THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



329 



liood does this area of country ex- 

 tend, where bees can be wintered in 

 small quantities without loss " in any 

 cellar where vegetables will keep 

 without freezing V Why does it not 

 extend as far as Central New York 

 where Mr. Doolittle lives V 



Bid Mr. ]5arber live where he now 

 doesdurins his '"early experience," 

 when he " had all the trouble in win- 

 tering that niiiny are experiencing 

 nc!WV" and when he "tried every 

 place and manner of wintering" at 

 that time that looked reasonable V Did 

 he try them in small quantities in 

 ' any cellar where vegetables will 

 keep without freezing V" If so, why 

 all the troubles in wintering ; then 

 and none now, in the same kind of a 

 cellar? 



Mr. B. claims, secondly, that win- 

 tering in cellars where the tempera- 

 ture is COO to 90J-" is cheapest ;'' and 

 yet he tells us that " they will use 

 more feed in a warm than in a cool 

 one." Is more feed cheaper than 

 less ? I lielieve that a warm cellar is 

 better than a cold one for wintering 

 bees ; but Mr. 13. states as much in 

 favor of cold ones as warm ones. 



I am not doubting in the least that 

 Mr. B. is of late successful in winter- 

 ing bees in his warm room, and his 

 neighbors at the same time as suc- 

 cessful in using all sorts of cellars 

 that do not freeze ; but I do question 

 whether it is all in the temperature- 

 warm for the many, and-cold or warm 

 for the few colonies. My opinion is 

 that at the present time there is 

 growing in JMr. Barber's vicinity some 

 plant or plants that were not there 2-5 

 years ago, and that from such source, 

 nis bees now get sufficient fall honey 

 to keep up breeding until winter sets 

 in; and thus both he and his neigh- 

 bors have plenty of young bees for 

 "Winter and spring. 



I wish to thank Mr. B. for the plan 

 that he gives us for laying a floor on 

 which to stand the hives ; and also 

 for the idea of placing them in a com- 

 pact form, so that if a live bee leaves 

 one hive it has not far to go to find 

 and enter another. But how to in- 

 variably winter bees in a cold climate 

 without loss, is still an open question. 



Orion,? Wis. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Feeding Sugar to Bees, 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



I Wish to thank Mr. 11. E. Hill for 

 his kind words and the kindly manner 

 in which he criticises on page2yl. It 

 is pleasant to know that I belong to 

 that class of contributors whose writ- 

 ings "are eagerly sought after," but 

 I hope no one blindly follows where I 

 lead. All are expected to use their 

 own reason. 



I should consider it the height of 

 folly for Mr. J. B. Hall, or any one 

 else who successfully winters his bees 

 upon natural stores, year after year, 

 to feed his bees sugar for fear that 

 \-\wymi(ihi not winter well if he did not ; 

 but if he wintered them on sugar 

 because honey was dear and sugar 

 clieap, I should consider it wisdom. 

 The advice to feed sugar for winter 

 stores is not intended for those who 

 are uniformly successful with natural 

 stores ; but if those who do lose their 

 bees quite frequently from diarrliea, 

 learn that they can prevent such 

 losses by feeding sugar for winter 

 stores, will they be expected to desist 

 simply because those who are success- 

 ful without sugar fear that the prac- 

 tice may assist in giving color to the 

 unjust accusation that some bee-keep- 

 ers secure their honey by feeding the 

 bees sugar V Do those who are 

 opposed to the practice really expect 

 such a sacrifice on the part of their 

 less fortunate brothers ? If they do, 

 it shows most conclusively that while 

 they may understand bee-culture, they 

 are lacking in their knowledge of 

 human nature. 



Perhaps the majority of succcessful 

 bee-keepers— these who succeed in 

 wintering their bees and in selling 

 their honey (of which J. B, Hall is a 

 shining example)— do not use sugar, 

 and probably never will ; but is it to 

 this that theirsuccess is attributable V 

 The use of comb foundation has 

 helped to give standing to the Wiley, 

 sensational, artificial-comb-honey sto- 

 ry- Shall we stop using foundation i* 



Rogersville,(5 Mich. 



For tde Amencaa Bee Journal. 



Sheboygan County, Wis,, Conyentiou, 



At an adjourned meeting held on 

 Mays, 1886, at Sheboygan Falls Wis 

 an organization was effected, and tiie 

 name of the old society, the " Sheboy- 

 gan County Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, which has been inactive for 

 several years past, was adopted, also 

 tie constitution and bv-laws with 

 s ight amendments. The officers 

 elected aiv as follows : President H 

 F. Shadboldt, Winooski ; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, W. H. Hawkins, Sheboygan 

 Jtalls; Secretary. Miss Mattie 13. 

 Thomas, Sheboygan Falls i Treasurer. 

 Mrs. II. Hills, Sheboygan Falls. 



Matters of intere.st to bee-cultiirists 

 were diseus.sed. and the meeting ad- 

 journed to .Saturday, Sept. 4, at 10 a.m. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey-Interests, etc,, ofFloriila, 



JOHN Y. DETWILER. 



Subsequent to the late cold wave I 

 was in receipt of numerous letters 

 from apiarists inquiring as to the 

 prospects of securing bees, and other 

 information relating to the apicul- 

 tural resources of this locality— the 

 east coast of Volusia County, Florida 

 Believing that what would in all 

 probability interest those inquiring 

 would also be appreciated by the 

 majority, I submitted my report of 

 the damage as nearlv as then could 

 be determined, for which I am taken 

 to task by a correspondent on page 

 217. My object was to dissuade any 

 apiarist from locating in this section 

 to engage in bee-keeping without first 



making a personal visit to see the 

 extent of the damage for himself. 



I will not enter into any discussion 

 as to the extent of the damage done 

 to the mangrove. Dr. B. F. Fox. 

 county siii)eiintendent of public 

 schools for Volusia county, who has 

 been in Florida since the war, ex- 

 presses his opinion that 99 per cent, 

 has been destroyed. I should judge 

 that 9.5 per cent., which I think will 

 be admitted, is suiiicient to warrant 

 a personal visit before establishing an 

 apiary. Mr. R. S. Nelson, of Eldora, 

 12 miles down the river, estimates 7-5 

 per cent, killed in his locality. Allow 

 me to furnish an extract from a 

 private letter from Mr. H. ^\ . Funk, 

 of Bloomington, Ills., who was re- 

 cently in Florida looking up a loca- 

 tion for an apiary. He says: " I was 

 at Tampa during the cold snap; the 

 mercury was down to IS-" above zero. 

 I did not think that they (the man- 

 grove) were hurt mucli, although 

 they looked black on the top. I hear 

 from a boat captain who stopped at 

 CapeSable,that they were frozen down 

 there. The orange trees were not 

 hurt much. A few days after, the 

 leaves dropped off fast. All pine- 

 apples, bananas and cocoanuts were 

 killed. Up along the St. Johns river, 

 from Ocala to Palatka, the orange 

 trees were frozen black, and most of 

 the leaves stuck to them. I think 

 that those trees were damaged or 

 killed ;" and in conclusion he remarks 

 that the outlook does not warrant 

 I him in establishing an apiary in 

 Florida. 



A letter to the Troy Kansas Chief, 

 from a former neighbor from Doni- 

 phan county, now at Orange Springs, 

 Marion Co., Fla., says: "Of my 

 orange trees the large ones were more 

 or less injured, and the small ones 

 killed to the ground. Lemons, grape- 

 fruit, fig and Japan plums were killed 

 to the ground ; these are all put back 

 two years in growth," etc. So much 

 in reply to paragraph three of the 

 article on page 217. 



In reply to paragraph four, I will 

 simply say that the article in ques- 

 tion related to the east coast of Florida 

 exclusively, with the exception of the 

 reference to the groves in the interior, 

 which, from authority above quoted, 

 will sustain my position. A vast dif- 

 ference exists between the east coast 

 of Florida (the subject of the article 

 on page 102) and the State at large. 

 In proof, let the Hawk's Park corres- 

 pondent, who so ably compiled the 

 statistics of Florida's vegetable and 

 animal production, furnish the parties 

 he so anxiously wishes to locate here, 

 through the Ameiucan Bke .Jour- 

 nal, with the exports from New 

 Smyrna for the past few years out- 

 side of oranges, honey, and turtle, or 

 other productions of salt water ; then 

 the readers will know just what they 

 can expect to raise and export in 

 order to keep u|) an existence ; then 

 the full import of his fourth para- 

 graph will be made manifest. 



As an inducement to show up the 

 exports of New Smyrna, Davtona, or 

 any or all other places on the Halifax, 

 Hillsborough or Indian rivers, outside 

 of oranges, honey, and the food pro- 



