296 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



lowest average has been 56 pounds of 

 surplus per colony and his highest av- 

 erage 86 pounds, it becomes apparent 

 that his locality is far more certain 

 than the average one of the north. 



The certainty of results seems 

 largely due to the great variety of re- 

 sources from which his honey comes. 

 His principal crop comes from the 

 wild blackberries, which are abundant 

 in the woods. The blackberry flow is 

 at its best about the middle of April, 

 and the average yield is about 25 

 pounds per colony. The honey is am- 

 ber, very thick, and does not granu- 

 late. Following the blackberry 

 comes a light flow from poplar, sumac 

 and gum. Sourwood comes in July, 

 but there is little sourwood in his lo- 

 cality. In good sourwood localities 

 the yield from this source is often 

 very good. Cotton comes about two 

 weeks after sourwood. 



I found much interest in the vary- 

 ing accounts of cotton as a honey 

 plant in the various sections of the 

 south. Some beekeepers declared 

 that it yielded well, while others 

 doubted whether cotton ever did pro- 

 duce honey. One beekeeper, who had 

 experience in different parts of Geor- 

 gia, was able to give me considerable 

 information. On some soils it yields 

 well, while under other conditions it 

 produces no nectar. Cotton honey is 

 of indifferent quality and granulates 

 badly. The honey is very thin and 

 sometimes it ferments in the hive. 



In the Cash neighborhood cowpeas 

 bloom with cotton and both together 

 add something to his yield. In the 

 fall, asters seldom fail to give a re- 

 turn of about 12 pounds per colony. 

 There are several other plants which 

 yield small quantities of honey, such 

 as holly and locust. He is a little too 

 far north for titi and mistletoe, al- 

 though a few plants are to be found. 



Such a flow requires careful opera- 

 tion if the different kinds of honey 

 are to be kept separate. Mr. Cash 

 uses shallow extracting supers and 



extracts after each flow. He winters 

 his bees with a shallow super filled 

 with honey under each brood nest. 

 By spring this honey will have been 

 consumed in brood rearing and the 

 super is placed over the cluster, 

 where it is shortly filled with new 

 honey. Brood rearing continues 

 nearly all winter, and more honey is 

 consumed in wintering than in the 

 north. The first pollen comes from 

 tag-alder, in January, so that the bees 

 have ample time to build up before 

 the blackberry flow in April. 



A beekeeper going to any of the 

 southern states would have much to 

 learn, since conditions are so differ- 

 ent. Eight-frame hives seem to suit 

 conditions there much better than 

 thev do in the north where seasons 



^-' ! Ik ' 



JOHN W. CASH, AN ENERGETIC GEOR- 

 GIA BEEKEEPER. 



are short and our flows rapid. The 

 great difficulty there is to prevent the 

 bees from consuming all their surplus 

 in brood rearing during the periods 

 between flows. The weather is so 

 mild that moths can work all winter, 

 and it is easier to care for surplus 



ONE OF JOHN VV. CA.SH'S Al'i.\l<lh.> 1 1\ lllh lM.\h \V noDS OF GEORGIA. 



T. W. LIVINGSTON WAS A CONTRIBU- 

 TOR TO THE AMERICAN BEE JOUR- 

 NAL MANY YEARS AGO. 



combs by leaving them on the hives 

 than otherwise. 



A full depth eight-frame body, to- 

 gether with one-half depth body are 

 often used for brood rearing during 

 the principal season. 



I was disappointed in failing to find 

 Mr. Wilder at his home in Cordele. 

 Mr. Wilder is well known to . our 

 readers and has written much about 

 his local conditions for the Journal. 

 Such notes as I was able to secure at 

 Cordele are from others. Conditions 

 are very different in central and 

 south Georgia from those of north 

 Georgia. From forty to seventy-five 

 colonies are kept in a yard in the 

 Cordele locality. Mr. Wilder has 

 twenty yards in this vicinity, beside 

 those at the Okefenoke swamp, and 

 also different localities in Florida. 

 Mr. Wilder is now taking it a little 

 easier and working his bees on 

 shares, giving his time to general su- 

 pervision and to marketing his crops. 

 His total crop was reported to be 

 thirteen carloads of honey last year. 

 Around Cordele his honey is gath- 

 ered principally from poplar, tupelo, 

 titi, gallberry and cotton. 



At Leslie, Georgia, I greatly en- 

 joyed a visit with Mr. T. W. Living- 

 stone, formerly of Iowa. Mr. Living- 

 stone has never been able to secure 

 as good crops of honey there as he 

 did in Iowa, but he is very loyal to 

 Georgia, for he feels that the mild 

 climate has greatly prolonged his life. 

 Mr. Livingstone makes his own foun- 

 dation by the dipping process. He 

 may be seen in the picture with the 

 instrument with which he dips it. 

 This makes a sheet of just the right 

 width and length for a Langstroth 

 frame. For the first time, I found a 

 beekeeper with nothing but Banat 



