THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



99 



base and assume a perpendicular 

 position whicli bring the pollen- 

 bearing stamens clustering directly 

 around the sensitive pistil. The 

 bee, in getting at the honey stored 

 at the base, pushes its head in the 

 hollow tube formed by the upright 

 stamens which brings portions of 

 its body against both stamens and 

 pistil and cross fertilization is the 

 result. 



There is no family that is more 

 sure or successful in securing set- 

 ting of its fruit than the citron 

 family depending entirely upon the 

 bees for cross fertilization. 



The bloom has' lasted eight weeks 

 which is something unusual. Our 

 cold weather prolonged it several 

 weeks and "the bloom" will con- 

 tinue two weeks 3'et, which will 

 give us ten weeks of orange bloom 

 for this season. The flow from 

 this source some days is better 

 than on others ; the bees will fill 

 ever}' available cell with honey of 

 a very light quality and the next 

 day not quite as good. I don't 

 think it quite equal to our northern 

 linden. 



Tf the theory of the fragrance in 

 flowers is true in regard to evapor- 

 ation of honey which is the fra- 

 grance in the air, there are tons of 

 it floating away here. The saw 

 palmettoes are reviving somewhat 

 and indicate a more successful 

 bloom since the weather has mod- 

 erated. 



This plant is very prominent in 

 Florida vegetation covering, as it 

 does, two-thirds of all the land in 

 the state and the blossom when 

 out is very rich with honey. 



Wild grapes of some variety ex- 

 ist abundantly in swamps and la- 

 goons, which will be in bloom the 

 last of the present month and we 

 all know its value as a honey pro- 

 ducer. 



The botanical names of many 

 swamp vines which are good honey 

 producers are unknown here, and 



so little notice of beekeeping and 

 its resources for pasture has been 

 taken that one can only learn by 

 personal observation in this vi- 

 cinity. 



The cabbage palmetto, they tell 

 me, is the linden of the south, but 

 I cannot find the date of blooming. 

 As yet it has made no advances in 

 that direction. 



Have taken some samples of fine 

 white honey gathered in October of 

 last season ; the flavor is somewhat 

 like our linden, but do not know 

 the bloom that produced it. As 

 my home yard was somewhat re- 

 duced in strength and being anx- 

 ious to test the early spring thor- 

 oughly I secured some colonies a 

 short distance away and have had 

 the management of them since 

 March 20. This yard commenced 

 working on foundation the first of 

 March and by the middle had seven 

 combs of brood. 



Have transferred this yard to 

 shipping cases and divided them 

 once and think I shall be able to di- 

 vide again by the first of May. Our 

 time is so much taken up in pre- 

 paring to return north that we can- 

 not investigate as we would like in 

 swamps and lagoons for honey pro- 

 ducing plants which one should 

 know to work with confidence. 



C. J. Ferris. 



NOTES FROM NEW ZEALAND. 



Ed. Am. Apiculturist : 



The honey season is now about 

 on its last legs and reports are 

 coming in from the country of the 

 season's work. Generally speaking 

 the results are favorable and the 

 yield of honey will be fairly good. 

 In some places the crop was nearly 

 all taken in the month of January. 

 In the South Island I hear of unsat- 

 isfactory returns from some locali- 

 ties : no surplus and loss of bees to 



