452 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



palmetto, sweet bay, basswood, etc., 



fiviug a good flow of very lieavy 

 oney, of light, amber color, and ex- 

 cellent flavor. This flow lasts until 

 the cabbage palmetto and mangrove 

 come in, tlie last of June. From this 

 on until about the lOtli of August, the 

 flow is continuous and heavy, the 

 honey as handsome as can be pro- 

 duced, and of very line flavor. A rest- 

 ing spell now conies for the bees, 

 which lasts until the middle of Sep- 

 tember, when the fall flowers, and 

 later, the saw pahnetto berries, yield 

 a surplus of darker honey, suitable 

 for winter supplies or spring feeding. 

 As bees fly here almost every day in 

 the year, fall honey can be "fed with- 

 out fear of dysentery. Some of the 

 leading honey and pollen-producing 

 trees are the maiile, willow, sweet- 

 gum, the bays, orange, myrtle, oak, 

 •basswood, hickory, youpon, mock- 

 olive, saw palmetto, cabbage palmetto 

 and mangrove, the last two of which 

 ■come togetlier, in the middle of the 

 summer, and are unequaled as honey- 

 producers by anything else in the 

 whole vegetable kingdom known to 

 the writer. They produce honey in 

 abundance, of the finest quality, and 

 •we think it is safe to say, never fail 

 to produce a good crop. We also 

 liave honey-producing vines and 

 plants too numerous to mention. 



Q. — Where is your market for 

 honey V How do yoii ship V And what 

 are the prices obtained V A.— We 

 liave a limited home market for ex- 

 tracted honey, at S to 10 cents, and 

 comb 15 to 20 cents per pound ; but 

 most of the larger producers ship 

 their crops to the markets of the 

 North. 



Q.— Are there plenty of bees for 

 sale near you, and if so, what are the 

 prices asked ? A.— In my immediate 

 neighborhood there are very few bees 

 for sale, as nearly everyone who has 

 any had rather buy than sell. But in 

 many parts of the State where " im- 

 proved bee-culture " is unknown 

 plenty can usually be bought in log 

 gums or in boxes at from $1 to $2 per 

 colony. 



Q. — Are there many engaged in tlie 

 bee business near you V A.— There 

 are quite a number of apiarists with- 

 in a few miles of me, and some of 

 them are skillful and well up in all 

 the modern imi)rovements, but I 

 know of no other good point in the 

 State that comes anywhere near be- 

 ing stocked. 



Q.— How does Florida compare with 

 California for bees V A.— Parties 

 that are well posted and reliable, 

 write me from California that they 

 occasionally get very large crops of 

 honey there, but that on an average, 

 but one year in tliree can be counted 

 on for much surplus, while occasion- 

 ally they have a year that kills off 

 thousands of colonies by starvation. 

 Also, tliat the fruit-raisers and bee- 

 keepers are at war, and thq former 

 are driving the latter iuto the moun- 

 tains, " where no white man wants to 

 live." Here in Florida our seasons 

 are remarkably even in honey produc- 

 tion, and we liever have a year that a 

 paying crop is not produced. Bee- 

 keeping is antagonistic to none of our 



industries and good men are welcome 

 to any part of the State, no matter 

 where they come from. From what I 

 can learn of the matter I am confident 

 that our good bee pasturage is not 

 more limited in extent than that of 

 California, and there six hundred men 

 give their whole time to the business, 

 while I do not suppose there are a 

 dozen in this State but what keep 

 bees merely as a side issue. 



Living is cheap here, as but little 

 clothing is required; wood is plenty 

 for the gathering; a house can be 

 built for a ridiculously small sum 

 that will do until a better can be 

 afforded. Fish and game are plenty, 

 and vegetables do well where properly 

 attended to. Good board can be had 

 with a private family for $3 to $7 per 

 week. 



I am often asked what success I 

 have had at bee-keeping, and so I 

 have published my reports each year, 

 but as this may reach many who have 

 never seen them, I will say that in 



1880 I started in the spring with 

 fourteen colonies, increased to forty 

 and took nineteen hundred pounds of 

 honey. It was considered a poor 

 year and I used no foundation. In 



1881 I started with thirty-five colonies, 

 increased to eighty-six. and took six 

 thousand five hundred pounds of 

 honey by actual weight; I also left 

 about one thousand pounds in the 

 hives that could have been sparad 

 without cutting the bees short in win- 

 ter stores. 



The California Houej Crop. 



As we have heretofore siiid, the 

 prospect for a short honey crop in 

 California is now a realized fact, and 

 it only remains for the bee-keepers 

 east of tlie Pacific slope to insist upon 

 a good price for their honey, and to 

 take no less. The Apiculiuvist for 

 July says : 



In Southern California the princi- 

 pal honey season closes this month 

 with the sumac bloom, which like 

 most of the other honey producing 

 plants that have preceeded it, will 

 not yield much honey this season, 

 judging from present indications and 

 state of the atmosphere. It has been 

 our observation for several years past 

 in this country that when the first 

 flowers of the season fail to secrete 

 nectar those that follow usually fail 

 too. The weather continues cool with 

 occasional indications of rain — this 

 state of things debar all hope for but 

 little more honey than perhaps will be 

 needed to carry the bees through the 

 'winter with. In alfalfa localities bees 

 will doubtless store some surplus. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



1^ The postal law makes the taking 

 of a newspaper and the refusal to pay 

 for the same, theft, and any person 

 guilty of such action is liable to crim- 

 inal proceedings the same as though 

 he had stolen goods to the amount of 

 the subscription. 



Ancient Regulations Concerningr 

 Bees. — Mr. Kruegell has collected the 

 following " bee laws " for the Benen- 

 zeitunQ : 



1. Bees which live in the woods, or 

 cling to fences, bushes, or out in the 

 fields without being hived, are public 

 property, and belong to anyone who 

 secures them. 



2. Honey or wax which has been 

 gathered by wild bees, may become 

 the property of whoever takes pos- 

 session of it.— Cournelle. 



3. But when bees have become do- 

 mesticated in a liive, or elsewhere, 

 they are the personal property of who- 

 ever possesses that place, and he is 

 not allowed to destroy them by fraud, 

 malice, or prejudice, or harm them in 

 any maimer. — Vaudore. 



4. By tlie same reason, the owner 

 of a stray swarm, if he has followed 

 and not lost sight of it, can claim and 

 take possession of it no matter vs-here 

 it may have alighted, but if other- 

 wise, it is the property of the person 

 upon whose premises it may have 

 settled and whoever shall seize it can 

 be compelled to return the same. — 

 Coullier. 



5. Should the owner of any grounds, 

 upon which a stray swarm of bees 

 may have settled, endeavor to injure 

 them in any manner, he forfeits all 

 right and title thereby. — Argan. C. N. 

 564. 



6. Tlie " Code Rural " proclaims, 

 that the proprietor of a fugitive 

 swarm, who has followed it, even if it 

 is lost to his sight for some time, may 

 claim and recover it when found. — 

 Codo Rure. 



7. The Romain law does not coincide 

 with the above statement.— Romain 

 law, 584. 



8. For this reason it is customary to 

 follow a swarm of bees with a great 

 noise. — Cournelle. 



9. The usufructuary, (occupant, or 

 tenant) farmer, lodger or any persons 

 who possess ground property, with 

 precarious right, have the right to use 

 any swarms that have started from 

 their property.— Cournelle. 



10. But if the swarm has settled 

 upon grounds possessed by a farmer, 

 usufructuary, etc., it can only be used 

 as an accessory to the grounds by the 

 farmer, usufriictuary, etc. — Cournelle 

 and Vandore. 



11. The* administrative authorities 

 have the power to forbid any person 

 placing bees in towns, cities, etc., or 

 in public squares, or highways, or any 

 place wliere they may trouble or in- 

 jure the public. — Yandore. 



12. But about this restriction there 

 exists no law or custom which pro- 

 hibits the private individual from 

 keeping bees in any place he chooses, 

 upon his own grouuds, or transport- 



