Jan. 15, 1912 



as this. I supposed that the heavy freezing 

 that you get here from time to time would 

 utterly destroy the trees." 



"Nonsense! It is a little more work and 

 care, but we think our Northern Florida 

 oranges are much sweeter," he said. " Hard 

 freezes years ago did us damage, but we 

 have profited by experience." 



Here was an orchard 12 years old that has 

 stood all kinds of freezes. Indeed, I under- 

 stand that the man who knows his job, the 

 soil, and the locality, can select a variety 

 that will stand hard freezing, and, what is 

 more, he can work the scheme of outside 

 furnaces that are employed successfully 

 in the more southern portions of Florida to 

 keep off light freezes. The oft-repeated 

 statement, that oranges can't be grown suc- 

 cessfully above the freezing-line, is a joke 

 according to these northern growers. But 

 I will have more to say about this at anoth- 

 er time. 



Let us now look over Mr. Marchant's api- 

 aries and his hive-stands. First, Fig. 1 

 shows a general view of the home yard of 

 400 colonies. Just think of it ! 400 colonies 

 in one yard year after year ! That shows 

 what the tupelo can do. t^ig. 2 shows the 

 same yard from a different angle, taking in 

 the shop and the honey-house where the 

 extracting is carried on. This yard is locat- 

 ed close to the boat-landing that I showed 

 you oil page 753, Dec. 15. When the bar- 

 rels are filled with honey at the extracting- 

 bouse shown at the extreme right, Fig. 2, 

 they are rolled down to the wharf and final- 

 ly put on the boat. They are then carried 

 by water clear to the city of New York at a 

 freight rate of only 38 cts. per 100 lbs. 



"Why," said I, "Mr. Marchant, you fel- 

 lows down here have a snap. You are clear 

 off in the woods, in a country that is not 

 overstocked, and yet you are almost next 

 door to one of the biggest cities in the world 

 — New York. 



The secret of it is, there is the Appalach- 

 icola River deep enough for big^boatsj^open- 



47 



Fig. 4.— Marchant" .s scheme for weighing his honey with a large pair of steel- 

 yards and grab-hooks. 



F^iG. 3.— Marchant's lii\ i -stiiiKi. 



ing up into Appalachicola harbor, then into 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and finally into the At- 

 lantic. By glancing at Figs. 1 and 2 you 

 will see the tujielos in the background right 

 along the edge of the river bank. These 

 trees, together with other gum-trees, skirt 

 the edges of this stream for over 100 miles. 

 Emptying into the Appalachicola are doz- 

 ens of other but smaller streams. Up one 

 these (what is known as Owl Creek) Mr. 

 ISIarchant has another yard of about 400 

 colonies. In fact, I could imagine that 

 dozens of yards could be located clear up 

 along this river and its tributaries without 

 any danger of overstocking, simply for the 

 reason that the country is so new, and that 

 the great mass of bee-keepers have never 

 known of this wonderful territory where 

 such beautiful white honey that does not 

 candy is produced by the shipload. 



But the question is asked, "Why are 

 there no more bee-keepers and bees along 

 this river if all you say is true?" 

 P Largely, I understand, because it is diffi- 

 cult to find a good spot to put an apiary on 

 ground above high 

 water, and then ma- 

 laria and mosqui- 

 toes are prevalent in 

 many places along 

 the river. In our 

 next issue I will 

 give you some snap 

 shots showing whole 

 apiaries on the riv- 

 er, located up on 

 stilts. 



But let us go back 

 to Mr. Marchant's 

 home yard. We no- 

 tice that his hives 

 are put up on high 

 benches. This is not 

 on account of high 

 water, but for con- 

 venience in working 

 and to avoid harbor- 

 ing-places for ants. 

 We observe, also, 



