1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



843 



laying queen, six cocoons (in ihe proper part of 

 the hive, of course), and four of them were ac- 

 cepted and finished. Perhaps all of them 

 would have been accepted had I cut out a piece 

 of comb, a la Willie Atchley (1893, p. (JOO); but 

 hating to mutilate a fine brood-comb I pared 

 down a square inch or over of cells on the comb, 

 and, when I pulled the cocoons out with those 

 tweezers I bought of you, the rims were too 

 high. So I had afterward to cut and fix the 

 single cocoons as well as I could; but there- 

 suit was not very satisfactory, the rims being 

 more or less uneven; and some of them, no 

 doubt, too high. Had I practiced this cutting 

 a little before, I should havfi done better, of 

 course; and Mrs. Atchley, indeed, writes to me 

 that it is not necessary to cut out pieces of 

 comb. Mr. Low says that, in his opinion, the 

 shape and size of the cell-cup stick is quite im- 

 portant. Well, after I had made the above 

 trial I sent Willie what I thought it was worth, 

 and in return he forwarded me a stick of his 

 own make. So for next season's trial I am in 

 possession of the stick. 



Willie, in Gleanings of 1893, as well as Mrs. 

 Atchley in an article in the American Bee 

 Journal, says that, on an average, two-thirds 

 of their cells are accepted. In a letter to Mrs. 

 Atchley I remarked that Mr. Doolittle's aver- 

 ages were higher, and that perhaps Willie's 

 way of leaving a colony queenlessand broodless 

 only " till the bees mourn," instead of, like Mr. 

 Doolittle. having them queenless for three full 

 days (72 hours), had something to do with it. 

 In her answer, Mrs. Atchley says that it is bet- 

 ter, indeed, to wait three days. I see now that 

 Willie, on page 730 of Gleanings, recommends 

 having the colony queenless and broodless for 

 48 hours — a day, or a day and a half longer than 

 he formerly advised, but a day less than Mr. 

 Doolittle, Mrs. Atchley, and others think to be 

 best. Charles Norman. 



St. Petersburg, Fla., Sept. 24. 



SOMETHING OF INTEREST TO HEALTH-SEEKERS; 

 FLORIDA'S HONEY RESOURCES. 



In Gleanings for June 15, 1893, in the de- 

 partment of Wants, a subscriber from Gehm, 

 Mo., wishes information as to the whereabouts 

 of a climate with effects beneficial to throat 

 and lung ailments; also to obtain employment 

 in said climate. I will answer all inquiries 

 with the greatest of pleasure. Wife, daughter, 

 and I came here ten years ago on account of 

 our health. My wife and daughter have not 

 seen a sick day, and we have had no reason to 

 call a doctor. 



During the four years when the army ofllcers 

 watched the thermometer on the east coast of 

 Florida, the highest point reached was 9.5, the 

 lowest 35. The weather here in winter is de- 

 lightful — about like our Indian summers in the 

 ]North. We tried to keep a few bees when we 



lived in Massachusetts ; but what were not 

 killed outright by the cold winters came out 

 looking as though they had been soaked in a 

 swill-barrel all winter. When we started for 

 Florida we had just one colony left. We 

 brought it with us. Last spring we had 95, 

 spring count. We have taken out this season 

 31.500 lbs. of very fine honey, and increased to 

 150 colonies. The bees are flying almost every 

 day in the year. E. A. Marsh. 



Oak Hill, Fla., Sept. 35. 



PROF. COOK AND THE FRUIT-MEN. 



Please find inclosed a few clippings from the 

 Los Angeles Times. It is very interesting to 

 know with what interest Prof. Cook is coping 

 with apicultural work; yet the reporter says 

 this paper aroused a deep interest, and a gener- 

 al discussion followed. While all acknowledg- 

 ed bees an important factor in cross-polleniza- 

 tion, an argument was raised against them, as 

 they are known to be destructive to ripe fruit, 

 notably the pear, apricot, and grapes, frequent- 

 ly destroying whole crops. The assertion is 

 emphatically a mistake— yes, it's that old-time 

 mistake which is still limping about like a 

 crippled hopper. I am not entirely ignorant of 

 the fact that a few would still have bee-men 

 understand that bees do puncture grapes, cut 

 holes through bee-hives, enlarge their en- 

 trances, and that they are capable of perform- 

 ing a great variety of other tricks. Bees do 

 not destroy ripe fruit, unless some fruit-men 

 are too careless or slothful in business; conse- 

 quently the responsibility is thrown upon the 

 shoulders of bee-keepers. Nor do the bees mo- 

 lest the fruit unless the fruit is overripe, cut 

 into, and mutilated by our fruit-destroying 

 birds, the linnets, wasps, yellow-jackets, etc. 

 The linnets are certainly very annoying, and 

 destructive to our apricots, figs, etc., and I have 

 found them very destructive to our late crops 

 of raisins. Why not petition the State to offer 

 a bounty on the linnets, and give the boys 

 something to do ? Albert Unterkircher. 



Redlands, Cal., May 15. 



[The foregoing, as will be seen by the date, 

 was overlooked. Having now come across it I 

 take pleasure in presenting it, even at this late 

 date, for the valuable facts it gives.— Ed. J 



BEES HAA^E done FINELY. 



Bees have done finely; 1400 lbs. from 26 colo- 

 nies, spring count; 16 new swarms, good for 

 winter. So far as heard from, it has been thus 

 all over Delaware Co. Some hives have 80 lbs. 



Groton, N. Y., Oct. 3. K. M. Kellogg. 



You say in the ABC book you would be glad 

 to tell where bees get propolis. They get it 

 here from the sweet-gum tree, as a few min- 

 utes' chewing will prove. .1. W. Lanier. 



( Jrenada, Miss., Sept. 14. 



