378 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



July 



cried my children, who came with their fingers, and 

 licking it up. Both found, to their astonishment, 

 the supposed honey to be of a bitter taste, like tur- 

 pentine, and I had to use strong measures to keep 

 my little 3-year-old girl away from licking it, for I 

 feared she might be sick, as I myself had tasted the 

 sap, and felt pains of colic after it. 



The whole region, from Clearwater down Manatee 

 River, Peace Creek, Charlotte Ilurbor, Caloosa- 

 hatchee River, in the Hamock and swamp lands near 

 the coast, are the best fields for the bee-keeper; be- 

 sides, I do not hear or know any who bother the 

 bees. 



Two nests of two bald-eagles are near me on my 

 way to Punta Rassa, and the sand-crane, crows, and 

 the different sorts of water-fowls and sea-birds, 

 with the gaudiest plumage, and no bee-eaters. The 

 mosquito-hawks are not bad near the apiary, but are 

 bad near the sea shore ani great water-courses, and 

 may take many of my pets away when in search of 

 nectar. The ants trouble a little when the bees are 

 not placed on a platform I'/i or 3 feet high, which I 

 did. Besides, when so located, no toad can reach 

 them. This precaution, Mr. Hendrick, of Cedar Key, 

 gave me, and I acted accordingly, and brought 700 

 feet of lumber over from Fort Myers for the pur- 

 pose. The transport of this lumber cost me over 

 $20.C0. 



On Estero Bay, River, and Creek, are thousands of 

 acres of mangrove, mixed with cottonwood, sea- 

 grape, cabbage and saw palmetto, mastics, many 

 kinds of cactus, live-oak, etc. But the disadvantag- 

 es of great wide water-courses is the mosquitos, 

 sand-flies, and mosquito-hawks; and if the apiary is 

 not watched, the bear will soon find them out and 

 partake of their honey. 



The moving of my goods and bees from Punta 

 Rassa to this place took two weeks, and cost me 

 over f 60.00, 16 miles distance; besides I was over 8 

 hours naked in water, amid the alligators and saw- 

 fishes, to shove the boat with my feet over sand and 

 oyster banks, over tree-trunks and stems, in which 

 the boat was caught, and I entered my possession 

 alone, with my bees in the dress of Adam, after 8 

 hours of hard labor, my whole back side from head 

 to heel burned and blistered from the rays of the 

 sun. Next day I had a hea%'y attack of chill from 

 the exposure. 



We are all hearty and healthy now, and thank the 

 Lord for It ! The thermometer raised to 90 and 95°, 

 and the cooling sea-breeze enables me to do hard 

 work without inconvenience, except on very calm 

 days we feel a little exhausted, but not much. The 

 nights are all cool; and after midnight you draw the 

 cover closer. Mosquitos and sand-flies are trouble- 

 some on calm days and early mornings, and late eve- 

 nings in the night. We have no trouble to sleep 

 well, as my good tent shuts them out. 



FLORID.*. nONEV. 



I hoar that a New York man, Mr. Thurbcr, and a 

 Cincinnati man, visited Florida to look after the re- 

 sources of honey here, and they said the Florida 

 honey is the best in the world, and I believe It! 



AN INSANE BEE-MAN. 



A brother bee-keeper was here (I do not know 

 his name) with Langstroth hives, extractor, etc., 

 who failed. Mosquito-hawks destroyed his bees, and 

 he became Insane, Others say he was crazy before 

 he went further South on the sea-shore. They car- 



ried him to Key West, and brought him to an asy- 

 lum, where he will now be kept. His few things, 

 the bears afterward destroyed in the apiary. I shall 

 try to find out his name. G. Damkoiiler. 



Punta Rassa, Monroe Co., Fla. 



Friend D.. I am afraid you are a little 

 hasty in deciding so soon to call your place 

 the '' Garden of Eden Apiary." If I am not 

 mistaken, yours is one of the enthusiastic 

 temperaments that are often cast down, dis- 

 couraged, and disappointed. I confess that 

 I like the prospect you have pictured before 

 you in your wild home; but do you fully re- 

 alize how much you have to do to make this 

 wilderness a home fit for your wife and chil- 

 dren? A great many have written with 

 much enthusiasm of Florida, but very few 

 have ever yet reported a realization of these 

 bright anticipations. Are you sure you and 

 your children won't get lazy, without any 

 frost and snowV and will they get an educa- 

 tion, with the zeal and enthusiasm they 

 might have were they battling with our 

 Northern winters V 



mns. AXTEiiij TEiiiiS us moRE: about 



BEES IN THE HONEY-HOUSE. 



ALSO SOME OTHER MATTERS. 



M S you asked me to come again, I will do so, and 

 ^^ reply to questions in regard to bees in my 

 ' honey -house. Thetwohoney-housesathome, 

 bees could not got out of and in to, unless carried in 

 or brushed out: and the one at our Timber Apiary 

 bothered us some when honey harvest closed, as a 

 few bees did get in and out, which would cause 

 bees to hang around the house. It seemed impos- 

 sible to fasten them all out, as it was not a plaster- 

 ed house; the other two were plastered. There was 

 no pollen in any of the houses, to my knowledge; 

 no brood-combs; probably a few cells in the sur- 

 plus frames of honey, but I doubt if there was as 

 much as a whole section full in all three houses. 

 There might have been more, as the two houses at 

 home were both nearly solid with comb honey, and 

 the one at the other apiary held only the honey for 

 a few daj'S at a time, until removed home. 



In two of the houses there were large sheets of 

 brood in all stages, and considerable capped brood, 

 some nearly ready to hatch; but I don't remember 

 whether any hatched out, but think there was, as the 

 comb looked dark in the center, as it does after 

 brood has hatched. We would leave the wooden 

 doors open as long as we could without attracting 

 robbers from the outside, in hopes that they would 

 come to the screen doors. A few would come, but 

 we could not get them all out, as more would slip in 

 each time we went in, if we had been carrying in 

 honey; but at night they would all leave and go 

 home to their hives. At the close of the harvest, 

 perhaps a teacupful hung around the door a few 

 evenings, and I gave them to a queenless colony 

 that I had set near one door, 



STRAINING EXTRACTED nONEY. 



I sec you and others seem to think extracted hon- 

 ey needs to be run through a strainer. I can't see 

 any use of the stralnerat all. Impurities immediate- 

 ly rise to the top, and can be skimmed off. The bar- 

 rel should be skimmed once or twice a day. Our 

 honey is perfectly clear — every speck rises, and it 



