1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



639 



groves, and for the past four years my colo- 

 nies have averaijed about 50 lbs. per hive 

 from orange-blossom alone. I say, "from 

 orange-blossom alone," and wish to be taken 

 (jualitatively, of course. Your footnote is 

 quite right in adding, "As a general thing it 

 is hard to get a strictly all-orange-blossom 

 honey." Perhaps you will pardon my (juot- 

 ing from a few letters I received from my 

 good friend Mr. Wm. A. Selser, of Philadel- 

 phia, perhaps the best authority on honeys 

 in this country. He received a sample of 

 orange honey from me, and wrote, "Your 

 letter to hand, with sample of honey, which 

 I have tested very carefully. This is the 

 only sample I have received from Florida of 

 which I am convinced a large percentage is 

 from orange-blossom. I am not clear what 

 makes the honey of a darker shade, as I am 

 also convinced that California orange honey 

 is of very light color." Again, later on, he 

 writes, after testing the sample in company 

 with Mr. W. J. Young, of the National Micro- 

 chemical Laboratory: "I went over the pol- 

 len grains of both your honey and the Cali- 

 fornia honey at the same time in the Govern- 

 ment laboratory in this city about a month 

 ago. It was very interesting. We found the 

 same orange-pollen grains in your honey that 

 we found in the California; but in addition 

 to it we found in the California honey a lot 

 of pollen grains of the sage brush, and in 

 your honey we found pollen grains of an en- 



tirely new formation. I am inclined to be- 

 lieve they were from the saw palmetto; but, 

 understand, these were only secondary. The 

 main pollen grains were from the orange, 

 showing that the main source of the honey 

 was from the orange flow." 



The sample of honey sent Mr. Selser was 

 much darker than either of us had supposed 

 orange honey, as pure as we knew that was, 

 could possibly be. For three years it had 

 not varied in hue, to any remarkable degree. 

 It had a reddish cast, not merely amber. Its 

 aroma was exquisite, and the body unexcel- 

 led, but the color seemed to us to be a little 

 off. Mr. Selser added, "This brings up a 

 very wide question as to what climatic con- 

 ditions have to do with the flavor and shade 

 of honey; and soil may also have a great deal 

 to do with it." This year I have over 1000 

 lbs. of the finest orange honey one could 

 imagine; and, mirabile dicta! it is of a light- 

 yellow hue, hardly even amber; clear, and 

 with almost none of that reddish cast that 

 appeared always heretofore. I have been 

 trying to solve the enigma of the color ever 

 since I harvested my first pound of the deli- 

 cious nectar, but without avail till this year. 

 I am now sure of a solution. In the first 

 place, I was sure the added pollen grains 

 could not possibly he from palmetto blossom; 

 it was not in bloom when I extracted. There 

 were but two other nectar-yielding plants in 

 bloom during the time of the orange bloom, 



THE NEW JEKSEV .\NU I'HlLAUElJ'lllA BEK-KEKFElo' ASSOCIATION WHICH MET THIS VEAR AT 

 THE APIARY OF HAROLD HORNER, NEAR MOUNT HOLLY, N. J. 



