212 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



Fig. 25.— Saw and cabbage palmetto oa the ea>t coast. Tlie view is from Turtle Mound, 42 feet high, 

 looking south, and shows the Atlantic Ocean in the distance, and the Indian River north, on the right. 



Now, do not the foregoing facts prove quite 

 conclusively that ventilation does prevent 

 swarming very materially, and in proportion 

 to the amount of ventilation as well, and al- 

 so increases the production of honey? 



Again, please note that, while Mr. East- 

 ling and I had, say, from 30 to 40 per cent 

 of a fair crop of honey, and hives well stored 

 for winter, our immediate neighbors had 

 but little surplus honey, and some none at 

 all; and their bees, many of them, had to be 

 fed for winter. 



Another new departure we tried was to 

 put the new swarms in the place of the old 

 hive, removing the parent colony to a new 

 location. This method, too, proved effective 

 in that not an after-swarm issued, although 

 our hives were let down for fear of robbers, 

 the colonies being much depleted. 



Now, although I consider the result of our 

 experiments in ventilation to restrict swarm- 

 ing and increase honey production very suc- 

 cessful under the circumstances of season 



and location, I would advise others to go 

 slow in experiments along these lines. I 

 have given results that are very gratifying; 

 but, as before observed, I am not prepared 

 to give full and exact reasons therefor. It 

 may be that we were fortunate to conduct 

 our experiments in an exceptional season, 

 and that the extreme drouth and steady 

 high temperature prevailing were the prime 

 factors in our successful venture; and it is 

 quite possible that, had cool weather pre- 

 vailed, and the season proved a wet instead 

 of a dry one, the trial would have proven 

 disastrous. 



Therefore, for my own part, upon careful 

 reflection, unless I receive more light on the 

 subject regarding such possibilities from 

 some veteran in the business I feel that I 

 shall venture less another year, well knowing 

 that a season like the one just past is not of 

 frequent occurrence. 



Considering Mr. Scholl's method, page 

 593, Sept. 15, 1910, it strikes me as an inter- 



Flg. 26.— .Saw'and c;vbl)a8e ijahnetto viewed from Turtle Mound but looking toward the north. 



