244 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 15 



Fig. 17.— Corner of queen-rearing apiary of E. O. Baldwin, DeLand, Fla., 

 showing tarred-paper warming device for the cell-building colonies in 

 early spring. The hive is lifted from bottom-board by entrance blocks to 

 prevent too great heat during the hot part of the day. 



undoubtedly has much to answer for. But 

 Uncle Sam has started forest conservation 

 in one large tract in the central part of 

 Florida, and is making attempts to reforest 

 denuded tracts. There is hopefulness in the 

 movement. 



One thing is certain: Our early springs 

 and late autumns feel the vascillating weath- 

 er of the North much more quickly, and 

 drop with a suddenness that follows the 

 pulse of the thermometer north much more 

 perceptibly, than was once the case. This 

 results, beyond contradiction, from the de- 

 foresting of so much of Florida lands. Our 

 wall of stately pines is sadly eaten into by 

 the gouge and saws of the turpentine and 

 lumber men. The changing spring weather 

 hits the queen-breeder hardest of all. Last 

 spring was a case in point. Many queens 

 were lost as late as April, due to the cold 

 spring north. When one reflects that Feb- 

 ruary and March are the queen-breeder's 

 most vital months for his early trade, it is 

 easy to see with what feelings he views the 

 increasing demolition of the natural pine 

 woods. There is no tree nobler in appear- 

 ance nor richer in its gifts to man than the 

 long-leafed Southern pine. Here is a glimpse 

 into a ten-acre group of them — tall, stately 

 fellows, fifty, sixty, even seventy feet high, 

 whose tops of shimmering green blend with 

 sun to form a desirable shade for the hives 

 below (Fig. 16). Fig. 17 shows a corner of 

 the eighty -colony apiary of the writer at De- 

 Land. The entire yard consists of Moore's 

 leather-colored Italians, that have never 

 failed to produce at least somewhat of a crop 

 of honey, even when other bees all around 

 were starving for food. Here are reared 

 queens for Northern bee-men who need early 

 queens. The only shade is that from the 

 pines, even in the hottest months of the 



year. Occasionally, in 

 the height of the 

 swarming season, 

 March and April, 

 shade-boards are also 

 used, but not after 

 May. But, hot as are 

 the days in March and 

 April, the nights are 

 often severely cool, so 

 that queen - rearing 

 under ordinary meth- 

 ods would result in 

 nothing but disaster. 

 A temperature of 90° 

 in the shade, with 45° 

 at night, or even low- 

 er, is no uncommon 

 range of temperature 

 at that time. In the 

 apiary shown, the 

 queens are reared 

 above excluders in 

 powerful colonies; but 

 the cool nights will 

 often drive the bees 

 of unprotected hives 

 down into the brood- 

 chamber, leaving the 

 upper story cold and empty. To accommo- 

 date both the extremes, two devices are nec- 

 essary: First, plenty of air below the bees 

 by day, and plenty of covering over the up- 

 per story by night. Both jilans are shown 

 in the hive in the foreground (Fig. 17) . The 

 hives are raised by means of the entrance 

 wedges from one to one and a half inches 

 above the bottom-boards in front, and the 

 upper stories are covered with four thick- 

 nesses of burlap, and this with a tarred-pa- 

 per case as shown. The black paper, sug- 

 gested by a note in Mr. Alexander's pam- 

 phlet, absorbs the heat during the latter 

 half of the day, and gives it oflf slowly to 

 the hive during the frosty nights. Repeat- 

 edly I have lifted the cover of one such hive 

 on a chilly morning, only to find the upper 

 chamber swarming with bees as active and 

 lively as on a May morning — no cessation 

 of queen-cell building there. About eight 

 or nine o'clock in the morning the black 

 cases are set aside till three or four in the 

 afternoon, depending somewhat on the tem- 

 perature. Both blocks and case can be seen 

 in the illustration. The blocks, by the way, 

 are the same tapering wedges that act as en- 

 trance-contractors in cold months or during 

 a robbing time. The large entrances and 

 the warm covers may look like a paradox to 

 outsiders; but in our vascillating spring 

 months they are essential to the successful 

 rearing of queens. The hives shown are all 

 dovetailed and painted, Root stock, the 

 best and strongest hive for Florida of which 

 I have any knowledge. An unpainted and 

 ordinarily nailed hive will warp and check 

 and absorb moisture till it is out of all sem- 

 blance to a hive. Early queen-rearing in 

 Florida demands untiring patience, energy, 

 and resourcefulness. Mr. I. T. Sliumard, I 

 think, is about right when he says that not 



