GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Much has been wrilten along' the line of 

 any place being- good enough for bees — the 

 roof of a store building- in a city or a back 

 yard in a town. Tliere is much on that side 

 of it; but is it not more desirable to find 

 the finest locations, and get all we can out 

 of them? If there is in one's section a place 

 that can be reached without too much cost 

 where the returns ought to be better, let's be 

 hunting it up. Why not? Florida has a lot 

 of poor bee pasture, and some that is good. 

 Then we have a little that is extra good. 

 Is that not the case in other states also? 

 Why not recognize it, and take advantage 

 of it? At any rate, that is why I am writ- 

 ing about the things I saw yesterday. I 

 hope I'll at least set some one to thinking. 



The problem at Sanford is the same that 

 it is in any field. Not all the best flora can 

 be reached from any one spot. Can one 

 better conditions by trying to reach differ- 

 ent points at different stages of the honey- 

 flow? I could conceive a place where there 

 would be a big flow from white clover, but 

 little fruit bloom upon which to build up 

 and get ready for it. In that case would it 

 be po.ssible to find a location near by that 

 would combine fruit bloom and clover? I 

 got a fin« yield of white honey of the very 

 best quality from clover in western Illinois 

 in 188G. A dry spell in July put an end to 

 it. But it was followed by a fine crop of 

 golden honey from Spanish needle in An - 



gust. Many who were not far away went 

 out of business for that year when the dry 

 spell struck them in July. If they had been 

 on the job they would have been making 

 provisions to share in the August flow. Last 

 summer I moved my bees from Palmetto to 

 Terra Ceia Island. I wanted the flow from 

 black mangrove, and got it. The move 

 much more than paid for itself. If the 

 bees had stayed at their spring location I 

 would have lost this. 



The fine flora of the St. John's basin is 

 not all accessible from any one location. 

 Mr. Clute has bought a boat with which to 

 practice migratory beekeeping, but he does 

 not expect to have to move more than a few 

 miles at any one time. For instance, the 

 yard Ihat we examined yesterday is not 

 near willow from which usually a super can 

 be gathered in January and February. The 

 idea is to move to the willow^ early in the 

 season, build up, and gather surplus. As 

 soon as the oranges begin to show, take the 

 yard and its denizens to a good gTove sec- 

 tion. If gallberry and saw palmetto are 

 plentiful in that neighborhood, let the hives 

 alone until smartweed and wild sunflower 

 make it clear that another move is in order. 

 TLis may not pay. It may cost more than 

 '„ comes to. But it now looks good to me, 

 and I am glad Mr. Clute is about to try it 

 out. 



Wildwood, Fla. 



INTRODUCING LAYING QUEENS IN A QUEEN-CELL 



BY KENNETH HAWKINS 



Make the colony queenless toward eve- 

 ning, preferably giving the bees a little 

 time to know thej^ are without a queen. 

 Make an artificial queen-cell as in " Scien- 

 tific Queen-rearing," by Doolittle, but make 

 it half an inch longer than an ordinary 

 queen, with quite heavy side walls. After 

 dipping the last time, cut off the point with 

 a sharp knife and dip once more, leaving a 

 thin point. Place the queen in this head 

 first, and pinch the cell tightly shut behind 

 her, and staple on a frame in the center of 

 the cluster' of the colony previously made 

 queenless. Close the hive and leave it alone 

 for 24 hours. Queens laying before being 

 put into the cell will continue that night. 

 Mated queens from the mails and virgins 

 will invariably be successfully introduced. 

 It has been suggested that the queen might 

 suffocate before getting out. Some of my 

 losses not otherwise explainable might have 

 been due to that. I advise always pricking 



a few holes in the side walls of the cell with 

 a pin. 



Successful introduction of queens depends 

 not at all on odor, but entirely on the atti- 

 tude of the queen toward the bees, and not 

 vice versa. That explains the Simmons 

 fasting method, and probably the Miller 

 smoke method, which frightens both bees 

 and queen alike; and only ^vhen they recov- 

 er .simultaneously does the latter method 

 work. I have not experimented enough to 

 know my real percentage of failure. 



Plainfield, 111. 



[Plans for introducing queens are legion. 

 We shall have to give our correspondent 

 credit, however, for having proposed a 

 method that is at least unique. At first we 

 feared that the queen might suffocate or 

 starve before being released by the bees, 

 but the pin-holes doubtless will overcome 

 the latter danger. — Ed.] 



