258 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



December, 



wax secreted will be from bright yel- teresting information. Since the api 

 low to a bronze or dirty yellow color, pearance of Mr. Benton's article iri 

 He further suggests that all waste our October number we have receivj 

 wax may be brought to a uniform ed numerous comments, aggregating 

 color by mixing two-thirds of the nearly one hundred pages of manu 

 "worst" with one-eighth of the "best." script together with lots of letters froii' 

 those who have tested this race o 



^■r ■, r- r- ^. -n-n-r-T^ T^TKir- TKj -m r\-DTr\\ bees. It is sincerely regretted tha 

 QUEEN BREEDING IN FLORIDA. ^^^^ ^^ ^^-^ ^^^^^^^ ^^-^^ ^^ -^ 



The Florida Agriculturist, one of somewhat vindictive tone, is neces 

 the best agricultural journals in the warily excluded from the columns o 

 South, by the way, reproduces from The Bee-Keeper. It is apparent, how 

 our last issue Mr. Reeves' article in re- ever, that there are two sides to th 

 gard to the obstacles with which matter, and when our correspondent 

 queen rearing is attended in parts of can bring themselves to exclude per 

 i^lorida, and asks its readers whether sonal spite and disrespectful languag 

 they have had a similar experience, from their writings, both sides ma, 



be heard. 



In view of the limited space afford „ 



saying, "In this section (DeLand) 

 bees do very well." The Agriculturist 



says it seems strange that The Amer- ed by a journal of the size of Th 



Bee-Keeper, it should be borne i 

 mind by contributors that it is absc 



ican Bee-Keeper should publish such 

 an article without comment. 



To those who have not practiced l^'tely impossible for us to use art: 

 queen rearing in Florida it may seem cles of great length in these co. 

 strange that no "comment" was made. umns. It is our wish to assist in th 

 The reason, however, that comment development of truth that will ai 

 was omitted, is because we beleve Mr. the cause of apiculture, but it is iir 

 Pratt's conclusions were wise and that portant that arguments should cor 

 the teachings of the article in ques- form to the limit of our facilities, 

 tion are as true as gospel. This jour- To insure publication without ur 

 nal has repeatedly affirmed that queen due delay, the correspondent shoul 

 rearing in Florida was attended with be as brief as possible and always re 

 more drawbacks and obstacles than spectful towards his opponent. 



are likely to be met anywhere else in 



America. The writer has been to 

 some extent engaged in queen rearing 

 in northern states; in Cuba, California 

 and Canada, and we believe queens 

 may be reared thirty to fifty per 



WHERE ARE THE STRAW 

 "SKEPS?" 



It will be noted that elsewhere in th 

 cent cheaper in any of these places number of The Bee-Keeper Dr. Big, 



than in Florida. 



In certain localities the ants and 

 dragon flies are so bad as to practically 



preclude the possibility of successful is not improbable that some isolatf 

 queen rearing upon a commercial specimens may be in existence i 

 scale. 



Florida has many advantages to of- 

 fer, in divers ways. Some sections 

 afford excellent opportLinities for suc- 

 cessful honey production; but the fact 



that "bees do well" in some sections any old-fashioned straw "skeps" mi 

 does not necessarily imply that the be had we shall be pleased to hcE 

 conditions essential for successful from them. 

 queen rearing obtain to a satisfactory 

 degree. 



low asks "where in this country stra 

 hives are in use?" The answer, ui 

 doubtedly, is, nowhere. However, 



America; and the editor of The Be 

 Keeper has asked before if anyoi 

 knew where one might be obtaine 

 and no response was received 



If any of our readers know whe: 



PUNIC, OR TUNISIAN BEES. 



The discussion in regard to the mer- 

 its of Tunisian bees now going on in 

 these columns promises to develop in- 



Let's hear from the Ge 

 mans of our circle. They must ha^ 

 inside information in regard to thei 

 relics of bygone days, and the writ 

 would be proud to possess an ol 

 st^aw hive 



Have you a neighbor who does nc 

 take The Bee-Keeper? 



