400 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



her list of citizens. Florida is proud that 

 she has this man amons her greatest bee- 

 men and must useful citizens. 



Unlike the former, Mr. E. B. Rood, of 

 Bradentown, did not engage in honey-pro- 

 duction till winter freezes drove him to some- 

 thing else that would bridge over the chasm. 

 As he says, "I came to Manatee Co. a poor 

 frozen-out orange-grower from Volusia Co." 

 He has built up from almost nothing, and 

 that in only eleven years; has educated his 

 four children, and made jirominent success 

 in bee-keeping. It was the marked success 

 in orange honey of Mr. A. F. Brown, then 

 of Glenwood, Fla., that drew Mr. Rood's at- 

 tention to the possibilities of bees for a live- 

 lihood. He now owns and operates nearly 

 400 colonies in eight yards, or an average of 

 fifty colonies only, to a yard. This may 

 seem a small average to some of the unini- 

 tiated in the mysteries of Florida bee-keep- 

 ing; but practical experience has determined 

 his number, and proved it about right. ISIr. 

 Rood says he could keep many more colo- 

 nies in an apiary were it not for the forest 

 fires. His apiaries average three miles apart, 

 and are run for extracted honey alone. 

 Comb-honey production in Florida is, as he 

 well remarks, "too costly, because of the 

 expensive paraphernalia necessary to handle 

 it properly. If not kept in a warm and dry 

 place, it soon ' sweats ' or ' weeps, ' and 

 shipping it north is hazardous because of 

 the distance." This is the universal senti- 

 ment, with a few marked exceptions. Mr. 

 Rood s])eaks in the highest terms of the work 

 of Mr. K. D. Townsend, of Michigan, and 

 says he has learned much from hhii. His 

 motto is, "Do not fuss with your bees. ' ' The 

 best results with least labor are his aim. 



The honey sources of his locality are wild 

 pennyroyal, orange, gallberry, saw palmetto, 

 mangrove, and cabbage palmetto, with some 

 little from wild sunflower and goldenrod. 

 He uses the ten-frame L. hive, because he 

 wants large hives for breeding, and for su- 

 pers in which to ripen the honey. He be- 

 lieves thoroughly in ripening the honey on 

 the hive. Mr. Shumard is also a firm advo- 

 cate of this practice, and better honey than 

 these two men produce it would be hard to 

 find. 80 much can be said for the practice. 



The climate of Florida will not tolerate a 

 poor honey. Half-ripened honey, or even 

 that which is a little less than fully ripe, so 

 soon tends to ferment that absolute maturi- 

 ty is about the only safe method to pursue. 

 The honey 7niist be ripe to keep. He, like 

 most bee-men here, uses full sheets of foun- 

 dation in the brood-nest. 



Mr. Rood is ])eculiarly a victim of over- 

 stocking. When he began to make some 

 little success with his bees, letters came in 

 at a lively rate from men in the North. One 

 man from New York wrote to him, asking 

 if there was still unoccujiied territory near 

 him. Mr. Rood replied that there was; and 

 after some correspondence had passed be- 

 tween them the man came down from the 

 North. Mr. Rood entertained him, and 

 showed him about. The man declared all 



the time that he would not encroach upon 

 the territory already occupied by Mr. Rood. 

 After he went away, however, the man went 

 up State, bought out an apiary, and moved 

 them to Bradentown and located them forty 

 rods from him. Then he began forming 

 out-apiaries, till now he has a string of six, 

 practically all in Mr. Rood's territory. Next 

 a man from Michigan moved in and started 

 an apiary of fifty colonies forty rods from 

 his house, and has now begun an outyard. 

 Another man, from Ohio, has begun on the 

 other side of Mr. Rood, less than half a mile 

 away, and reports that his brother is soon 

 to come, and that they together are going 

 to start a line of outyards and show the 

 Florida folks "how to keep bees." Besides 

 these, two more men from New York and 

 another from Michigan have started in close 

 by, and a man from Wisconsin has 250 col- 

 onies just over the river. All these are prac- 

 tically \vithin Mr. Rood's territory. This is 

 imposition with a vengeance, and makes 

 one almost wish for some legislation to pro- 

 tect a bee-man in his locality rights — if he 

 has any. I would 7iot advise any one con- 

 templating an apiary in Florida to locate in 

 Bradentown nor near there. Mr. Rood, in 

 self-defense, has also taken up trucking and 

 other things, in recent years. 

 De Land, Fla. 



To be continued. 



HOW ARTIFICIAL SWARMS ARE MADE IN 

 SWITZERLAND. 



From the Schweizerische Bienen-Zeitung. 



BY F. 6BEINER. 



The colonies which are to furnish the bees 

 are fed the night before the swarm is to be 

 made. Seven combs with the adhering 

 bees are taken out of as many different col- 

 onies as is deemed best — one, two, or more; 

 but the queens are left in their respective 

 hives. A vital law, "bees must be filled 

 with honey," is faithfully observed; honey 

 is poured upon the top-bars of the seven 

 frames, which hang temporarily in an emp- 

 ty hive-body. When bees under natural 

 conditions cast a swarm, each bee takes 

 with it a full load of honey. Hungry bees, 

 like men, are ill-tempered. They are not 

 apt to stay in an empty hive. The feeding 

 is continued until there is ample evidence 

 that the bees can not hold more. 



At this moment they are brushed from 

 their combs into an empty box by means of 

 a stiff damp feather, never with a brush. 

 Six pounds of bees are considered sufficient 

 for a swarm. The box containing the bees 

 is placed in a cool dark room, a bottle of 

 warm feed given them, and they are left 

 until the next day. 



When exposed to the light the following 

 day, a dozen or more uneasy bees may be 

 noticed buzzing against the screen. They 

 are given their liberty, and again the box is 

 placed in the dark until a queen can be 

 brought. A baby-nucleus hive is taken in- 



