MARCH 15, 1915 



GENERAL COEMESPONDENCE 



THE EDITOR'S CRUISER TRIP UP THE LOXAHATCHIE RIVER 



i:y e. r. root 



Our oniisiug' party arrived at Jupiter, 

 Florida, a little lowu wliere is located next 

 to the largest wireless station that Uncle 

 Sam owns. We tied to the government dock, 

 got our supper, went to bed, and next iiiorn- 

 iug we waited for Harry DuBois, the bee- 

 man who was to meet us by appointment. 

 We did not have to wait very long, for he 

 soon came up with his gasoline-launch. Our 

 party left the cruiser up at the dock and 

 started with Mr. DuBois in his launch up 

 the Loxahatchie River to see the country, 

 study the tlora, and stop at Mr. DuBois' 

 outyard. 



Aftei' an hour or two we drew up to one 

 of Harry's outyards, as shown, Fig. 1. This 

 shows his manner of protecting his hives 

 from the intense heat of the sun. You will 

 note that the apiary is shaded in much the 

 same way that is done in Arizona, where the' 

 heat of the sun is intense, with this differ- 

 ence, that Mr. DuBois does not use a solid 

 cover, but rather open slat work — just 

 enough to break up the solid rays of the 

 sun. At times he finds that this overhead 



shed is insufficient, and so he uses in addi- 

 tion an extra shade-board, or, rather, a 

 sheet of galvanized roofing, which is sepa- 

 rated from the cover proper by a couple of 

 cross-cleats. 



We were about to go into his yard when 

 Harry suggested that we had better put on 

 our veils — a wise precaution as subsequent 

 events proved; for the bees met us more 

 than half way. But they are great honey- 

 gatherers, and that was a consideration with 

 their owner. After catching a snapshot of 

 the yard, and looking into a few colonies, 

 we went back to the boat to resume our 

 delightful ride up that beautiful river. 

 There was not a breath of air stirring, and 

 the surface of the water was like glass. 

 Large fish could plainly be seen under us. 

 At every turn new beauties presented them- 

 selves. The water was so placid that it 

 mirrored the surrounding scenery down into 

 the river; and if we could bj' some means 

 have been turned upside down we should 

 scarcely have known which was the real and 

 which was the reflected image. Fig. 2 gives 



Fia. 1. — Harr.v DuBois' apiary on tlic Loxahatchie River, Florida. The idea of the overliead screen is 

 not to shut off the sun's rays entirely, but to break them up. Too much shade does as much liarm as too 

 little in this country. 



