70 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



often as they could spare them, re- 

 placing them with worker-combs, or 

 full frames of foundation, and with 

 these combs make j>ood sti'ong colo- 

 nies. Ordinarily, I prefer natural 

 swarming, with the queen's wings 

 Clipped to prevent absconding. 



4. I am not an authority on comb- 

 honey as my experience is somewhat 

 limited (too far from market and too 

 many freight-smashers). What expe- 

 ence I have had, however, goes to 

 show that if the sections are of the 

 proper width and filled with founda- 

 tion, separators are not essential. 



5. Glass the .crate, but not the sec- 

 tion. 



G. I prefer the 4i X 4^ X.l^ section 

 to any other, as it holds just about a 

 pound, which is the amount that suits 

 most markets best for retuil trade. It 

 is handy and not likely to break with 

 proper handling; it fits the L-frame if 

 broad frames are used; it can always 

 be had at short notice of any supply 

 dealer and the bees work in it readily. 



7. I extract my honey when about 

 one-third capped, into tanks holding 

 some 1,350 pounds each, which are on 

 wheels and run on a track that leads 

 out of the honey-house on to a plat- 

 form wliere they get the full heat of the 

 sun. Each tank is covered wilh a 

 frame' of tinned wire netting, so that 

 the bees cannot get at the honey. In 

 this way my honey is cured so as to be 

 pronounced equal to the very best by 

 such men as Chas. F. Muth and L. L. 

 Langstroth. If the honey is left much 

 longer in the hive, much labor and time 

 are lost both by the bees in capping 

 and the apiarist in uncapping, and the 

 honey crop is much reduced. I will 

 say here, however, that I do not like 

 the tank plan and shall supersede it 

 as soon as I can get time to build a 

 new and larger honey-house, by an 

 evaporator such as is used in making 

 syrup, only I shall have it larger and 

 made of tin. This I shall cover witli a 

 glass roof and then extract into one of 



my tanks so arranged that the faucet 

 will be over the highest corner of the 

 evaporator. 



8. For Hs here in south Florida the 

 forty-gallon cypress barrel is by all 

 means the best package for extracted 

 honey. 



9. I have not tested artificial pas- 

 turage to any extent, unless you call 

 planting orange groves such ; I intend 

 to do so to see if we cannot bridge 

 over the April and August droughts. 

 A large quantity of honey is gathered 

 from our orange trees in February, 

 just when it is needed for brood-rear- 



10. I prefer top storing as it is less 

 trouble, and I have never found any 

 particular advantage in side storing. 



LETTER BOX. 



FiiiEXi) LOCKK : 



I am very much pleased with the 

 Apiculturist. It is well gotten up and 

 is a model of neatness, but above all 

 it starts oft" with a list of contriinitors 

 who are practical apiarists, good writ- 

 ers and reliable men. That the Api- 

 culturist may prove a success in every 

 way is my sincere wish. 



We have had an unusually heavy 

 flow of saw-palmetto honey this sea- 

 son ; but owing to rainy weather the 

 bees did not commence on the man- 

 grove and cabbage-palmetto as soon as 

 usual. They are now hard at it, how- 

 ever, and we have some 8,000 or 9,000 

 pounds already gathered of this sea- 

 son's honey. 



Linda Floua. 



Medina, Ohio. 

 Of late, the advent of a new bee 

 journal has become quite a "novelty," 

 more so in fact than their departure. 

 But here lies before us a genuine sam- 

 ple of "Vol. 1, No. 1," of the American 

 Apiculturist, S. M. Locke, editor and 

 proprietor, Salem, Mass. It contains 

 twenty-four pages of reading matter, 

 B'i X 94, besides eight pages of adver- 

 tisements. It is set in " long primer" 

 type, leaded, making a very readable 

 page. The press-work is very good, 

 and great care seems to be taken l.>y 



