Vol. LVIl.— No. 9 



HAMILTON, ILL, SEPTEMBER, 1917 



MONTHLY, 1.00 A YEAR 



BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTH 



Notes on Southern Conditions Gathered for Our Readers by Our Staff 



Correspondent on a Trip Through Seven 



Southern States 



IT is difficult for the northern bee- 

 keeper to appreciate the differ- 

 ence in conditions between north 

 and south. There is a great interest 

 in the south on the part of many of 

 our readers and in order to give them 

 as much information as possible con- 

 cerning the opportunities and diffi- 

 culties of honey production in the 

 Southeastern States several weeks 

 were spent in visiting beekeepers of 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Geor- 

 gia, Arkansas, Mississippi and to a 

 very slight extent in Florida. Florida 

 is so different from the other States 

 mentioned that it can only be studied 

 effectively by spending some time 

 there and consider- 

 ing it entirely by it- 

 self. Because o f 

 its favorable climate 

 Florida has great 

 attractions for the 

 northern man, but 

 from a beekeeping 

 standpoint, as far 

 as could be deter- 

 mined, one must use 

 great care in select- 

 ing a location in or- 

 der to insure a suc- 

 cess at honey pro- 

 duction within its 

 borders. 



This seems to be 

 true of the south 

 generally, as there 

 are large areas 

 where the honey 

 flora is scant and 

 where but few colo- 

 nies can be kept 

 profitably in one 

 yard. On the other 

 hand, there are 

 some locations 

 where the crops 



harvested are phenomenal, and as de- 

 pendable as the average good loca- 

 tion in the north. 



It will be readily apparent that it 

 was impossible to cover such a vast 

 territory within a few weeks' time in 

 anything but a superficial manner. 

 This article, then, must be expected 

 to be rather general in its scope and 

 to give at best but a bird's eye view 

 of the situation. 



Kentucky and Tennessee are more 

 like the north than the south in their 

 general conditions, and will not be 

 mentioned except casually in this ar- 

 ticle. While the winters are milder 

 than farther north, there is a serious 



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*»«^p^*irj*^j^iii 



HOME OF JOHN W. CASH AT BOGART. GA. HIS APIARIES ARE SMALL, 

 BUT HE HAS A STRING OF THEM. 



winter problem in both these States, 

 and it is quite similar to our problem. 

 In the main, their honey-flows are 

 similar and their methods of opera- 

 tion are much like ours. 



The first locality to be considered 

 is North Georgia. John W. Cash, of 

 Bogart, is an extensive honey pro- 

 ducer who gave me every opportunity 

 to see his section of the country and 

 it is to him that I owe most of the in- 

 formation about that section. It is 

 quite probable that other parts of 

 North Georgia would be quite differ- 

 ent from his locality, but it will serve 

 to give an idea of general conditions 

 there. 



I regard Mr. Cash 

 as a remarkable 

 beekeeper. One who 

 attains the measure 

 of success which 

 Mr. Cash has 

 reached under such 

 conditions as those 

 under which he 

 works, is entitled to 

 much credit. In the 

 first place, the flora 

 is so scant that only 

 25 to 30 colonies can 

 be kept in one yard. 

 In the north few 

 men would under- 

 t a k e commercial 

 beekeeping in such 

 a locality. Mr. Cash 

 now has more than 

 thirty yards, with 

 over eight hundred 

 colonies. This re- 

 quires a large 

 amount of travel, 

 but the automobile 

 simplifies this prob- 

 lem greatly. When 

 .we learn that his 



