356 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ture of sectional hives and scattering 

 evergreens, the old Qulnby hives with 

 deep rims, flat tops, and rear record 

 slates s^till remain to identify the 

 Woodstock apiary and suggest the 

 presence of Mr. J. B. Hall, the es- 

 teemed author of my first interest in 

 bees, and my honored preceptor in the 

 art of their successful cultivation. It 

 is quite improbable that any other 

 person will view this picture and 

 study its details with such intense in- 

 terest as the writer, who is herein af- 

 forded an opportunity to once more 

 look upon the scene of his lirst bee- 

 keeping operations on a commercial 

 scale, after a separation therefrom of 

 more than seventeen years. The ever 

 kind, though eminently earnest, dis- 

 position of Mr. Hall, as he moved 

 about among the hives, and in his in- 

 teresting and most pleasant family, 

 are forcil^ly recalled. I see again the 

 interior of the tidy honey house, 

 wherein everything is neatness, with 

 its prominently printed sign before 

 the door. "Smoking Not Allowed— 

 Spittoons for Chewers Outside." As 

 if at my side, as I write. I hear his 

 voice, kindly addressed to his inex- 

 perienced students, in these admoni- 

 tions: "Never, never leave for a mo- 

 ment honey running from a tank. If 

 you have to take your eyes off the 

 running honey, first close the gate; 

 then it's safe." "In handling combs 

 of honey, always keep them on edge- 

 reverse it edgewise — not flop it over as 

 if it were a piece of solid lumber." 

 "there is but one position for a hive or 

 super containing foundation; that is as 

 it sets upon the hive; never set them 

 down otherwise." "The operator's po- 

 sition is at the rear or side of the 

 hive; never get in front of it; that's 

 the bees' end of the hive." These, and 

 scores of other precepts which cross 

 the mind as I look upon the old yard 

 again, are applicable the world over, 

 and uniformly excellent, regardless of 

 "locality." 



A volume would be necessary to ex- 

 haust the question of differences in 

 conditions and methods prevailing 

 throughout our great country, and the 

 (•()-()p;'rationof hundreds of experienced 

 minds would be necessary to accom- 

 plish it. As to mere surface condi- 

 tions, however, without going at all 

 into details, the following observations 

 may be of interest to those whose ex- 

 perience has i>een couflned to either 

 one or the other of the two extreme 

 localities of which I write: 



When this number of the Review 

 reaches the reader, Mr. Hall's bees 

 will be in cold storage. Their world 

 is snowed under. Pendant icicles 

 adorn the roof which shelters them 

 from the Frost King. Possibly an oc- 

 cjisional one may be so fortunate as 

 to get well into the cluster, and there 

 indulge in a sweet, dream-like memory 

 of the blooming "flreweed" which she 

 visited last fall. May be she will sur- 

 vive this dismal and dangerous or- 

 deal, and again see the sun. Possibly 

 she may be permitted to joyously wal- 

 low in the dusty petals of a huge 

 skunk-cabbage of another year. "For 

 her sake." let us hope she may "win- 

 ter." 



IN THE SOUTH THE INACTIVE PERIOD IS 

 IN THE AUTUMN, 



In South Florida the period of 

 CTcatest inactivity is during the au- 

 tumn months; though more or less 

 l)ollen, and perhaps a little honey, are 

 available in the field at all times of 

 the yeai". The "winter problem" is 

 necessarily indifferent; though neglect 

 and carelessness are hardly less fatal 

 in Florida than in the North. Weak 

 or (pieenless colonies readily fall a 

 prey to ants and the wax-moth. In- 

 deed, the strong ones sometimes do so. 

 Early in January, or in late Decem- 

 ber, the soft maple and wild penny- 

 royal stimulate the secretion of new 

 wax, and the new honey begins to 

 glisten In the combs of the brood 



