Lake City, Minn., March 7, 1881.
[Probably during some of the milder days of winter the bees became
scattered in their hives, the weather suddenly changed, and they
perished before they could form their cluster on honey, and thus
starved.—ED.]
=From Florida.=—The BEE JOURNAL is at hand; we do not know
how we could do without it. The past has been a very good
honey season here. We have 255 colonies of bees in Langstroth
hives. Some are Italians—we like them as honey-gatherers,
but they are crosser than our natives. We obtained 850 gals.
honey, and 500 lbs. wax. The latter we obtained from about
90 hives which we transferred. We think apiculture will pay
here with good management. We extracted from one colony
32 Langstroth frames well filled with honey. Our apiary
is located on a “gum” swamp, 5 or 6 miles wide and 15 or
20 miles long, which is our main honey source, and blooms
from April 15 till May 15; we also have many other honey
producing flowers. We have a vine which grows in the swamps
and yields a great deal of amber-colored honey. We inclose a
sprig—please give the name.