THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



233 



son, and found no reason to form such 

 an opinion, but as I wish to test the 

 matter further, I will leave the ques- 

 tion open, as far as I am concerned. 



Nearly all wlio have tested these 

 bees agree that the queens are very 

 prolific, and I can say that such has 

 been my own experience witli them ; 

 and not only have I found tliem 

 wonderfully "prolilic, but very late 

 breeders, a quality which all will ap- 

 preciate, as fiirnishiuK the colony 

 with younn, vigorous bees to with- 

 stand'the long, cold winter. 



While, at the i)resent writing, I 

 have every reason to regard tlie Syr- 

 ians as a valuable race, I may, after 

 furtlier experimenting with, and 

 studying their habits, discover traits 

 of character which will lead me to 

 change my mind ; but of this thing I 

 am certain, that if they prove equal 

 to the Italians in other respects, they 

 will certainly excel as breeders. 



Coleraine, Mass. 



For the American Bee JoumaJ. 



Florida as a Location for Bees. 



T. S. ItOYS. 



Florida, the land of (lowers — the 

 land of white sand, swamps, and alli- 

 gators, would, I think, be equally ap- 

 propriate. I write these lines sitting 

 in my room with three large wintlows 

 open and the mercury at 89- in the 

 shade. The liusy bees have been at 

 work upon the fragrant orange blos- 

 soms beneath my windows for the 

 past three weeks. We have experi- 

 enced a very warm season in Florida. 

 I landed in the State on L)ec. iltj last, 

 and there have been but very few days 

 up to the present when the mercury 

 has ranged lower than 70- F. 1 

 noticed an enquiry in the Journal 

 a short time ago from parties who 

 were contemplating coming to this 

 State to reside, relative to its honey 

 resources, etc. My observations have 

 only extended to tlie peninsular por- 

 tion of the slate, and from what I 

 know of that, would say don't come 

 here to go into the bee business. I 

 am something of a beeasticus myself, 

 and know whereof 1 speak, and my 

 advice to any and everyone coming to 

 this State with a view to settle, would 

 be to look thoroughly before you leap. 

 Too much cannot be said in'its favor 

 as a winter resort or climate, but in 

 almost every other particular it has 

 been terribly exaggerated. Orange 

 culture is the chief, inusuit, and I do 

 not know bull might say tlie only one 

 of any importiuice^and always will be. 

 Fertilizers are in good denuind. 



The Journal has lieen received 

 regularly, notwithstanding my migra- 

 tory habits. I observe that the great 

 guns are playing away at one another 

 and also at the cause of bee dysentery, 

 diarrhea, etc. These friendiy discus- 

 sions are all very good and aie often 

 the vehicles of much valualjle infor- 

 mation, progress and improvement. 

 J5ut it sei-uis lo me that the theories 

 advocaii-d fnun time to time as to the 

 cause of liec {lysentery in winter, or 

 at least the most i)f them, are so far 



from being the true cause that I can- 

 not refrain from making a few re- 

 marks upon the subject. 



In order to bring tlie said theories be- 

 fore the miners eye I shall have to 

 enumerate some of them. The lirst 

 that came under my observation was 

 bacteria as being the cause. This 

 seems to me to be purely imaginary, 

 and entirely without foundation : and 

 I think we had better discard it 

 entirely. 



The "second cause is jiollen. From 

 my observations in wintering bees, 

 pollen is no more the cause of dysen- 

 tery than proiMilis. They areboth 

 very esential requisites to successful 

 wintering. 



The third theory is " breeding in 

 winter." This is a greater mistake 

 than either of the others. The colo- 

 nies that breed the most, will inva- 

 riably be the best and strongest on the 

 first day of JNIay ; ;ind those that are 

 the strohg;est at'that date, will be the 

 most profitable. 



For several winters I conducted a 

 regular system of experiments to dis- 

 cover some means of getting my bees 

 to breed more while in winter quar- 

 ters. I found they would commence 

 breeding regularly about Jan. 1 to 10, 

 and that they would as regularly stop 

 about Feb. 20 to jNIarch 1, and would 

 not recommence until put out of the 

 winter quarters. This abnormal con- 

 dition is usually the cause of spring 

 dwindling, desertion, etc. 



The fourth and last theory that I 

 will enumerate is " starvaticui." This 

 is about as serious a state of affairs as 

 could i)ossibly exist without coupling 

 any other fatality with it. Bees in a 

 starving condition will sonietinies 

 soil the combs with excrement, par- 

 ticularly if in a cold, damp atmos- 

 phere, but is neverthe cause of dysen- 

 tery in the general meaning of tlie 

 term. Bees kept in S])ecial deposi- 

 tories are apt to be kept too quiet or 

 dormant. This I attribute to a lack 

 of vital air or oxygen, and if the 

 temperature is raisedand fresh air ad- 

 mitted they will quickly revive, and 

 resume the low, cheerful hum of happy 

 industry, etc. 



Cold is the primary cause of bee 

 dysentery in winter. All of the other 

 causes or conditions as set forth in 

 your valiialile jiaper during the last 

 few montlis, and not herein enumer- 

 ated, are secondary in their nature 

 and tend to aggravate the disease, but 

 never produce it. It is always trace- 

 able to too low a degree of tempera- 

 ture in some way or form. I have 

 verified the truth of this fact to my 

 entire satisfaction. 



I am well aware that since the in- 

 troduction of the broad, sliallov^- hive, 

 that there has been much serious 

 trouble exiieriencedin wintering bees. 

 In fact it is almost imiiossible to win- 

 ter out-of-doois successfully in this 

 form of hive ; and those wintered in 

 special de]iiisitoiics, as a general 

 thing.* have fared but little better. 

 The former usually jierish in the 

 middle of the winter, while the latter 

 are apt to dwindle away and come to 

 naught, soon afli-r being set out. 



Jacksonville, Fla., March 23, 1SS2. 



M/j- 



mm^m 



Local Convention Directory. 



1H82. Tivif aiui Place uj Mefting. 



April 15— Northern Ohio, utNorwalk, o. 



S. K. Newman. Sec. 



19, 120— Tiiscuniwas anfl Muskingum Valley, 

 at Cusliocton, O. 



J. A. Bucklew, Sec, Clarks, O. 



Southeastern Mich., at J:ickson. Mich. 



J. n. Murdock, Sec. Dexter, Mich. 



25— Texas State, at McKinney. Texas. 



Wm. K. Howard. Sec. 



26,27, — Western Mich, at Grand Rapids. 

 W. M. S. Dodpe. Sec, Coopersville. Mich. 



2(1. 27— Western Michigan, at Grand Rapids. 

 Wni. M. S. UudKe. Sec, Cooper.^vil!e, Mich. 



27— Kentucky Union, at Eminence. Ky. 

 G. W. Uemaree. Sec, Christiansburg, Ky. 



May 2. 3 -Eastsrn N. Y. Union, at Cobleskill, N. Y. 

 C. Quackenbusb. Sec, Baruesville. N. Y. 



11— Champlain Valley, at Middlebury, Vt. 

 T. iirookins. Sec. East Shcireham, Vt. 



16— N. W. III. and S. W.Wis.. at Rock City. Ul. 

 Jonathan Stewart. Sec. Rock City, Ul. 



25— Iowa Central, at Winterset. Iowa. 



Uenrv Wallace, Sec. 



8^~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of " 

 time and place of future meetiDgs.— Ed. 



i^'The Central jNIichigan Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will meet April 

 20, at Lansing, in the Capitol building. 

 Programme.— President's annual ad- 

 dress. Be v. J. Ashworth ; bee hives 

 and Hxtures, E. W. Wood; Cyprian 

 bees, J. Harper; the coming bee, 

 I'rof. A. J. Cook ; care of old combs, 

 Stephen C. Perry. 



Hev. J. AsinvoKTH, Pres. 



^" A sjiecial meeting of the West- 

 ern Michigan Bee Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, will be held in Supervisors' 

 Ilall, Grand Rapids, ilich., Wednes- 

 dav and Thursday, April 26 and 27, 

 1S82. Wm. M. S. Dodge, ^^'ec. 



l^°Tlie spring ineetingof the North- 

 ern Ohio ISee-Keeiiers' Association 

 will be held atNorwalk, 0.,oii Satur- 

 day, April, 1.5, 1882. 



S. F. Newman, Sec. 



1^ The ITuion Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will meet at Eminence, Kv., 

 on the 27tli day of April, 18S2. A full 

 attendance is very much desired, as- 

 important business will be transacted- 

 G. W. Dbmauee, Sec. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



'he semi-annual meeting'of the 

 Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valley 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, will be held 

 in the Town Hall at Coshocton, O.,on 

 April 19 and 20. comiuencing at 10 a. 

 m. A cordial invitation is extended 

 to bee-keepers everywhere. 



J. A. Bucklew, Sec, Clarks, O. 



i^-The Texas State I5ee-Keepers' 

 Convention will hold its meeting at. 

 Judge \V. II. Andrews' Apiary, at 

 McKinney. Texas. April 2-5, 1882. 



Wm. R. Howard, Sec. 



