NCVKMBKR. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



837 



by warm nights.. But in our southern 

 home, where the climate is largely influ- 

 enced by th? ocean, we usually have warm 

 daj'S and cool nights. Therefore the bees 

 are not only careful to guard and warm 

 their brood but are often reluctant, in early 

 spring, to enter the supers. For this rea- 

 son I am inclined to favor an eight-frame 

 hive for the South, while a ten-frame possi- 

 bly is better in the North. In either case 

 the bees can be induced to work in supers 

 more readilj^ by placing some of the brood 

 above. 



Bees are less trouble in the South because 

 the work of providing winter protection is 

 eliminated. On account of the length of the 

 season, no doubt a person rBmaining all 

 summer in Florida could have a greater in- 

 crease of bees than in the North. 



J. H. Collins keeps bees both in Indiana and 

 in Florida. 



FORAGE. 



In the North we depend mostly for our 

 surplus upon white clover, with here and 

 there a sprinkling of basswood, and in some 

 localities this is supplemented by fall flow- 

 ers or perhaps sweet clover. But the bee- 

 keeper in Florida looks to tlie orange for 

 his first and main crop, and later to the 

 palmetto (I speak particularly of my own 



locality). AUho tlie jessamine, maple, and 

 citrous blossoms, eitc, furnish fine honey, I 

 regard the orange-blossom honey as most 

 important of all, on account of its beauti- 

 ful color and finest flavor. 



After harvesting the orange honey it is 

 time to hasten to my bees in the North. In 

 order to secure the crop from the palmetto, 

 etc., during my absence, I leave my southern 

 hives with plenty of super room and some 

 bait combs above the queen - excluding 

 honey-boards. 



About the 10th of May I am among my 

 bees in Indiana in time to control their 

 swarming and provide supers for their sur- 

 plus. Returning to Florida in November I 

 usually find the supers filled with golden 

 honey. Of course I reckon on losing a few 

 swaims; but the profit so far overbalances 

 the loss that I am satisfied. 



BEE ENEMIES. 



The enemies- of bees are, to my mind, a 

 great deal more troublesome in the South 

 than in the North. Fe'rhaps this is not true 

 in regard to diseases such as foul brood, 

 etc., but the external enemies are fiercer and 

 more numerous. 



Birds here destroy more bees than in the 

 North. I have noticed that my hives of 

 blacks outstrip the Italians in early in- 

 crease and honey-gathering, and I am of 

 the opinion that our Italians, colored as 

 they are, prove a shining mark and are 

 destroyed in greater numbers than blacks. 



Dragon-flies are formidable enemies that 

 I have never had to encounter in the North. 

 They are swift of flight, can easily take a 

 bee on the wing, and are especially destruc- 

 tive to queens on their wedding-flight. To 

 destroy the dragon-flies, I advocate put- 

 ting up boxes for the martin birds (not the 

 bee martin or kingbird, but the house mar- 

 tin, Horundo jnirpurae). The male is a 

 beautiful glossy black, and has soft pleasing 

 notes. These birds spend most of the day 

 on rapid wing scouring the atmosphere in 

 quest of food, and 1 have been informed bj' 

 a close observer that their nests often con- 

 tain fragments of dragon-flies. 



Ants here are more numerous and warlike 

 than in the North. But I easilv circumvent 

 them by putting my colonies on benches 

 supported by rods passing thru cups filled 

 with tar. 



Roaches are hard citizens to deal with; 

 but cold mornings they are so benumbed 

 that they can be destroyed easily. 



Tho we have not grown rich in the pur- 

 suit of apiculture, still it has always given 

 us good returns in money, health, and 

 happiness. 



Cassadaga, Fla. 



