142 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Fkb. 15. 



OUR RAILKOADS AND KAII-KOAI) CORPORATIONS. 



It is SO common to hear complaints in regard 

 to our railroad companies that it may sound a 

 little odd to say a word in their favor. So far 

 in our experience, however, we have met noth- 

 ing but the kindest courtesy. My wheel was 

 laid down here in Jacksonville without a bit of 

 expense. Of course, we checked it as baggage, 

 and our luggage was laid down at our rooms at 

 a very trifling expense. Porters were gentle- 

 manly and exceedingly obliging. I met one of 

 them on the streets of .lacksonville after I had 

 been here a day or two, and I was really glad 

 to shake hands with him, even if he is colored. 

 By the way, I have heard people speak of the 

 insolence and exorbitant charges of the wait- 

 ers here in Florida. So far we have seen noth- 

 ing of the kind, but quite the contrary; and I 

 have been wondering if it is not true that edu- 

 cation is beginning to tell on these people. I 

 have been studying them, their ways and 

 habits, very intently since we came here, and I 

 think I can say this: They not only seem to be 

 exceedingly good-natured, cheerful, hopeful, and 

 full of spirits, but they are, as a rule, industri- 

 ous working people, (^uite a little excitement 

 has been occasioned among them by the advent 

 of the Dahomey Village that appeared at the 

 World's Fair. They have a tent here, and 

 have a street parade during the day. The en- 

 thusiasm among their own people herein Jack- 

 sonville is almost wild. A circus or show en- 

 tirely in the hands of full-blooded Africans 

 from their own country is to them an event un- 

 precedented. These native Africans are models 

 of physical health and development. There 

 seems to be a pretty sharp line drawn between 

 the colored people and the whites in this city. 

 Where they do business back and forth, each 

 race seems to keep within certain limits; and 

 I am told intermarrying and amalgamation is 

 comparatively rare. 



When I explained to the different railroad 

 officers here where I wanted to go, and told 

 thera what I wanted to do, they were more 

 obliging than I had any reason to expect; and 

 not only in the way of giving me full directions 

 and assistance, but in making very reasonable 

 charges. 



IN SAN MATEO. 



This morning we are at A. F. Brown's beauti- 

 ful ranch. The most conspicuous object on the 

 grounds is the magnificent great live-oaks with 

 their spreading branches draped with festoons 

 of Spanish moss; in fact, nowhere else in our 

 travels have we seen either, in such wondrous 

 perfection. It is our pleasure to meet here two 

 bee-keepers of considerable prominence — V. V. 

 Blackmer and Chas. D. Duvall. Mr. Blackmer 

 has been associated with friend Brown in his 

 bee-business ; and friend Duvall, the queen- 

 breeder, is assisting friend Brown, and raising 

 queens for himself. There is a point right here, 

 friends, that may be worth while to consider. 

 After a bee-keeper away up north has his bees 

 safely put away for the winter he can come 

 down here and have lots of fun. and, may be, 

 do some good by following his chosen pursuit 

 all winter long. The principal drawback is 

 the expense of so long a trip; and I hereby 

 petition the railroad companies to make a low- 

 rate round-trip ticket especially for bee-keep- 

 ers to come down, say in December, and go 

 back about the first of April. It would be a 

 comparatively easy matter, it seems to me, for 



a hundred bee-keepers or more to club together 

 and send in a petition before next winter. 

 Gleanings and the other bee-journals will, 

 without doubt, help it along, and may be we 

 editors could take a trip down and look the 

 boys over and see whether they beliaved (went 

 to meeting Sundays, etc.), when their wives 

 were not around — that is, providing said wives 

 did not go along. 



Now for the oaks and moss: One great oak 

 right close by the house — in fact, itshades quite 

 a part of the extensive verandas — has great 

 spreading branches that actually measure from 

 " tip to tip " something like ttO feet. Imagine a 

 large symmetrical apple-tree occupying a circle 

 nearly 100 feet across, and every limb and 

 branch draped with delicate lacework of this 

 beautiful moss. Now imagine these long tress- 

 es rippling in the wind like the soft flaxen hair 

 of a playful child. 



Our friends mentioned have just been trans- 

 ferring bees from box hives and log gums into 

 the latest pattern of improved hives, sent by 

 carload lots from a place away up north, 

 where a lot of Roots, old and young, work to- 

 gether to fix out bee-keepers down south and 

 elsewhere. Perhaps you may be surprised 

 when I tell you that these friends, in transfer- 

 ring bees, have actually made thirty-two in a 

 day. The new hives under the waving mossy 

 trees present a very pretty view indeed. We 

 are promised a picture of it. 



MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING IN FLORIDA. 



Friend Brown is making a specialty of mi- 

 gratory bee-keeping. He usually gets his first 

 crop of honey here from orange, then he trans- 

 ports his bees by boat and rail to New Smyrna, 

 or some place on the coast where his bees can 

 get palmetto honey; then he goes to the man- 

 grove regions on the coast, but ten or twelve 

 miles from the palmetto country. After this 

 he takes in the yellow-partridge peas on the 

 pine lands of the interior; next he gets honey 

 from wild goldenrod and sunflower on the 

 prairie river- bottom lands, making four or five 

 crops in a year. A single colony thus trans- 

 ported by way of experiment, gathered last 

 season alO^i lbs. of honey; and an entire apiary 

 (he says) can be made* to average from 2(30 to 

 3.")0 lbs. Mr. B. has made 16 moves in four years, 

 with only two failures. Of course, much judg- 

 ment and skill must be exercised in deciding 

 when and where to move. He has kindly given 

 us the following list of sources of honey which 

 can be reached within a radius of from forty to 

 sixty miles: Pennyroyal, December to Febru- 

 ary; orange, February and March; tyty, dur- 

 ing March; tupelo gum, March and April; pal- 

 metto in May; mangrove in June and July; 

 cabbage palmetto, July; yellow-partridge pea. 

 August; goldenrod, September; sunflower, and 

 goldenrod of another species, in October and 

 November; maple in December and January; 

 gall berry, INIiirch and April. 



In this vicinity are acres upon acres of the 

 most beautiful orange-orchards I have ever 

 seen in my life; and at the present writing the 

 ground is literally yellow — yes. sometimes heap- 

 ed-up yellowness— with frosted oranges. Many 

 fears are indulged in that the trees, at least 

 many of them, are killed as well as the fruit. 

 Of course, all the orchards are not up to such a 

 standard of perfection as I have mentioned; 

 and upon asking why one orchard showed such 

 luxuriance of growth while the one adjoining 

 was dilapidation and ruin, I was told it was 

 all in cultivation and fertilizers; and our well- 

 known northern brands, say the Bradley, 

 Bowker, Mapes, etc., are being used largely 

 with excellent results. I am very glad indeed 

 to know this. I was curious to know whether 

 the Florida rock phosphates were also used 



