]!xn 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



-231 



flora are very small and shoal. 

 Tongues would have nothing to do with 

 us. Wing power and carrying' capacity 

 would. Some colonies, of equal 

 strength, will have a difference of one 

 hundred pounds of honey. Why is it? 



He has bought queens; so have I; 

 mine were all poor; his good, only 

 when shipped to him in winter, aftei 

 queens' quit laying. Mr. G. says it is 

 like turning a fresh milch cow out in 

 the woods for a week and expect her 

 to give as much milk as she would have 

 done if milked and taken care of. 



I read about improving your stock. 

 I have got as good queens from poor 

 queens, as I ever have from my best, 

 and I have had queens that would keep 

 three ten-frame bodies full of brood, 

 and bees to store 300 to 400 pounds of 

 honey- When the bees don't gather 

 honey, we all yell, "Poor stock." 

 When conditions are wrong bees will 

 not gather boney, and we will have 

 poor years as long as the world lasts. 

 I don't know why, would like to. Who 

 does know? 



'Next morning Mr. Charley Gifford, 

 wife, sister and the rest of "we" went 

 to the ocean beach, five miles away, two 

 miles by land and three by water. They 

 have an out apiary on an island in the 

 river. W^e stopped and looked through 

 some, and found the strongest doing 

 very good work, in supers. They only 

 worked nights and mornings. 



On our way to the beach I looked 

 into saw palmetto and saw plenty of 

 nectar, it was then 11 o'clock. There 

 were no bees on the bloom though the 

 woods was sweet with the odor. We 

 walked up the beach and back to the 

 river by another trail. I looked for 

 bloom and bees. It was just as it was 

 in the morning. At half past three we 

 were back at the out apiary and the 

 bees had just gone to work. Why 

 didn't they work all day? 



The next day Mr. Gifford took me to 

 an elevated out apiary he has on the 



mangrove marsh, two miles south of 

 his house. We drove, and it was hard 

 pulling through the stiff, wet, marsh 

 clay. 



There was about fifty colonies and 

 they were at work on saw palmetto, 

 but were put there for mangrove, which 

 comes later. There was quite a good 

 body of it. The bees were put up above 

 the ground about 10 feet, to be above 

 the water in gales, and barbed wire was 

 put around them to keep the bear 

 out. 



The same day Mr. Gifford opened 

 hives at home, for me so I might see 

 how they looked inside. He uses Hoff- 

 man frames entirely. I use thick tops 

 below and all wood in super, as I can 

 uncap faster. 



I worked the smoker, and he the 

 hives and frames. I at home work 

 alone, and use very little smoke, and 

 don't kill any bees. Mr. Gifford likes 

 lots of smoke, and, what was more 

 wonderful to me, let me talk just as 

 fast as I wished. That always bothers 

 me- He showed me some of his best 

 queens. They were beauties, and some 

 hives had fifty pounds of honey- 

 After looking at the best, I said: 

 "Mr. Gifford, will you, as a favor to me, 

 for future use, when I get discouraged, 

 show me the poorest one you have?" 

 • I know I am mean for telling this.) 

 He walked to a hive and opened it. I 

 think there were about 100 bees in it. 

 and a small patch of drone brood. 



'He told me the hardest thing he has 

 to contend with is poor queens. He 

 re-queens every year, but out of 300 

 colonies he is bound to have one poor 

 queen, just like myself. 



He has found like myself, that bar- 

 rels are the only thing for us to ship 

 in- Tin costs too much. 



Mr. Gifford showed us his fruit farm. 

 It was splendid, and as I did not have 

 any at home he gave me three bearing 

 trees, but I did not bring them home 

 with me, as our land will not suit them. 



