Published Monthly by the W. T. Falconer Manfg Co. 



Vol. Vffl. 



OCTOBER, J898. 



No. JO. 



From the I<and of Flowers. 



Report of a Southern Producer who is 

 Satisfied with "Small" Things. 



Written for the Ainrrii'an Bee-Keeptr. 



BY W. S. HART. 



§OLLOWING my custom of many 

 years standing, I have just made 

 out my annual report of the sea- 

 son's honey crop for this section of 

 Florida for Gleanings. Feeling under 

 some obligation to the American Bee- 

 Keeper, and especially having a warm 

 spot in my heart for its editor, I have 

 concluded to remember it this season 

 in the same way, but first, I wish to 

 say that its editor is fully competent to 

 answer all enquiries as to genei'al bee- 

 keeping in this state, and he is the one 

 to apply to for such. 



I had been counting our honey crop 

 as rather a poor one until I saw Query 

 No. 81 in the last American Bee Jour- 

 nal and, from the replies to it, learned 

 that I had secured over two and two- 

 thirds times the average for the past 

 twenty-five years, of the twenty-one 

 reporters from all over the country 

 who replied as to extracted honey. 

 Leaving out one report from Cali- 

 fornia, that of Panada and one from 

 Florida and it is almost exactly three 

 times the averar? made in their bee- 

 keeping experience. After this dis- 

 covery I have concluded to be satisfied 



even if my crop of 148 pounds per col- 

 ony, with plenty left in the hives for 

 winter, does look small beside one of 

 3?3 pounds and individual yields of 550 

 to 600 pounds still fresh in my memory. 

 Nor do I forget that last season showed 

 the one total failure that I have ever 

 known here. The season opened up 

 with bees in poor shape as a rule and 

 some feeding had to be done to prevent 

 starvation. I fed about 1,000 pounds of 

 honey to stimulate the queens and 

 ward off famine in the hives. Man- 

 grove is but slowly recovering from the 

 effects of the great freezes of three 

 years ago and for the second time in 

 my experience here, gave no honey, 

 though it bloomed freely. Outside of 

 this source the honey prospects seemed 

 good. A little later we began to suffer 

 from the most severe drouth I have 

 ever known here and forest fires 

 burned the country over until it 

 seemed as though nothing but cabbage 

 palmetto (like mangi-ove not subject to 

 injury from fire, flood or drouth) could 

 be looked to for a crop. The amount of 

 the saw palmetto crop was therefore a 

 happy surprise to us and the cabbage 

 palmetto gave its average yield. The 

 extreme dryness of the air throughout 

 the season caused the honey to be of 

 extra heavy body and fine quality. It 

 was never better. 

 The general average in this vicinity 



