THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



E rices of them all would be somewhat 

 igher than at present; for get the 

 craze (if I may so call it) once started 

 and it will sweep over the country, 

 and nearly every bee-keeper, no mat- 

 ter what the size his hive may be, 

 will tliink he must come to the half- 

 pound section as near as possible, and 

 there would be as many sizes of half- 

 pound boxes as tliere are different 

 sizes of hives at present, and I fear 

 more, as some would reduce their 

 boxes in one way and some in another. 



I tliink, perhapSj for a season or so, 

 the lialf-pound sections may take well 

 in the market, it being new, and some- 

 what of a novelty, but it will become 

 a drug upon the market and be driven 

 out of use, to the sorrow of those that 

 have made expensive changes. 



Again, I think one-pound is as 

 small a quantity as most people want 

 to buy. Ifis about the right size to 

 put upon a plate without cutting in 

 two, and if a pound or more of honey 

 isto be bought they would certainly 

 pass by the half-pound lots (for they 

 have the appearance of too much 

 tare) to the 1, m and 2-pound boxes, 

 and, again, I am afraid we cannot 

 get near as large a yield per hive with 

 these small boxes. Let us hear some- 

 thing of this from those that have 

 used them. 



North Lansing, Mich. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Queens Reared in the South. 



TIIOS. C. DAVIES. 



On page 182 of the Journal for 

 April 4, Mr. T. S. Johnson, of Bogart, 

 0., asks Mr. G. M. Doolittle and " any 

 others who have had experience with 

 Southern queens, if he thinks bees 

 from a queen reared in the South are 

 as hardy and well able to stand the 

 long, cold winters of the North, as 

 those from a queen reared here ?" 

 Being one of the " others " who have 

 had some experience with Southern 

 queens, [ would like to give the fol- 

 lowing details : 



In April of last year I received a 

 dollar-queen from a Southern breeder, 

 and in a few weeks after, a selected 

 tested queen from the same person. 

 I also received a selected tested 

 queen, and a Syrian queen from a New 

 York breeder. From those two se- 

 lected queens, several fine queens 

 were reared during July and August, 

 and when preparing my bees for the 

 winter, my queens were as follows : 

 Two from the South, tvvo from the 

 State of New York, and 24 reared at 

 home. Several of those were reared 

 the season before the last, and one of 

 them was reared in July, 1879. She 

 had been such an excellent queen, 

 that I had not courage enough to kill 

 her last fall, and she was allowed to 

 live as long as she could. About 

 three weeks ago she died, I suppose 

 of old age. 



Twenty of those, including the two 

 from the South, and the selected one 

 from New York, were wintered on 

 their summer stands, well packed in 

 chaff. On April .3, they were all ex- 

 amined, and the two from the South 



had their hives well stocked with 

 bees and brood, and fully equal to the 

 one from New York. In fact, those 

 20 colonies, except one, have wintered 

 admirably, and they are now so equal 

 that I cannot tell which of them is 

 the best. 



Of the 8 in the cellar, 6 came 

 through well, but the other two are 

 rather weak, and queenless. One of 

 the queens died last week, and the 

 other, three weeks ago. I united 

 these two, and have sent to the South- 

 ern breeder, four- days ago, for a 

 queen to give them. 



I do not know what has been the 

 experience of others with Southern 

 queens, except that of Mr. Doolittle's 

 with his Texan queen, but I must say 

 that I am well pleased with them so 

 far. I believe with Mr. Doolittle, 

 that " there is a difference in bees 

 about wintering," but can hardly be- 

 lieve, at present, that it is due to the 

 part of the country where they are 

 reared. I sincerely hope that the 

 bee-masters, by " studying and ex- 

 perimenting," will succeed in getting 

 more light on this inequality of dif- 

 ferent colonies regarding wintering, 

 before another cold winter comes. 



Pittsburgh, Pa., April 11, 1883. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Florida. 



C. H. LAKE. 



As many bee-keepers throughout 

 the country are turning their atten- 

 tion to this State, and being in com- 

 munication with several prominent 

 bee-keepers already located there. 

 througli whom I have gathered the 

 information herein contained. I give 

 it, thinking it might be of service to 

 those about to locate there. For the 

 past three years I have been thinking 

 of removing there permanently, owing 

 to the fact I am of a consumptive 

 family, and suffer extremely with 

 lung difficulty, especially in cold win- 

 ters in this latitude. 



There is a belt of country along the 

 east coast, rightly termed the "Bee 

 Belt." Ten years ago bee-keeping 

 was an unknown industry there, and 

 scarcely a dozen colonies could be 

 found among the few families who 

 then inhabited that portion of Florida. 

 This "belt" commences about oppo- 

 site Port Orange, extending South as 

 far as Oak Hill, a distance of 12-5 miles, 

 or thereabout. 



Thousands upon thousands of acres 

 of marsh are tliere covered with the 

 black mangrove, the best and greatest 

 honey producing plant known in 

 Florida. Within this radius the black 

 mangrove predominates, while above 

 the head of Indian river, the red man- 

 grove grows almost exclusively, which, 

 1 believe, is not a honey-producing 

 shrub. 



This " belt " offers superior induce- 

 ments to bee-keepers, and when the 

 fact becomes known, bee men will 

 not be backward in availing them- 

 selves of the opportunity, by moving 

 in and locating at favorable points. 

 From recent letters from Mr. O. 

 Olson, of New Smyrna, who is, with- 



out doubt, the most experienced and 

 successful apiarist in Florida, making 

 bee-keeping his e.xclusive business, 

 he informs me that it is " impossible 

 to overstock ttiecountry." Mr. Olson 

 makes the study of honey-producing 

 flowers a portion of his business, and 

 from " careful microscopic examina- 

 tion of the flowers of the black man- 

 grove," he finds they contain " one- 

 fourtli of a drop of honey." When it 

 is taken into consideration that this 

 shrub bears thousands upon thou- 

 sands of blossoms each season, one 

 can get some idea as to its honey- 

 producing qualities. It is asserted 

 that 90 per cent, of the surplus honey 

 gathered during the season (which 

 lasts usually about ten weeks), is 

 from black mangrove. While there 

 are a great variety of the other honey- 

 producing flowers, blooming at dif- 

 ferent periods throughout the year, 

 among which can be enumerated the 

 " saw and cabbage palmetto, gallber- 

 ries, sweet bay, wild sunflowers, yel- 

 low jessamine, golden rod, orange 

 bloom, snow vine, basswood, sweet 

 gum, etc., etc." There is no reason 

 why the honey cannot be gathered. 

 With all these natural requisites of 

 building up the colonies to perfec- 

 tion, by the time when the mangrove 

 season opens. 



There seems to be a great diversity 

 of opinion among the Florida apiar- 

 ists in regard to the cabbage palmetto. 

 Some assert that "the bees neither 

 gather honey or pollen from its 

 bloom," while others are equally con- 

 fident that " it equals in every respect 

 the mangrove, as a honey producer ;" 

 while others affirm that " it yields 

 pollen only." Different situations 

 probably accounts for the varied re- 

 sults, like many of our own honey- 

 producing shrubs, trees, etc. 



Florida has its disadvantages, like 

 all other great honey -producing States, 

 and will, till the tide of immigration 

 is sufficient to establish railroads and 

 water conveyances. New Smyrna is 

 12-5 miles from the nearest express 

 office, and for transportation the in- 

 habitants have to "depend on schoon- 

 ers along the coast." A small steamer 

 has been put on between Jacksonville 

 and New Smyrna, for the winter, but 

 is taken off in the spring ; this steamer 

 makes one trip a week, but all this 

 will be removed as soon as business 

 springs up, and the country becomes 

 more settled. 



Besides " being out of the world," 

 we have the bear, dragon fly, several 

 bee birds, and scores of other ene- 

 mies to the bee to contend with, and, 

 for that reason alone, we wisli the 

 entire country was settled up, while 

 the bee moth reigns supreme, which 

 is owing to the fact that what bees 

 were kept by the old inhabitants, 

 were in the old "gum or moth har- 

 bor." 



A few more interesting items may 

 not be amiss. W. S. Hart, of Hawks 

 Park, has nearly 100 colonies of bees, 

 and has the best out-fit, consisting of 

 the improved machinery for carrying 

 on the business, foundation machine, 

 evaporating machinery, etc., that 

 there is in Florida. 



A. J. Packwood has started with 20 



