THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



75 



and come back pell-mell in search of 

 her, and thus enter tlie new hive at 

 once. In about 2U minutes the bees 

 were hived and went to work at once, 

 without further trouble or ado, and I 

 was back in tlie house with my son. 

 In hiving them thus, I moved the old 

 hive to a new location, and put the 

 new one in its place, and let the 

 queen run in with the bees. It was a 

 beautiful sight to me to see my golden 

 Italians come pouring iu a stream, so 

 to speak, from the top of a tall elm- 

 tree into their new hive, without any 

 climbing of trees or sawing of limbs, 

 without disliguring the symmetry and 

 beauty of a favorite shade tree. I 

 had no help, except a neighbor's little 

 boy, who, after doing his chores at 

 home, came over and remained a few 

 hours in the middle of the day to 

 watch tlie bees and tell me when they 

 were swarming. I would about as 

 soon think of going back to the old 

 " gum " as doing without the drone 

 and queen trap. 



Mangroves Frozen in Florida.— W. 

 S. Hart, Hawk's Park,© Fla., on Jan. 



18, 1886, says : 



We have just had a frost (mercury 

 down to 20- above zero) that has 

 killed a large part of our mangroves. 

 It would be well for those apiarists 

 who contemplate starting for this 

 region soon, to note that the condi- 

 tions are somewhat changed here, for 

 the present, in their line. 



Bees Bringing in Pollen, etc.— Al- 

 derman & Roberts, Wewahitchka,^D 

 ria., on Jan. 19, 1886, write : 



We have had the coldest winter 

 known here for over 23 years. A 

 great many bees are dead, but those 

 that are living are having a good 

 time now bringing in lots of pollen. 

 We have about 1,000 colonies of bees, 

 and expect a good flow of honey this 

 season. The honey gathered here in 

 the spring, in April and May, cannot 

 be excelled in quality. Tlie summer 

 honey-How is very good, but not as 

 fine as that of the spring. The bloom 

 from which the lirst quality is gath- 

 ered, is from gum, and is in abund- 

 ance along tne Apalachicola and 

 Chipola rivers. The average per 

 colony here is 8 gallons. 



The Early Part of Winter.— John 

 Morris, Mansion,© Wis., on .Jan. .5, 

 1880, writes : 



The past fall was a very mild one, 

 with but very liitle rain indeed, so 

 that the water in our wells was very 

 low, and fall plowing was pretty dry 

 work, whilst all high winds and rough 

 weather avoided this section of the 

 country. It can be imagined that we 

 got along very nicely, and that every 

 one expected an open or mild winter, 

 which, of course, to a bee-keeper is 

 very pleasant to anticipate. But the 

 first week in December brought us 

 up to the winter pitch, and we con- 

 cluded once more to submit to the 

 rigors of winter ; yet in a few days 

 thereafter it was as mild and fair as 



ever, excepting that we had a good 

 body of snow on the ground. But a 

 change came over all of this ; the 

 wind veered aroinid into the north 

 and it appeared as though the tropical 

 regions had swung around to the 

 arctic side of us to give us the same 

 soft winds, mists and fogs, and now 

 for the last eight or ten days it would 

 rain a while, then it would snow a 

 little, so that sleet and snow and rain 

 was the order of the days until again 

 we have •) or inches of snow and ice. 

 In future years the first part of the 

 winter of 188r)-8() in Wisconsin, will 

 not be spoken of as being cold or the 

 coldest. 



Severe Frosts in Florida.— Jesse 

 Oren, Hawk's Park,0ria., on Jan. 

 14, 1880, writes : 



We had severe frosts here on the 

 nights of Jan. 10 and 11, forming ice 

 114 inches thick, and very seriously 

 injuring the orange crop and stock. 

 The mangroves are said to be de- 

 stroyed, which causes the mercury of 

 contentment to run very low among 

 bee-men here. In February of 1885 

 the mercury sank to 7" at St. Augus- 

 tine, making a clean sweep of all 

 orange trees, mangroves and other 

 semi-tropical trees. At this last 

 freeze 18^ above zero was the depres- 

 sion at New Smyrna. .3 miles north of 

 Hawk's Park. Mr. Rudolph Sheldon, 

 an old settler and a first-class bee- 

 nian here, says that the mercury fell 

 to 18°, as observed by him, but that 

 others had reported it 10'^ at New 

 Smyrna. St. Augustine is t» miles 

 north of New Smyrna. I do not 

 know anything about the depression 

 at St. Augustine at this time, but if 

 the mercury fell to 7 there in 183.5, it 

 may be near that this time. Mr. 

 Sheldon says that he is going about 1-50 

 miles south of this place next week, 

 to hunt up a locality where the man- 

 groves may not be killed. 



How I Began Bee-Keeping, etc.— 

 Jacob Oswalt, Maximo, (i O., on Jan. 



2.5, 1886, writes : 



I have been a careful reader of the 

 American Bee Journal for the 

 last 3 years, and I must say that I 

 have received a vast amount of use- 

 ful knowledge in bee-culture from the 

 perusal of its pages. I have had just 

 .5 years experience in bee-keeping. 

 In the spring of issi I was among my 

 maple trees cleaning snow out of the 

 sap-crocks, and as I was passing along 

 I discovered bees fiying on the snow ; 

 from what our pioneer fathers used 

 to say, I supposed that I was near a 

 bee-tree. I looked around in the tops 

 of several large trees, and discovered 

 bees passing to and from the limb of 

 a large elm tree, about 7-'> feet from 

 the ground. In May I transferred 

 the colony from the limb, without 

 cutting the tree, and I call it my pet, 

 or my first colony. In some future 

 number I will describe how I trans- 

 ferred my first colony from the tree 

 to the hive. I now have 20 colonies 

 of hybrid bees all snugly tucked away 

 in Falcon chaff-hives, and doing well. 



80 far as I know. Last winter I win- 

 tered 9 colonies in chaff hives on the 

 summer stands, without losing any, 

 and last summer I increased them 

 to 20. 



Small IS. Large Hives.— Ch.Dadant, 



Hamilton,*© Ills., writes : 



In closing our lengthy discussion 

 on this subject, Mr. Hutchinsoii has 

 given us victorious (?) arguments. I 

 will cease to argue ; but 1 will make a 

 simple assertion, the correctness of 

 whicli I leave the readers to judge. It 

 is tliis : A method of bee-culture 

 which forces all the honey into the 

 surplus apartment, whether by con- 

 tracting, reversing, or by using too 

 small hives, or by all these methods 

 together, and forces the apiarist to 

 feed back his honey till the next crop, 

 or till winter, and for winter— such a 

 method. I say, will never suit the 

 majority of the practical bee-keepers, 

 who will always try to leave their 

 bees enough honey for their wants, 

 whenever practicable. 



I thank Mr. Hutchinson for his com- 

 pliment, on page 38, and for his cour- 

 teous manner, as an apiarist ; and I 

 hope that our amicable dispute has 

 been of some use to others. 



Convention Notices. 



%W The annual nicetini.' "f the Kliuile Island 

 Bee-Keepers' Society will lie liehl <in Felj. 11, 1886, 

 at Providence, H. I. Geo. a. Stockwell, Sec. 



The Cedar Valley Bee-Keepers' Associ- 

 ation will hold its winter meeting at the City 

 Hall in Lapoite City, Iowa, on Feh. 17 and 18, 

 188f). Reduced rates are offered at the hotels. 

 A very complete proj^ranime is prepared 

 with ample time to discuss subjects of im- 

 portance to bee-keepers. A cordial invita- 

 tion is extended to all to be present. 



H. E. Hubbard, Sec. 



t^~ The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its ne.xt meeting at 

 Mt. Sterling-, Ills., on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, Oct. 19 and ao, 1880. 



J. M. Hambauou, Sec. 



«®- The Seventeenth Annua; Conven- 

 tion of the New York State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association {formerly the Northeastern) 

 will be held in Rochester, N. Y.. oh Feb. 

 16, 17 aiul IS, 18S«J. This will be one of the 

 largest meetings ever held in the State. A 

 large number of our most experienced bee- 

 masters will take part in the discussions, 

 and several essays will be read from a 

 number of our most practical apiarists 

 throughout the country. The programme 

 is complete. If you are young in the work 

 you can not afford to stay away— if older, 

 jou iiiav give some goofl hints, if j'ou get 

 none, we want a good display of all kinds 

 of supplies and hxlures. We have a room 

 on purpose for exhibits, and any goods 

 sent to the Secretary in care of the •'Na- 

 tional Hotel," Rochester, N. Y., will be 

 placed on exhibition, and either sold or re- 

 turned to the exhibitor, as directed. Re- 

 duced rates at the lintels liave been secured, 

 also rates on some of the railroads. All 

 will have to pay full fare one way— return 

 ticket at 1-3 fare by presenting certificate 

 from tlie Secretary, who will furnish them 

 on application. We want an active vice- 

 president in every county in State. Please 

 name one or send the name of some one, 

 for your county. 



F. C. Benedict, Sec. 



