630 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



In some instances it was caused by a severe 

 droiiglit. and in others by excessive rains. We 

 now hardly expect to see a large crop of honey 

 this year. It will probably be a little below 

 the average; but that it will be better than 

 last, there is no doubt. The quality of much of 

 the white honey will be poor, on account of be- 

 ing rai.xed with honey-dew— some of it rendered 

 entirely unmarketable. It is to be hoped that 

 every bee-keeper who has been so unfortunate 

 as to get any that is not palatable to himself 

 will not put it on the market, and thus spoil 

 the sales for thousands of pounds of good 

 honey. 



The following are the questions sent out to 

 the respondents corresponding to the tabulated 

 replies below: 



1. What per cent of increase up to date? 



2. What per cent of an average crop of white 

 honey gathered up to date ? 



3. Prospect for a full crop? (1 indicates good: 

 2, fair: 3. not good.) 



4. How does this compare with last year same 

 date? 



The tabulated answers correspond to the 

 questions by numbei'S above, and are as follows: 



ST.\TE. Qu.l. Qu.2 Qu 3] Question 4. 



Alabama 65 



.\rizona 15 



Arkansas , 30 



California 20 



Connecticut | 25 



Colorado i 35 



Florida ' 25 



Georgia 26 



Iowa 35 



Indiana 60 



Indian Territory. . 5 



Illinois 30 



Ka nsus 50 



Kentucky 20 



Louisiana 60 



Maine I 50 



Massachusetts 50 



Maryland ! 35 



Mich gan i 16 



Minnesota 1; 30 



Mississippi . . 



Missouri 



Nebraska 



Nevada ' 10 



New Hampshire .. 50 



New Jersey 15 



New York 35 



North Carolina....! 15 



Ohio 50 



Pennsylvania 15 



Rridde Island 15 



South Carolina....; 50 



Tenuesr.ee 40 



Te.xas .50 



Vermont 75 



Virginia -..-• 20 



West Virginia. 

 Washington. . . 

 Wisconsin 



35 



10 



P. H. Elwood. Pre? 

 G. H. 



50 to 75 ', better. 

 About the same. 

 Some better. 

 H lit a^ much. 

 Slightly behind. 

 [Better. 



Better than 1891). 

 Much better. 

 jSoiiie better. 

 jSome belter. 

 jBetter. 



(More honey-dew. less h"y. 

 I Not as good 

 Not as ^ood. 

 7.')^ better. 

 Better. 

 Some better. 

 Much belter. 

 .\bout the same. 

 jLinden just opening. 



Much hi>nej'-dew. 

 Much better. 

 >tuch ijuorer. 

 Much better. 

 Much better. 

 Little better. 

 Little better. 

 Some better. 

 Si'me better. 

 About the sa:iie. 

 Much better. 

 Very much better. 

 Better. 

 Much better. 

 Much better. 

 Much better. 

 .Much better. 

 About the same. 



Knickerbockkr, Sec. 



LAMES' GeM¥ERSAZ10NE. 



SOME FLORIDA BEES AND BEE-KEEPERS. 



HOAV THE BEES CAME TO THE KE.ICVK DURING 

 THE YELLOW-FEVER EPIDE.MIC. 



Since reading about Deacon Homespun's 

 •' knowin' bees."' in the April 1st number of your 

 ionriial, it occurred to my William (he's my 

 liusband) that perhaps your readers would like 

 to know something of the bees that live and 

 flourish in the "Great Lake" region of our 

 flowery land. 



We live, William and I. in a little village 

 near one of the largest and most beautiful of 

 Florida's lakes, and there are a few in our 

 neigh liorhooil who are or have been interested 

 in bee culture. Whether it pays or not. I will 

 leave you to judge when you have read all I 

 have to sav. 



Four years ago my mother, who lived with us 

 then, heard that an old man near had a "July 

 swarm " that he would sell '• at a sacrifice." 

 As it was a late swarm, and he was very busy, 

 he would ask "only three dollars"' for ft — in a 

 box I Mother bought them. Two years after, 

 all our State was under quarantine on account 

 of the epidemic of yellow fever: and as we were 

 a small community, our supplies were often de- 

 layed: and for weeks there was no sugar to be 

 had for love or money. Thanks to the busy 

 bees, this old man and his wife were well pro- 

 vided with sweets. They could hardly have 

 got on at all without their honey, and were very 

 enthusiastic in praise of their "good bees.'' In 

 a few weeks he sold off his black bees to buy 

 new colonies of Italians. The blacks were too 

 vicious: and either he did not know of Italian- 

 izing by introducing an Italian queen, or else 

 he was simply tind of bee-keeping, for he fail- 

 ed to buy more, and turned his attention to 

 horticulture. Hh sold three colonies to a miller, 

 who thought it would be nice to .>'aise his own 

 honey. W'hen an examination was made as to 

 the condition of hi-s (the miller's) hives, one had 

 become a prey to the bee- moth, induced by the 

 close robbing of the first owner, and the whole 

 colony had perished I The surviving bees were 

 then placed under a shed, but the owner was 

 unable to go near them. as. at his approach, the 

 bees rushed at hiiu. and inflicted so many stings 

 he was glad to beat a hasty retreat. After a 

 year of such experience, during which time one 

 swarm issued and escaped to the woods, and no 

 honey had been taken to recompense him for 

 his numerous i-outs. a brimstone match was ap- 

 plied, and the fiery iribe annihilated, in order 

 that the few pounds of dark strong honey might 

 be enjoyed (?). as there was no other way to 

 wrest it from its producers. Poor innocent bees! 

 Who would not protect his home, his family, 

 and the product of mouths of unceasing toil 1 

 Alas! all that was left of the much-praised 

 honey-gatherers belonging to this knowing old 

 gentleman were those my mother bought, con- 

 cerning which more anon. 



Then, in the opposite direction, lives another 

 old man who keeps bees. He has stands and 

 stands of them. His orange-grove is dotted all 

 over with them till the darkies are afraid to 

 venture from the fence to the house, except 

 through the regular front path. Wise old man! 

 he needs no dog — his watchers live at home and 

 find themselves. His hives are about 8x12x14 

 inches, w ithout frames, and these he considers 

 latiier too large! He has so luanv new swarms 

 each year that more than half are not even 

 hived, but allowed to move to the woods. A 

 gentleman told me these swarms were quite 

 large too — would make a ball eight or ten inches 

 through. This remarkable apiarist doesn't rob 

 his bees very often, and has very little honey 

 on his table: but he thinks ?ie ought to know 

 something about the size of hives and the pro- 

 ductiveness of bees, for he has had " forty years' 

 experience'' with them, and has got away be- 

 yond movable frames and patent hives, and 

 gone back to the old box hives of our ancestors! 



Well, down west, on the lake shore, lives a 

 man who caught a runaway swarm, hived it in 

 a goods-box. and. after some weeks, as no one 

 seemed to know where it came from, he sold it 

 to a neighbor for a couple of dollars, as he 

 didn't wish to keep bees, for his enterprising 

 boy made things lively every day by poking a 

 stick into the hive-entrance to "tnake them 

 more industrious."' This neighbor had. some 

 years ago, handled b<^es considerably, and in 

 due time came with his wagon to carry home 

 his new treasure. He intended to make an im- 

 proved hive, and in a few years would supply 

 this community and a city, some five or ten 



