THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



185 



riod, and the ancient dodo of ceno- 

 zoic time. 



The most careful management 

 and application of modern science 

 are necessary to carry them through 

 from fall until warm weather and 

 flowers again appear, as proven year 

 after year by those who make bee- 

 keeping an exclusive study and busi- 

 ness. The yield of honey from 

 maple, willows and all early blossoms 

 was very profuse. The bees worked 

 finely when the weather was warm, 

 which has been seldom the case dur- 

 ing the past month. In Herkimer 

 county the small apiarists have been 

 unsuccessful in wintering their bees, 

 and what have survived will be in 

 poor condition for the clover and 

 linden bloom later. 



Our yard, wintered in Herkimer 

 county, commenced the month of 

 May with just bees enough to keep 

 brooding nicely, and as all the colo- 

 nies had young, vigorous queens, 

 they soon commenced gaining in 

 numbers, although too reduced to 

 gather much surplus honey. The 

 first week of May was cold, but was 

 followed by a warm spell of a few 

 days ; then cold and desolate the 

 rest of the month. The reader who 

 is interested in the Florida enter- 

 prise will note the condition of the 

 bees of New York, and compare 

 the result with that of those brought 

 from Florida, and put in the same 

 yard. 



During the summer and fall of 

 1883-84, the idea was first presented 

 to me to take bees to South Florida 

 to winter, and increase them exten- 

 sively, so as to have no loss in win- 

 tering, and have all strong with young 

 vigorous bees to take advantage of 

 our numerous spring flowers. After 

 corresponding extensively with the 

 permanent beekeepers of the south, 

 information in regard to swarming 

 in March, and the abundant bloom 

 during the month, made it a point 

 worthy of investigation, so, taking 

 one colony and sailing from New 

 16 



York, December ist, we confined 

 our attention most minutely to all 

 things pertaining to successful move- 

 ing en route between New York and 

 Florida. Our investigations led us 

 to believe that it was worthy of a 

 trial on a larger scale. 



As before stated, in Jan. No. "Api" 

 we took sixty colonies and started 

 Nov. 10 from New York state and 

 arrived at Sanford in good condition. 



Here is where our experiment 

 commences. Every step to be 

 taken was a step in the dark not 

 knowing the extent of southern 

 bloom in swamps, temperature, etc. 



During the month of December it 

 was hot and sultry. The bees car- 

 ried pollen and juice from the orange, 

 but not much honey. Robbing was 

 going on every day if any honey or 

 combs were left exposed. The 

 queens, however, started brood in 

 two and three combs, and everything 

 promised finely. By looking at the 

 temperature given heretofore, you 

 will observe that the months of Jan- 

 uary and February were decidedly 

 cold, averaging for the two months 

 only 55° and 54° with a variation of 

 58° in seven hours. Now, my ideas 

 of keeping bees south was to keep 

 them cool, so I made one great mis- 

 take by leaving the top of frames 

 exposed, with nothing but a thin 

 cover, one inch from the frames, 

 and the result was disastrous. While 

 aware they were too cold, I kept 

 neglecting it daily, expecting warm 

 weather again, so the month of Jan- 

 uary passed and the bees had been 

 consuming the stores given them 

 upon their arrival and became much 

 reduced in strength. 



During February there was no im- 

 provement in temperature, and a very 

 poor month ; for, with the scarcity of 

 bloom and dampness, none but those 

 under favorable circumstances im- 

 proved during the month. During 

 March they improved rapidly and 

 many that belonged in the south 

 swarmed. But mine did not com- 



