ILLINOIS STATE. BEE-KEEPERS" ASSOCTATIOX. 209 



peas, soja beans and similar field plants form additional important 

 sources. Special attention must be called to the great region in part 

 of Georgia and most all of central Alabama and Mississippi, where a 

 great white sweet clover area exists from a natural growth. This is 

 an exteremely valuable and safe honey producing region, which, 

 however, is being undermined gradually by the introduction of cattle, 

 where the sweet clover suffers as a forage crop. 



GALL BERRY IMPORTANT. 



In the region further south, which ranges from the lowlands along 

 most of the coast and far back in portions of the Carolinas, Georgia, 

 Florida and Louisiana, and into all those states which border the 

 Mississippi River, there is a typical swamp flora which is so varied 

 that it is impossible to describe it in so short a time. Gall berrj' is 

 again an important source here, with black and white tupelo, saw and 

 cabbage palmetto, citrus trees, and thousands of vines which are found 

 in such a habitat, as well as a number of cultivated crops. Probably 

 two of the best gall berry regions in the country are located in North 

 Carolina and southern Georgia, reaching down into northern Florida. 



It has been implssible to tell in so short a period of investigation, 

 what are the most imjDortant honey sources in the swamps along the 

 Mississippi River. Apparently there are thousands of vines, and a 

 number of nectar producing trees which are important sources. Among 

 these are always named the gum tree, which, however, are of so many 

 varieties a>; to make it impracticable to name them. 



COTTEN HONEY IS GOOD. 



West of the Alississippi River, in northern and eastern Texas, is 

 the best cotton honey area in existence on the deep sandy black loam 

 soils. Horse mint is also an important source here and in some portions 

 of this territory, sweet clover is also coining in. even as far up as north- 

 ern Oklahoma. Southern Texas, between the Mississippi and Galveston, 

 appears to be a rather barren bee country. Western Texas, which is 

 subject to long periods of drouth, has several valuable and important 

 plants. Among them are juahilla, catclaw and trees of the accacia 

 family, particularly mesquite. All are valuable for honey and cover 

 most of the desert portion of Texas. 



This covers the subject as throoughly as is possible in so short a 

 time. Bee-keeping is fairly well advanced in most of this territory, 

 except in a few regions where box hives dominate. Some of the terri- 

 tory is devoted to the shipment of pound packages of bees, where a 

 long spring flow builds up the colonies so that many pounds of bees 

 may be taken away from them before the main honey flows begin, 

 later in the season. Most of the honey produced in the south, except 

 where SAvamp flowers are common, is an amber honey or lighter. Nearlj^ 

 all the honey of the south is a good quality and flavor, except in scat- 

 tered regions where bitter weed is prevalent. Honey from this source 

 is unpalatable, but bees will not work it when any other good honey 

 plant is in bloom and its season is definite enough so that good bee- 

 keepers may extract in time to prevent mixing and may use the bitter 

 honey to feed back to the bees in the fall, for wintering purposes. 



—14 B A 



