358 



honey in May, but the mosquito hawks 

 came in legions and kept the workers 

 killed off, so that they hardly got honey 

 enough to live on. I had strong colo- 

 nies May 1st that had not a tablespoon- 

 f ul of honey in their hives. I have had 

 only 20 swarms from 50 colonies. I 

 have a neighbor who had 40 old colonies 

 who only got 3 swarms. 



Bees have been gathering honey quite 

 freely, since the middle of May, from 

 the bay and low palmetto bloom. The 

 prospect for the cabbage palmetto bloom 

 is good. 



I have had a great deal of trouble 

 losing my young queens on their flight 

 to mate. I have lost at least 40 per 

 cent, in that way this spring. The for- 

 age has been so poor that my bees have 

 been very cross, so that it has been 

 very difficult to introduce young queens 

 after they became fertile and com- 

 menced to lay. 



I have introduced successfully this 

 spring by putting the queen in a cage 

 and sitting the cage on the alighting 

 board, near the entrance to a queenless 

 colony, and when there is quite a num- 

 ber of bees on the cage that are trying 

 to feed her, let her out and she will go 

 in attended by those that were friendly 

 to her, and all will be right. I believe 

 I have lost as few by that method as 

 any I have tried. I use a cage in which 

 there is honey out of reach of bees on 

 the outside, so that she can feed her- 

 self. They sometimes refuse to have 

 anything to do with her, except to try 

 to get hold of a leg or wing and pull 

 them off. 



The mosquito hawks have been very 

 bad this season. They do not eat the 

 bees, but catch the worker as it is re- 

 turning with its load of honey, tear its 

 honey sac open, eat the drop of honey, 

 then drop it and go for another. I sat 

 near the entrance of a hive, which was 

 near a bush, one evening and saw a 

 mosquito hawk catch and kill 15 work- 

 ers. He flew to the same place to kill 

 them all. I picked up the dead bees 

 under the limb he sat on. 



I have just finished a house, 12x24, 8 

 ft. wall, in which I have room for 52 

 colonies. There is a distance of- 3% ft. 

 between entrances ; is lighted by sky- 

 lights ; hives sit on shelves so they can 

 be moved the same as any other stands. 

 The cost of house ready for bees was 

 $53.64.. I can handle them without be- 

 ing troubled with robbers. I shall take, 

 all the honey from those in the house 

 with the extractor. 



Is there any prospect of our having 

 the privilege of sending queens in the 

 mail again ? I live 80 miles from an 

 express office, which makes it very in- 



convenient to send queens, unless in 

 large numbers. 



There is quite an interest growing up 

 in this vicinity in apiculture, and a few 

 are using modern appliances and some 

 are trying Italians. The moth is very 

 troublesome among the black bees, but 

 do not trouble my Italians or hybrids. 



Daytona, Fla., June 16, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wired Comb Foundation. 



C. W. & A. H. K. BLOOD. 



We are having excellent success in 

 using foundation in wired frames. Not 

 only is all sagging avoided, but the 

 combs do not bulge or wave. After 

 our frames are wired, we place the 

 foundation on the wires and set the 

 frames in the sun until the foundation 

 softens sufficiently to allow the wires to 

 be imbeded, when a little pressure is ap- 

 plied above with a roller. There is no 

 necessity of fastening the foundation 

 to the top bar ; if it comes close to it 

 the bees will fasten it before drawing 

 out the cells. We use tinned wire ]S"o. 

 34 or 36, and have the wires from 1 to 

 1% inches apart. As no cells are de- 

 stroyed by the wires, we do not think 

 this distance places them too close, and 

 it allows the comb little or no chance 

 to bulge. 



Comb foundation is now used by all 

 progressive bee-keepers. Even those 

 who predicted its failure and foretold 

 dire calamities from its use, are quietly 

 falling into line, and acknowledge it a 

 great invention and a common blessing. 

 But the man who uses foundation with- 

 out wire fails to reap one-half of the be- 

 nefit to be derived from its use. Frames 

 may be nailed and wired during stormy 

 weather, and exposed to the sun and the 

 foundation inserted any warm clear day. 

 They may then be packed away with 

 little fear of the moth, and are ready 

 for use any time during the season. We 

 wired over 100 frames early in May, and 

 they have been drawn out and some of 

 them have had two sets of brood. In 

 many cases eggs are laid directly on 

 the wires, yet we have never seen a 

 single larva die on account of the wire. 

 After the first bee has emerged from 

 the cell the wire is covered with the 

 chrysalis skin. 



After testing these wired frames, we 

 should be unwilling to pay over one- 

 half price for natural combs ! The combs 

 are straight, there are no drone cells and 

 bees can be shipped without danger of 

 combs breaking down. For wired frames 

 we use foundation with the natural 



