174 



GLEAil^tNGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



that were properly prepared, and then, in- 

 stead of going over to those nice clean work- 

 er-cells the bees hadn't glossed over and 

 puttered with, wonld either stand around 

 idl}^ or else go over the cells again, where 

 she had just deposited eggs, putting two or 

 more in a cell, and worrying the owjier so 

 much that he would be prompted to wi-ite a 

 letter to A. 1. Root about it, and ask if he 

 hadn't better pinch her head off, when the 

 queen was just as good a queen as could be, 

 with only a pound of bees or a little more. 



"THE OTHEK SIDE " OP FLORIDA. 



TWELVE MONTHS IN FI.ORIDA. 



TT SEE you publish a great many letters in favor 

 (^ of Florida. I send you a letter I got from the 

 ^t Charlottesville Chronidr. It looks at Florida 

 -*" on "the other side." Harry Ghiffin. 



Charlottesville, Va., Jan. 7, 1886. 



Editor Chronicle: — Hearing- that a trood many 

 citizens of this section are considering- ttie expedien- 

 cy of emigrating- to the "Laud of Flowers," probably 

 persuaded thereto by the flowery pamjih lets and 

 maps so industriously circulated by t!ie railroad 

 and land companies; and, actuated by a desire to 

 save those contemplating- such a step from tbe dis- 

 appointment almost sure to result, 1 send you the 

 substance of some notes taken "on the spot." 



In the first place, the much-lauded climate is a 

 most unmitigated Iraud— to a native of Piedmont, 

 Virginia. Thermometers are "no good" there. 

 They lie winter and summer. It is more disagreea- 

 bly cold when .3^° F. is indicated than when the 

 mercury falls to zero here; and the alnu)st vertical 

 rays of the midsummer sun are so intensely hot and 

 so thoroughly enervatinjf that the most energetic 

 man becomes willing- to do nothing but pine for his 

 mountain home again. My observation isthatthei' 

 embrace the first opportinuity of getting out of a 

 Florida summer, devoutly promising themselves 

 not to be caught again. The thermometer may not 

 indicate more than 1)0° F. when it oppresses one as 

 much as 105° F'. here. 



The soil, in the greater portion of the State, is no 

 soil at all, but a vast sand-bank, with a slight admi.v- 

 ture of humus, which is exhausted by a crop or two. 

 It is necessary to fertilize well every year to obtain 

 a good crop. Frequent wide expanses of swamp 

 and thousands of tiogs and ponds detract from the 

 value, and add nothing to the beauty of the coun- 

 try. While thei-e are some fair lands, termed "ham- 

 mocks," they aregenerallj' so infested with insects, 

 aud so unhealthy, that it is unwise to live near 

 them. lyoiif/!/, they certainly are, with each twig- 

 and limb fringed with Spanish moss, which often 

 droops many feet and gracefully sweeps to every 

 breeze. But, amidst the tropical beauties of the 

 scene, malaria insidiously lurks, ready to seize upon 

 the casual intruder upon his native haunts. E.v- 

 cept the veritable hills, the whole State lies JDiric;- 

 t/'ater during the rainy season. » 



As to products: Nearly every one who goes to 

 Florida has the orange craze, and forthwith falls a 

 prey to one of the leg-ion of land agents, who will 

 often palm off on the innocent an admirable loca- 

 tion—for a duck farm ! Every one is saving- orange 

 seed, planting orange seed, setting- out orange- 

 groves, millions and tens of millions of orange- 

 trees! While many will die frotn frost or some 

 mismanagement, yet it is patent that the business 

 is overdone, and the profit in orange groves falls to 

 the land speculator who sells off "choice" (?) lots at 

 ridiculously fancy prices. 



The lemon, being- more easily killed by frost than 

 the orange, can be profitably grown in few locali- 

 tiesin the State; for the " line of nofi-ost," so much 

 dwelt upon in the efl'usions of general passenger 

 agents, must be set down as a bare myth, frost be- 

 ing seen and felt in all parts of the State. In the 

 more southern sections, pineapples, bananas, Japan 

 persimmons, cocoanuts, are being- profitably raised. 

 But those who go to those parts must expect to see 

 mosquitos by the quintillions, and carry a trunk 

 full of quinine to ward off chills. 



Market gardening, now rapidly assuming large 



proportions, is the future business of Florida. The 

 lands require heavy.fertilizing.'and the crops are 

 occasionally nipped by those "unheard of " frosts, 

 yet the early products bi-ing such fabulous prices 

 that the business is, beyond doubt, the most prom- 

 ising in the State. 



In conclusion, while monej' can be and is made in 

 tlie ways mentioned, the intending emigrant from 

 Piedmont, Virginia, should remember that he will 

 liave to contend against such ills and pests — un- 

 known here— as will try his patient soul though he 

 be a very Job. As surely as he tries orange-grow- 

 ing in Florida, he will concede that, if the same at- 

 tention were given our pippin-orchards as is neces- 

 sary to be paid to orange-groves, the pippin-orchards 

 would be the more profitable. And as surely as he 

 spends a year in that much-boomed sandbank will 

 he further concede that he was a fool to leave this 

 goodly.heritage of land and clime, and be ready to 

 swear that, if Fate kindly permits him once more 

 to see. his "own, his native land," he will never, wo, 

 never] no, NE^'EK! seek "Eldorado"—" Land of 

 Flowers!" or thirst for the " Fountain of Eternal 

 Vouth." Jay C. Ei.r,. 



Why, friend G., I do not think the letter is 

 such a bad one, after all. It is probably a 

 very fair and candid statement of the way 

 the average Northern citizen wottld look at 

 things when there. And there is one point 

 I want to call special attention to. If the 

 same attention were given to our pippin- 

 orchards right close about us, that they are 

 obliged to give orange-groves in Florida, to 

 get even an average crop, what sort of pip- 

 pins should we hkve? Friend Cole, in his 

 book, tells what the effect was on an old 

 worthless apple-tree on a hillside by giving 

 the ground around it (and under it) intelli- 

 gent culture. 



A WHOLE APIARY OF HIVES WITH- 

 OUT BOTTOM-BOARDS. 



IS IT NOT AN ADVANT.\GE TO USE HIVES WTTH- 

 OITT BOTTO.M-BOARDS? 



N Gr^EANiNGS, Nov. 1.5, page 793, I notice where 

 you say a hive which Courad Weckesser men- 

 tions is a novelty. Now, I wish to state that 

 one of the most successful box-hive men I 

 have ever heard of in Texas does not use a bot- 

 tom-board at all, and he keeps from 60 to 100 colo- 

 nies of bees all the time, and has kept them for 

 years. His name is J. M. Bell, of Winnton, Gonza- 

 les Co., Texas. He simply places a block about 3 

 inches square and an inch thick under each corner, 

 to keep the hive from settling- into the ground in 

 wet weather. In wintering he moves the hive 

 about its width to one side (so as to get a clean 

 place, and g-et all trash that may have accumulated 

 during the summer, outside the hive), and banks 

 the earth up to the hive all around, leaving for a 

 winter entrance two =.i-inch auger-holes, previously 

 bored into the hive about 'i inches from the bottom 

 edge of the box. I tried some box hives myself the 

 last season, and 1 find that if the hive is open on all 

 sides underneath, that the bees seldom^lie out in 

 our warmest weather (and I assure j'ou we have 

 weather warm enough to melt beeswax, and make 

 it run like oil). I am going to try a lot of Simplicity 

 bodies, without bottom, in the way mentioned 

 above, the coming- season, as it will be quite a sav- 

 ing in the way of labor and material, if we can get 

 along without a bottom-board. Of course, this plan 

 will work well only on a sandy slope where the 

 gi-ound will drain and keep washed clean. I hap- 

 pen to own just such a place, so you see I am favor- 

 al)ly located for the experiment. T will report to 



