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THE SOUTH. 



Winterinsr Bees in the Soulli and 

 Stiniuicringr tlieni Nortli. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY JOHN CRAYCBAFT. 



I was greatly pleased with G. M. 

 Doolittle's letter on page 581. It opens 

 another field in the progress of profit- 

 able bee-keeping, both for the North 

 and the South, which is certain to be- 

 come profitable to the bee-keeper in 

 the North and South iu about the fol- 

 lowing manner, as I, at this time, look 

 at it : 



About Sept. 1, put up all the bees in 

 colonies that have not an abundance 

 of honey for wintering safely ; and 

 ship them to the South to some partner 

 in the trade, and he can turn tliem on 

 empty combs, or partly drawn founda- 

 tion, and they will then build up be- 

 fore the fall honey is all gathered 

 along the St. Johns river swamps 

 here, and he could get a full crop of 

 the orange honey in March and April, 

 and such part of May as they might be 

 kept before returning them to the 

 white clover fields of the North. Such 

 a transportation of them could be made 

 with a very small expense. All their 

 winter stores could be saved, or what- 

 ever they may have had, and turn the 

 new j-oung bees from the South on the 

 combs. 



If in September you send to your 

 partner in the South, say 25 or 50 

 queens, and an average of 2 or 3 

 pounds of bees, and have a like amount 

 returned in May, or such time as the 

 season or location permitted, the same 

 cases that they were shipped in would 

 do to return them in again. This 

 seems entirely practical at a glance, as 

 it were. 



First, the wintering problem would 

 be solved, for there would be no feed- 

 ing to carry them through the long, 

 cold winter. 



Second, there would be as many, or 

 more, young and vigorous bees ready 

 for the field when the harvest came 

 next May. 



Third, is the cost. The cages would 

 be the first and greatest cost at the 

 start, but with care they would last 

 through many seasons. If packages 

 weighing as much as four pounds were 

 sent by mail, the postage would be 64 

 cents on each ; but if such packages 

 were put up in lots of 5 or 10, I think 

 that the express company would carry 

 them at a less cost than by mail, and 

 with greater safety. They could be so 

 put up that 2J pounds of bees, cages 

 and feed would not weigh to exceed 5 

 pounds, after they were crated in lots 

 of five or ten, and I think that they 

 would not cost, in expressage, more 



than 25 or 30 cents per cage in such 

 lots. With that amount of bees, there 

 would be but little trouble of their 

 producing a good gathering of honey, 

 if the season was favorable. 



I would put the cost of one cage, 

 with feed, 50 cents ; express charges, 

 both ways, per cage, 80 cents ; cost of 

 their winter care and putting up again 

 in the spring, per cage, $1.00 — making 

 a total of $2.30 ; and this would mean as 

 many bees returned with the same 

 queen if living, and if not, with a 

 young laying queen. 



The expense of $1.00 for their care 

 would not compensate the partner in 

 the South, but he would have the 

 honey that the colony gathered until 

 the 1st or the 20th of May, as the case 

 might be ; and with proper care he 

 would have a colony of young bees, 

 brood and eggs, that would soon rear 

 them a queen, if he had not already a 

 young laying queen, or a cell ready 

 for cutting out. 



I think that sucli*a change could be 

 made profitable to both parties. The 

 one North would have no wintering 

 trouble to go through, a saving of at 

 least 20 pounds of honej% no labor and 

 care, and have as many bees to turn in 

 the old hive as were taken away, and 

 all young and vigorous, and ready for 

 labor. The one at the South could 

 have a new colony of bees left after 

 replacing as many bees as he received, 

 besides all the honey that they may 

 have gathered. But if the mails will 

 carry bees up to as many as would 

 make a 4-pound package, that would 

 certainly be a very great help to the 

 fraternity. 



I have my bees on the St. Johns 

 river, between Lake George and San- 

 ford on Lake Monroe, at St. Francis, a 

 few miles from Deland. I have had 

 my bees on the river for a year, and 

 having studied the flora there tolerably 

 well, I have decided to go into bee- 

 keeping almost exclusively, with my 

 son, who is a thorough, practical bee- 

 keeper for a boy of 17 years ; but we 

 have only asmailapiary of 40 colonies. 

 We did not desire to increase them 

 until we were certain of our loca- 

 tion being a good one, and the honey 

 first-class. 



There is no finer honey than the 

 pure orange-blossom ; and the wild 

 grape-vine honej', along the river 

 swamps, cannot be excelled by any 

 honey that 1 have ever seen. I kept 

 bees iu Indiana, and one season I liad 

 the charge and the management of Dr. 

 N.P.Allen's bees, of Smith's Grove.Ky., 

 in the best white clover fields that I 

 ever saw, and the clover docs not ex- 

 cel the wild-grape. I am satisfied 

 with Florida as a honey-producing 

 State, but tliere are many locations to 

 keep bees that would prove to be com- 



plete failures. I would like to have 

 this sending of queens and bees South 

 to be wintered, and returned in the 

 spring, tested, so that the cost, ex- 

 penses, profits and losses will be estab- 

 lished the coming winter, so if it were 

 found to be practicable and profitable to 

 both parties, we would prepare to re- 

 ceive and care for several hundred 

 colonies next year. 

 Altoona, Fla. 



ZINC EXCLUDERS. 



The U§e of Cell-Cup$ for Qncen- 

 Rearins: — Oolden-Rod. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY JOHN S. KEESE. 



Sevei'al items published recently in 

 the bee-papers in regard to perforated 

 zinc, prompts me to give mj' views. 



First, the perforations must be of 

 such size or width as to exclude all 

 queens and drones, and give free pass- 

 age to all workers. This certainly has 

 been accomplished, judging from my 

 experience with at least one •' make " 

 of zinc, which I duplicated with my 

 foot-power punch. 



The next point to be considered, is 

 getting as many holes | of an inch 

 long in the zinc as possible, and yet 

 retain the necessary strength or rigid- 

 ity ; the object of this being to obtain 

 as little resistance to ventilation 

 through the zinc as possible, therefore 

 the square-cornered hole is a necessity 

 to accomplish the desired end. This 

 is especially desirable when the zinc is 

 to be used in traps and as entrance- 

 guards, so as to give the bees every 

 opportunity of ventilating their hives 

 during warm weather. 



The traps that I use have a strip of 

 this zinc (through which the bees pass 

 in and out), about two inches wide 

 and as long as the full width of my 

 hives — 15| inches ; and the traps can 

 be, and are, frequently left on the 

 hives for weeks at a time, during 

 the hottest days in July and August, 

 with no bad results of any kind. 



Cell-Cups fur Rearing: 4liieens. 



The Doolittle cell-cups have proven 

 very satisfactorj' with me, especially 

 when necessary to remove a cell, in 

 any state of development, from one 

 frame or hive to another. The cups 

 have such a solid base that they can be 

 stuck around anywhere. 



I keep a lot of the cups convenient, 

 and when colls are wanted, the royal 

 jelly is transferred from the surplus 

 cells that have been taken from the 

 hives at difierent times, and laid aside 

 for future use ; the grub or young 

 queen was thrown out. and the end of 



