188G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



^ 



believe I can persuade them to use it in preference 

 to comb honey, by getting- a fqw copies of T. G. 

 Newman's " Honey as a Food ahd Medicine," which 

 I can hand to'my retailer to givo to his customers. 



In regaril to the honey-producing plants of this 

 section of Kansas, I will say we tiave no bloom aft- 

 er apple (excepting a few prairie flowers) until the 

 first of Sept., when the Spanish needle and golden- 

 rod bloom. For the last year only has white clover 

 been sown, and then only in door-yai-ds. I'm trying 

 10 persuade the farmers to sow the seed in their 

 pastures, as it catches very quickly on the prairie 

 sod. Basswood grows finely here. Two of my 

 neighbors have several small trees growing, which 

 look nicely for the time they have been planted— 

 3 years. I intend to plant a few hundred as soon as 

 convenient. 



1 think this will be a fine country tor bees when 

 we get plenty of white clover aiid other small hon- 

 ey-producing plants growing-. One great advantage 

 in bee culture here is the winters being mild, al- 

 though we have some severe cold spells which last 

 but few days— never so long as to prevent bees 

 from flying during any month in the ^Vinter. As to 

 (•hafl" hives, I think they are of little use here, as 

 the Simplicity, with division-board and good chaff 

 cushions, affords ample protection. 1 have been 

 handling bees for four winters here in this State, 

 using only the duck quilt as protection, and I have 

 never lost a colony. IJut I think bees might be 

 more profitably wintered by the use of chaff cush- 

 ions. 



This fall I prepared my bees for winter as fol- 

 lows : 8 colonies have 6 frames each ; 4 have !i, and 

 3 the full 10, all of which are well filled with sealed 

 honey. I use the L. frame and Scovill Simplicity 

 hive. Those frames containing the most pollen I 

 stored away for spring- feeding. My bees are all 

 right up to date ; but aff present we are having 

 very severe weather— the coldest since 1 have been 

 in the State. 



Now, friend R., I want to thank you for your 

 ably edited journal ; also the many able contribu- 

 tors for the valuable information imparted. 



C— W. E. Potts, 8—14. 



Edna, Kansas, Jan. 11, 1886. 



FLOBIDA. 



THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES CAREFUL- 

 LY CONSIDEBED; SOMETHING FOR THO.SE 

 CONTEMPLATING GOING THERE. 



SAVING received quite a number of letters, 

 which still continue to come from persons in 

 the Northern States, inquiring about bees in 

 Florida, the price of land, health, and other 

 things pertaining to Florida, 1 shall attempt 

 to answer such questions as would likely interest 

 many of the readers of Gleanings. In the first 

 place, I had better state that I have been here only 

 one year and one month. Nearly every letter con- 

 tains the question, " Can I make a living keeping 

 bees?" 



In this locality— high pine land, with a considera- 

 ble number of orange-groves bearing, together 

 with what palmetto there is, an expert might keep 

 himself and small family from the sale of honey 

 alone; but I would not or could not advise any one 

 with a family to pull up stakes and settle in a high 

 pine region, relying on honey alone from his bees 



to keep him. The orange does not yield honey pro- 

 fusely, but it blooms long— longer than white clover, 

 I believe. The saw-palmetto did not yield much 

 honey last season; besides. It can not be found 

 growing abundantly on all high pine land. It grows 

 on flat and low land. With my present number ot' 

 colonies of bees I hope to be able to give an inter- 

 esting report next spring in regard to the above- 

 named honey-plants in this locality. I should think 

 the hammocks and low lands along rivers would be 

 much better for bees than high pine, although such 

 places probably would be deprived of the honey- 

 yield of the orange. But people settling on these 

 kinds of lands, if I am not mistaken, are liable to have 

 malaria. If you want to get asj'ar as possible from 

 malaria in Florida, you must reside on high pine 

 land; then, if you have never had it before coming 

 here, you are not likely to get it. I draw this from 

 my own experience, observation, and Conversation. 



Another class of land for the bee-keeper is the 

 coast region— Atlantic and southern Gulf coast. I 

 understand these latter places are excellent for bees; 

 but about getting the honey into market at a good 

 price, I have not had any information. Nice comb 

 honey, in lib sections, retails at twenty-five cents In 

 Orlando, but extracted honey from the coast sells 

 very slowly at forty cents per quart, or about iSVi 

 cts. per lb. Now, to sum up the location for bees, 

 oranges, and health, I do not think it possible to get 

 one single location excellent for all three. 



As far as I know, it would be cheaper to bring 

 bees along, if possible to do so, than to buy here; 

 for people having bees do not want to sell them un- 

 til after the spring honey harvest; yet a few can be 

 bought at eight to ten dollars per colony. If native 

 bees in box hives can be found for sale they usual- 

 ly sell at about three to four dollars per colony. 

 At present I do not know of any. 



I was told before coming here that a swarm issu- 

 ing any month of the year could gather enough 

 honey to keep it. This, I am quite certain, is a mis- 

 take, and should be corrected. I am confident that 

 a swarm hived on fdn. the first of this month would 

 have starved to death, for it has been too cold for 

 bees to fly much, and the last recent freeze stopped 

 brood - rearing in all my colonies. Last January 

 was too cold for bees to gather honey, except a very 

 few days. Had I hived a swarm on fdn. last July or 

 August, I believe it would have perished before the 

 fall flowers bloomed. I think it is important to 

 know about this, as it shows the honey resources of 

 the locality. Bees will gather enough honey in Oc- 

 tober to winter on, and rear brood ready for the 

 spring honf y-flow. 



Five acres of land is all anybody needs to grow 

 oranges and keep bees, and it sells at all pi-ices— 

 from $1.25 to $500 per acre— owing to the prospects 

 of the town. In three miles of Orlando, which is 

 considered the most prosperous place in South 

 Florida, it sells at about $100 or more per acre for 

 first-class orange land. Further away, $60 to $100. 

 Second-class orange land brings about $25.00 to $50.00 

 less than above. In new settlements, with fair 

 prospects for railroad, good orange land can be pur- 

 chased at $10.00 to $25.00 per acre. Hammock lands 

 are the best for vegetables ; but oranges also are 

 grown on some of these lands with less fertilizer. 



Another question from correspondents is, " If T 

 can not get a living keeping bees, what can 1 do till 

 oranges bring an income?" For various reasons 

 this question is puzzling to answer, because our 



