1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



3 67 



worry any one, for practical bee-keepers are well aware that 

 bees readily replace failing queens most of the time without 

 the knowledge of the bee-keeper. Such queens would simply 

 be a fortune for a bee-keeper with large hives. 



But how is a bee-keeper with 9 Gallup frames, or 8 Lang- 

 stroth frames, to discover such a marvel as a queen that is 

 capable of laying 6,000 eggs in 24 hours, since his hive con- 

 fines her to a capacity of about 2,000 eggs per day ? Yet it 

 would be a treat to find such a queen, and to breed from her, 

 and this discovery would be of more importance than that of the 

 five-banded bees, for is it not bees and honey that we want? 



I must say that if we did not have any queens that were 

 found to lay 6,000 eggs per day, we had none, either, that 

 died of exhaustion in 18 to 24 months. The queens that died 

 early, with me, were regularly those which were of poor 

 health and poor layers, usually queens that had been in-bred 

 too long. We used to rear queens for sale, and kept a slate 

 on the back of each hive, and those queens that were in the 

 largest hives made as good an average of life as the queens 

 that were in smaller hives. 



Friend Doolittle adds: " It is well to remember that all 

 queens are not equally prolific, and while 20 per cent, of our 

 queens would keep the brood-chamber of a 10-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive properly supplied with brood to give the best 

 results in section honey, the other 80 per cent, would not be 

 prolific enough to do so." This shows that if Doolittle has 

 the most prolific queens in existence, he has also some of the 

 poorest breed, since 80 per cent, of them are not able to lay 

 58,000 eggs in 21 days. 



On this question I wish to bring forward a very reliable 

 testimony from one of our largest honey-producers. In 

 Gleanings, page 45, our friend, E. France, says : 



" If I had a queen that did not equal eight frames of 

 brood during the breeding season, she is no queen for me. 

 With our Langstroth frames we keep the lower story of eight 

 frames full of brood, and the surplus [he keeps a two-story 

 brood-chamber] brood-combs we make into new colonies. In 

 that way I made 45 new colonies this year (1894) from 95 

 old ones, and every one of the new ones were given eight good 

 brood-combs — 860 brood-combs, or an average of nearly four 

 combs from each queen." 



Here, then, is a man who had 95 colonies, last year, that 

 averaged 12 combs of brood during the height of the breeding 

 season. This man made a net increase of 45 colonies from 

 the surplus capacity for laying of his 95 queens. These 95 

 queens averaged, if I figure it right, 3,700 eggs each per 

 day during the best time. This number confirms what we say 

 in " Langstroth Revised," that it is not uncommon to find 

 queens which lay more tlian 3,500 eggs per day for several 

 weeks in succession during the breeding season. Yet it was 

 with reluctance that we had made this assertion, for we 

 were among the first who had noticed so great a fecundity in 

 queen-bees. 



Doolittle thinks it is better not to rear bees in large num- 

 bers before or after the time when their presence in large 

 numbers is needed, because " we not only have the cost of 

 their perfecting to pay for, but the cost of their consuming 

 after being perfected, as well." 



The five small-hive colonies, sold at the auction mentioned 

 by me, were of the size preferred by Doolittle. They had not 

 perfected too many workers when a surplus of bees was no 

 longer needed for the honey crop. Y'^et, the large-hive colony, 

 which reared and perfected a large number of bees, even 

 after they were no longer needed for the honey crop, and 

 which had to bear the cost of their sustenance afterwards, 

 gave the largest profit. 



Let me add that a few years ago, we transferred a large 

 number of colonies in 10-frame Langstroth hives into larger 

 hives, because we were tired of the uniformity with which we 

 had to feed their bees in seasons of short crops, while many of 

 the large-hive colonies would yield a little surplus. These 

 hives are now piled up behind our honey-room, waiting to be 

 split into kindling-wood. Would we have been better satisfied 

 with still smaller hives? Hamilton, 111. 



xV 

 /*». 



Something Historical — Florida Prospects. 



BT CAPT. R. H. m'INTYEE. 



I commenced working with bees while I was Steward of 

 the United States Hospital for the Insane, at Washington, D. 

 C. I was so fortunate as to have the late Samuel Wagner (the 

 first editor of the American Bee Journal) for my teacher — I 

 think it was in 1866 and 1867. He then lived in Washing- 

 ton, and had an apiary in a suburb called Uniontown, just 

 across the Potomac river from the Navy Yard. He was a 



patient, careful instructor, and with his help I built up a large 

 apiary out of a few colonies, in every conceivable kind of hive. 

 I adopted the Langstroth hive, and have never yet changed 

 my mind as to its standing at the head. 



In 1869 I came to Florida, and had quite an apiary at 

 Daytona, on the beautiful Halifax river, but I was a few miles 

 too far north for the mangrove. There was a man named 

 Lewis, who kept bees at New Smyrna. It was Mr. Lewis that 

 first found out that the mangrove was a honey-producer. 



1 owned the first honey-extractor used on the Coast, and 

 one year I took about 1,000 pounds of honey. The past sea- 

 son there was over 200 tons taken, but the freezing killed the 

 mangrove to the water, and it will be at least five years before 

 it will bloom again. 



I went out of bee-keeping about 12 years ago. I then 

 made hives and frames, and reared early queens. I am vain 

 enough to think that my work did a great deal towards start- 

 ing what has since grown to be a large business. 



Ill health, caused by exposure and wounds in the late 

 " unpleasantness," has compelled me to commence with bees 

 again. I bought 6 colonies last spring, increased to 20 in all 

 — all fine colonies of mostly pure Italians. A few are hybrids, 

 but I shall change them as soon as the drones fly. 



The freeze has injured the honey prospect very much. My 

 bees are bringing pollen and honey every fair day. There was 

 not a day until Dec. 24, 1894, that they did not bring pollen, 

 and on most days some honey. 



I was a subscriber for the first volume of the American 

 Bee Journal ; it was then a monthly, not quite as large as the 

 weekly is now. " May its shadow never grow less." 



Bro. A. I. Root was in our vicinity a short time ago, but I 

 was away and did not meet him. 



Our peach trees are now (Feb. 4) in full bloom, and the 

 bees are busy on them, but I think they get mostly pollen. 



I shall be glad to answer any questions in regard to 

 Florida, to those who send an addressed, stamped envelope. I 

 am well acquainted with the Peninsular part of the State, on 

 both the Atlantic and Gulf, as I have lived in the State 25 

 years. 



I was Captain of Co. K., 72nd Ind. Vols., Wilden's Brig- 

 ade. I should be glad to hear from any old soldier, whether 

 he wore the "blue" or the "gray." Port Orange, Fla. 



A Number of "Kinks" Worth Knowing. 



BY GEO. W. STEPHENS. 



Removing Propolis From Hands. — Someone asked a few 

 weeks back for a recipe for removing propolis from the hands. 

 I think I can answer that. I know of nothing for the purpose 

 equal to soap and water ; but there is quite a knack in doing 

 it even with soap and water. U«e plenty of soap and not 

 much water; rub the hands together in the lather until the 

 propolis is dissolved, then wash in the water. If any propolis 

 yet remains, lather and wash again. The meanest kind of 

 propolis will let go thus treated. Any soap will do, but 

 laundry soap will accomplish the object the quickest, although 

 it might be too strong for some hands. 



Finding Queens. — If you have a queen that is wild and 

 difficult to find, and you are anxious to interview her, instead 

 of shaking the bees out on the ground and straining them 

 through perforated zinc, place in the hive a queen-cage that 

 has lately held a queen. In about an hour, or a little less, 

 open the hive, and nine times in a dozen you will find her 

 " adel " highness in the cage looking for a supposed rival. 



Self-Hiving Bees. — A friend of mine left an empty hive 

 sitting close alongside one with bees in it. One day he saw 

 the bees marching from the full hive into the empty one, 

 the queen with them. They took possession and went to 

 work just as lively and as contentedly as if they had first 

 clustered on a high limb. Perhaps bees could be educated 

 to always swarm that way. Queen-breeders might take a 

 hint from this. These were S-banded bees. 



Making Sugar Syrup for Feeding.— To make licking- 

 good sugar syrup for feeding, put sugar and cold water 

 together in a vessel and let stand 10 to 15 hours, stirring 

 freqently. Then warm it until the sugar is all dissolved, 

 but do not boil or let it get very hot. It will not granulate 

 any sooner, if at all, than if it had been allowed to perco- 

 late through a flannel rag. Your wife, sister, mother, or 

 mother-iu-Iaw, could tell you, if you would only ask them 

 about it, that to make sugar syrup for the table as is often done, 

 that will not granulate, they warm it up from cold water. 



Cure for Outside-Clustering Bef.s.— In hot weather 

 during a honey-flow, when bees ought to be at work in the 



