AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



333 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY. 



Beeville, Texas. 



PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



Lesson No. 10. 



(Continued from page 270.) 

 HONEY-PLANTS CONTINUED. 



NoKTH Carolina. — I have obtained 

 the following information from Mr. W. 

 H. Pridgen, of Creek, N. C, a reliable 

 man and good bee-keeper : 



"The principal honey-plants, and 

 their time of blooming, are as follows : 

 Elm blooms Feb. 15th, maple March 1st, 

 fruit-bloom March 15th to April 1st, 

 white clover, from which North Carolina 

 gets her best honey-flow, begins about 

 May 15th. June 1st to 10th poplar 

 blooms, and when the weather is favor- 

 able it yields lots of honey. Also per- 

 simmon blooms about the same time, 

 and is good July 1st. We have sour- 

 wood, which gives our white honey. 

 Bees usually begin swarming in North 

 Carolina about April 15th to May 1st." 



Flokida. — The following I obtained 

 from Mr. J. B. Case, a reliable man, and 

 a good bee-man of the South : 



" Usually about May 15th we get here 

 in Florida a fine honey-flow from the 

 red bay, which grows very luxuriantly 

 in the hammocks. The honey is rather 

 dark, but of fine flavor. Gallberry opens 

 about the same time, and where it is 

 plentiful, it affords a surplus. About 

 May 10th to 15th saw-palmetto begins 

 to yield honey, and in locations two or 

 three miles from the ocean, and, in fact, 

 all along the coast, this is the main crop. 

 The nearer salt water the more thrifty 

 it grows. It blooms profusely, and 

 yields honey in abundance, of light 

 color and good quaility. 



"In July the cabbage palmetto — a 

 kind of palm — sometime yields consid- 

 erable honey of fine quality, but coming 

 as it does in our rainy season, and the 



blooms being very tender, it is quite 

 liable to blast, or scorch by the hot sun 

 coming out after a shower, and also 

 from other causes it is very unreliable 

 as a source of honey, but when every- 

 thing hits just right, it is hard to beat 

 for honey. 



" Also the river bottoms are full of 

 red mangrove, yielding a thin, white 

 honey, and some seasons it affords honey 

 in great abundance, but as its area is 

 quite small and well stocked by bees 

 being shipped in from the surrounding 

 country in such quantities, it has to 

 be a very favorable year to get paying 

 yields from it, and lately its yields have 

 been light. 



" The above will be about right for 

 all the eastern coast of Florida. Bees, 

 to be profitable here in this State, must 

 be kept near the Ocean or Gulf, or near 

 the rivers where are the large hammocks 

 and near large orange groves. Swarm- 

 ing usually begins about March 15th to 

 April 1st, and as this is about the time 

 oranges are in bloom, and as the trees 

 vary, the time of swarming also varies." 



Kentucky.— The following informa- 

 tion as to Kentucky, I got from Dr. J. 

 W. Crenshaw, of Versailles, whom I 

 know to be reliable : 



" Soft or water maple blooms from 

 Feb. 1st to March 15th, according to 

 the season, yielding both pollen and 

 honey, and is of great value, as it gives 

 an impetus to brood-rearing, which 

 stimulates the bees until warm weather. 

 It remains in bloom about a week, but 

 the bees seldom have more than one to 

 three days to work on it. 



" Dandelion blooms March 1st, and 

 furnishes both honey and pollen. Fruit- 

 bloom continues from March 25th to 

 May 1st. Sugar maple blooms April 

 15th— mainly honey in small quantities. 

 May 10th black locust blooms, remain- 

 ing two weeks, and most years yields a 

 large amount of honey." [I will add 

 here that black locust is one among our 

 Southern honey-yielders that only yields 

 honey from its bloom one time ; that is, 

 it never has any honey except that on 

 opening ; but it is sometimes two weeks 

 getting done blooming. — Jennie Atch- 



LEY.] 



"The honey is clear, and its flavor is 

 second to none in the world. Unfortu- 

 nately it usually blooms during our 

 rainy season, and the bees have but 

 little chance at it. The bees only had 

 three days to work on it last year, and 

 they filled their brood-chambers. 



"White clover blooms from May 1st 



