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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



For our frontispiece tliis montli 

 we are sliowing four views of one 

 of our ten bee yards. The yard is 

 known as tlie Swift yard, named 

 after the party who owns the wood- 

 lot they occupy. It is our nearer 

 yard to Northstar, being two miles 

 out in the country, Number one 

 reading from the top is a nearer 

 view of the honey house, show- 

 ing a portion of the colonies 

 in the yard. Number two "Wood- 

 land Avenue" is the south row of 

 hives in the Swift yard, and gives 

 one a very good idea of how the 

 yard looks at close range. It will 

 be noticed that the hives are group- 

 ed in fours, on a platform the 

 size of our winter cases. This plat- 

 form serves as a summer stand for 

 the bees and the bottom of the 

 winter case during winter. Number 

 three is a view of the east side of 

 the yard, showing the winter cases 

 piled up in the foreground during 

 summer. The cases are built in 

 sections, and are just "tacked" to- 

 gether at the corners during win- 

 ter, and are knocked down during 

 summer and covered with the metal 

 covers. At the extreme right, on 

 top of the pile of cases will be 

 noticed a decoy hive. Once in a 

 while swarms are caught this 

 way. Number four shows the yard 

 as it appears in winter. Don't they 

 look comfortable — packed up snug, 

 four together with five inches of 

 paking at the sides and eight on 

 top! Then there is the "outside 

 protection" afforded by the woods. 

 This is as essential as the packing. 

 The photos were made by the 

 Editor. 



In shaking swarms on foundation 

 in the production of extracted 

 honey, one must be careful to not 

 give too much comb room above, or 

 the brood nest will be abandoned, 

 and the colony left queenless at 

 the end of the season. With a large 

 prime swarm, we had best success 

 by hiving on two sets of foundation, 

 with an excluder between, the 

 lower one the brood nest and the 

 upper one the surplus department. 

 With a moderate sized prime 

 swarm, one story, the brood nest is 

 given them for one week, when 

 they will be well enough establish- 

 ed so they will not neglect their 

 brocd nest, and a super of combs 

 can be given. 



Organization 



Why is it that a State so unique 

 and as well so important in the 

 Apricultural field as our fair Florida 

 should be utterly without organiza- 

 tion among her bee-keepers? 



Several years ago I wrote to 

 Mr. O. O. Poppleton and Mr E. B. 

 Rood on the lack of a State Bee- 

 keepers' Association. They as well 

 as others since, have expressed 

 themselves as follows: — "The bee- 

 men of Florida are too isolated, 

 the distances too great in propor- 

 tion to the numbers engaged in 

 the business, to make a State wide 

 Association feasible, heretofore. 



It has been true, also, that bee 

 culture was carried on in Florida 

 almost exclusively by specialists, a 

 comparatively few large producers 

 in widely separated sections of the 

 state. Moreover, some of these 

 specialists were bee-men who 

 swooped down from the tier of 

 States to the North and dipped in- 

 to Florida for a part of their crop, 

 though really considering some 

 other state their own home center. 

 Such men naturally would feel lit- 

 tle interest in a State organization 

 for Florida. 



In other words, the number was 

 small of those who called Florida 

 their home, who loved her as their 

 own, for herself and for what she 

 was, who expected to live and die 

 Avithin her borders, who intended 

 to identify themselves with her 

 and her development. How COULD 

 a State organization find root in 

 such a soil? 



But a change is coming, is even 

 now in evidence. There is an in- 

 creasingly large number of house- 

 holders and home-builders in Flor- 

 ida who are becoming interested in 

 bee culture and who are making 

 bees a more and more important 

 side issue, a profitable avocation. 

 Many of such, in the past two 

 years, have expressed surprise ver- 

 bally and in letter, that Florida has 

 no association, local or State, among 

 her bee-men. 



Apropos of the same thought co- 

 incident with our own wishes, comes 

 a letter from one who has long 

 been a lover of bees, as well as a 

 lover cf Florida, a letter which 

 we here append, since it speaks 

 for itself: — 



