1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



279 



My first crop was 20 sections of comb honey; 

 and, even as little as it was, it was about all 

 that I could sell in our town of three grocery 

 stores. I received $1 95 in trade. Honey 

 was a drug on the market here, as people 

 seemed to consider it a luxury. Whenever 

 I got opportunity I told of its value, and 

 finally 1 got one after another started until 

 now I am not able to supply the demand 



One time when I was in the office of our 

 local paper I asked the editor if he would 

 like to have some articles about honey and 

 bees, and he said he would be glad if I would 

 furnish him some, which I did. .Just think 

 what a lot of good advertising we bee-keep- 

 ers can get for nothing but a little trouble, 

 that otherwise would cost us thousands of 

 dollars! And such advertising is even bet- 

 ter than the ordinary kind, because articles 

 among the reading-columns are more likely 

 to be read, and will, in most cases, have a 

 stronger influence on the readers. 



I believe that if the bee-keepers would 

 work together and furnish some good arti- 

 cles about honey to the editors of their pa- 

 pers they would be gladly accepted, even in 

 the large cities. 



Lindstrom, Minn. 



BEE-KEEPING IN FLORIDA. 



Some of the Difficulties. 



BY E. G. BALDWIN. 



Continued from last issue. 

 Ants, even in the North, are considered a 

 nuisance. In Florida they constitute a real 

 pest — not so much the small black ants as 

 the big red fellows, the nocturnal ants, the 

 so-called "bull-dog" ants; the latter are a 

 thorn in the flesh for bee-men here. Hon- 

 ey-houses have been built and discarded; 

 but the foe, like the political grafter, is ever 

 present. He is sleepless. These ants fre- 

 quent hollow stumps, rotting roots of trees, 

 the decaying "boots" of cabbage-palmetto 

 trees. Their strong jaws are like pincers, 

 and they love honey as dearly as do the 

 bears. More than that, they are fond of 

 brood, and do not object to both at once. 

 Their favorite method of attack seems to be 

 as follows: They first secrete a portion of 

 their forces under the alighting-board, the 

 hive-body, or the bricks or stones of the 

 hive-supports, even behind an old division- 

 board, or under the cover, if it allows a space 

 not accessible to the bees. These act as ad- 

 vance guards, constantly harassing and 

 worrying thd bees, and seem to keep the 

 rest of the ant colony informed of affairs. 

 After a period of guerrilla warfare with the 

 colony selected for their operations, they se- 

 lect a favorable opportunity, bring up the 

 reenforcements, and make a combined at- 

 tack all along the line. They prefer a wing, 

 but will take a leg or a thorax or a head, 

 "catching as catch can." The bees at first 

 resist bravely; but when a horde of invad- 

 ing ants assail them at once and persistent- 



ly they soon give up and are doomed — that 

 is, unless the bee-keeper comes in time to 

 the rescue. Imagine nuclei exposed to such 

 maurauders! The only defense bee-men 

 now make is to keep all colonies Italians, 

 boiling over with bees at all seasons, so far 

 as possible, waging meantime a ceaseless 

 war on all nests that can be found near or 

 far, with hot water, kerosene, or bisulphide 

 of carbon. Many report fair success in di- 

 minishing very materially the number of 

 ants by such methods. Even the nuclei 

 we must keep strong — nothing less than a 

 three-frame nucleus sufficing for safety, and 

 even these must be kept boiling over with 

 bees. The entrances, of course, to all nu- 

 clei are made very small. Every once in a 

 while, with all safeguards, some small colo- 

 ny will succumb,and the young virgin of the 

 day before vanish with all her attendants, a 

 prey to the merciless jaws of the ants. 

 Some idea of the magnitude of the ant-pest 

 can be obtained from the experience of Mr. 

 S. S. Alderman, of Wewahitchka, Fla., who 

 lost 125 colonies by them the past season. 

 But Mr. W. S. Hart, of Hawks Park, tells 

 me that the incessant warfare of the past 

 twenty years is telling very hopefully on 

 the number of the invaders. 



We read of forest fires in Wisconsin and 

 Michigan. Forest fires also do much dam- 

 age here — not so fatal nor so dangerous, but 

 damaging to a great degree in many por- 

 tions, especially the southern parts, in the 

 palmetto belt. The cattle-men, who almost 

 own that part of the State, burn over the 

 thickets of saw palmetto as often as it will 

 burn. This is to give fresh green feed for 

 their roaming herds. Fortunately such un- 

 dergrowth will seldom become thick enough 

 to burn much oftener than once in two 

 years. Of course, it damages the crop only 

 for that year, doing no lasting harm to the 

 trees The saw palmetto is the only one 

 hurt, because its trunk creeps along low on 

 the ground. Mr. Shumard lost many hives 

 and colonies one year from forest tires at- 

 tacking an out-apiary, and says they were 

 worse the past spring than he has ever 

 known them to be. Mr. Rood tells the same 

 thing for this year. Mr. Rood also says he 

 can not keep more than an average of fifty 

 or sixty hives in a place, because of the 

 shortening of pasturage due to fires. All 

 bee-men suffer, and complain of the burden, 

 except in the far northwest, where forest 

 fires do not come. 



Furthermore, the months June, July, and 

 August are the rainy season here. In sec- 

 tions where the sources yield during those 

 months, the surplus is rendered very uncer- 

 tain by the rains. If they are excessive, as 

 in the past year, almost no surplus will be 

 secured, the rain washing the nectar from 

 the blossoms, and also allowing very little 

 fair weather for the bees to fly. The honey 

 always seems darker and stronger, too, in 

 such a season. The blossoms of the palmet- 

 to are very much subject to blight if rains 

 are too heavy. Were it not for this the cab- 

 bage jialmetto would be a much surer crop. 



