292 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FLORIDA SUNSHINE 



PENNYROY- 

 al, too, has 

 suffered b y 

 the freezing' 



. weather of early February. But with warm 

 rains now it will bloom again — in fact, is 

 blooming somewhat at this writing (Febru- 

 ary 15th). If the forest fires do not burn it 

 off too much the crop may yet be appreci- 

 able from pennyroyal. It is rare indeed that 

 the cold waves reach far enough south to 

 touch that rather hardy plant. It had 

 started blooming last October. 



From later appearances it seems that 

 the black mangrove of our eastern coast 

 is badly damaged by the frost. Whether 

 it will go " to the grounds " or only the 

 tips of the branches be frozen is yet to be 

 determined. It has taken it 22 years to 

 attain even its height of tlie year 191G 

 (about 12 to 15 feet on an average, on 

 its northern limits), and has never attained 

 to the giant flow that characlerized it be- 

 fore the " freeze " of 1894-5. As it is 

 one of the best sources of honey in Florida, 

 and the best on the East Coast, the loss 

 will be serious to beemen within reach of 

 its blossoms. It is surely badly hurt. With 

 orange honey out of the question, and 

 mangrove probably gone, it will leave 

 rather scanty sources for honey on the In- 

 dian River, and vicinity. 

 « * « 



Some time ago this department re- 

 ceived a communication from Mr. J. W. 

 Eaton, of Welaka, Florida, relative to 

 feeding back honey to the bees. He spoke 

 of feeding dark honey. We cautioned him 

 against letting it get into the super, and 

 he replied : '' Your caution about feeding 

 back dark honey to the bees is correct, but 

 I can feed in a way to avoid a mixture 

 of the dark with the good honey." We 

 would add that, if Mr. Eaton has devised 

 a method whereby he can feed back dark 

 honey to the bees and not have this dark 

 honey stored eventually in the supers, pro- 

 vided he feeds faster than the bees can 

 consume it at the time, then we wish he 

 would give the readers of Gleanings the 

 benefit of his invention. Let us have the 

 benefit of your experience along this line, 

 Mr. Eaton. 



WW* 



On? of our local druggists handed us 

 a leaflet, taken from Drug Topics, the 

 national representative organ of druggists. 

 The illustration is very attractive. One 

 more avenue of distribution ! Surely, 

 when even the druggists begin selling " pure 

 honey " as a food, we may conclude that 



April, 1917 



our people of 

 this great land 



E.G.Baldwin do not buy 



enough drugs, 

 and hence the drug folk have to sell foods to 

 make money enough. Anyhow it seemc 

 mighty encouraging. Sounds a lot better to 

 read of " pure honey " being sold over a 

 drug counter than the usual patent nostrums 

 and curealls and panaceas. What next? 

 Probably the liverystable men and garage 

 men will carry a stock of honey, to supply 

 motor and driving parties with Nature's 

 l)urest food. Why not ? 



This letter from Independence, Kansas, 

 adds one more testimony to the efficacy of 

 the " honey method of queen introduc- 

 tion." It reads: 



"Dear Sir: — Thanks for tellii'g in 

 Gleanings the honey method of introducing 

 queens. The queens are accepted every 

 time and laying the next day, even when 

 they come thru the mails from Pennsyl- 

 vania." 



Several have intimated that it might be 

 necessary to take the honey from the same 

 hive to which the new queen is to be intro- 

 duced. To all such it may be stated that 

 no such precaution is needed. The point 

 does not lie in the odor of the honey, nor 

 in the odor of the queen being disguised by 

 that of the honey; rather does it depend 

 on the natural tendency of all bees to lick 

 up any and all sweets, particularly honey, 

 wherever and whenever it is found. And 

 when they are thus licking up honey, they 

 seemingly forget all else, even such a trifle 

 as a new queen ! Anyhow, when they come 

 to her at the end of their " licking " they 

 go right on, and " lick her right into lay- 

 ing!" At least that is the practical result 

 of it all. Use lots of honey, at least half 

 a teaeupful, but take it from any source 

 3'ou please, just so it is free from disease. 

 Of course, if you happen to live so unfor- 

 tunately (?) far north as Mr. J. E. Crane, 

 or our Canada friends, you may have to 

 warm the honey; but that is not of any in- 

 terest to us awaj' down in Florida. It was 

 86 in the shade here yesterday, February 

 20th. No need to heat our honeys at that 

 temperature. I would suggest that, the 

 thicker the honey the better, provided you 

 can dip the queen and cover her completely. 

 Too thin honey might run off too quickly. 

 You want the queen to be " messed," and 

 good and well too. Don't be afraid to 

 " souse " her thoroly. 



