroy- 

 ing his colonies. 



I knew of a bee-keeper at the North 

 who lost many colonies of bees during 

 the very cold Winters, and brooded over 

 his losses greatly, and finally arrived at 

 the conclusion that if he could only 

 move his bees to a place where they 

 would not freeze to death, his troubles 

 would be at an end. With this in view 

 he shipped his bees to Southern Florida, 

 and in writing back said that he had to 

 put them on a raft, wade in the water, 

 and swim some of the way, to get them 

 to their destination. "But I do not 

 mind the hard work and trouble I have 

 had, for now I am in Florida," he said. 



But his rejoicing was of short dura- 

 tion, for he had located in a malarious 

 district. His wife sickened and died, 

 and with his little ones around him, in 

 the woods far from sympathizing friends, 

 he found that his greatest trouble was 

 not that of bees freezing to death. Then 

 he advertised his bees for sale. 



In this warm climate bees have diffi- 

 culties to encounter as well as at the 

 North. A few days since I noticed some 



