208 EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL EEPORT OF THE 



Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma, it is certain 

 that much winter protection is needed. Just how much I do not 

 venture to say. I believe rather heavy packing would pay, in the 

 northern part of the states mentioned. In the other states, certainly 

 better winter protection than is given, is needed, in many cases. 



In support of the fact that there is a winter problem there and 

 that I base my statements on facts, I present the following evidence. 

 The critical temperature for a colony of bees, at which they begin to 

 form a cluster and to generate heat by muscular activity and the 

 consumption of honey, is 57 degrees. That was determined by Mr. 

 George Demuth, working with Dr. Phillips, at the Washington Bee 

 Culture Laboratory. That fact will be accepted without dispute, 

 I think. 



Consider then, that the weather bureau reports for an average 

 year at Louisville, Kentucky, show that in a twelve month period, 

 there were but sixty-two days when at some time in the day the tem- 

 perature did not fall to 57 degrees F. or below, during the entire time. 

 I do not argue that southern bee-keepers are not good bee-keepers. 

 That would be folly. But I do argue that in the south, and for that 

 matter, in the north too, there are hundreds of locations where the 

 bee-keeper does not get the maximum yield of honey because of poor 

 wintering. The fact that a colony of bees comes through the winter 

 alive, is not all a sign that the colony wintered well. This is a problem 

 to be worked out. Experiment will give the answer. 



SOURCES OF HONEY. 



Now as to sources of honey in the southern states. The south 

 as a whole, including all those states south of Maryland, West Virginia, 

 Kentucky,. Arkansas and Oklahoma, may be roughly divided into three 

 great areas. The first and north ermost is a mountainous region ex- 

 tending from Maryland to Colorado. The second is a great alluvial 

 region extending across the entire width of the same section, beginning 

 in southern North Carolina, and extending across Central Georgia, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, southeast Arkansas and most of Texas. Below 

 this is the third region which extends in a way difficult to describe, 

 mostly along the coast of all the states in this region and in some cases 

 for many miles back. 



In the first region, probably the three principal mountain sources 

 of honey are basswood, tulip poplar and sour wood for the region 

 east of the Mississippi River. Also there are, in portions of West 

 Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, great areas which must be 

 included in the white clover belt, and which are very important sources 

 of that honey. West of the Mississippi the sources of honey are rather 

 indefinite so far as my knowledge goes, as in but few cases much the 

 same honey plants prevail in portions of Arkansas and Oklahoma 

 thene are no localities where bees may be profitably kept. 



In the alleuvial region extending clear across this entire terri- 

 tory east of the Mississippi River, probably one of the most prevalent 

 honey plants is gallberry which jdelds an amber honey, as does saw 

 wood and tulip poplar when mixed with the other flora of these regions. 

 In some portions of this section, cotton is a source of honey, and field 



