AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



433 



should refuse. In that event I cannot 

 now say what the result might be. This 

 question seems also to be directed to 

 " Mr. Editor," but it is too late now for 

 nie to pass it by unnoticed. 

 Honeyville, Beeland. 



Popples— California VS. FloriSa. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



As a correspondent on page 282 re- 

 fers specifically to the bees working on 

 the poppy of commerce, or that variety 

 of the plant which we often see culti- 

 vated in gardens ou account of its bril- 

 liant blossoms, I would say, as the edi- 

 tor has referred to me as an authority 

 on the subject of bees and poppies, that 

 the poppy I wrote about in the Bee 

 Journal last year was of an another 

 kind altogether. In fact, the flower 

 that we call the " California poppy " is 

 not a poppy at all. I presume the rea- 

 son it was given this appellation is be- 

 cause the flower much resembles that of 

 the well-known poppy from which opium 

 is obtained. 



In the many years that we have had 

 both the common single, white opium 

 poppy, and the several varieties of single 

 and double ornamental poppies on the 

 place, I do not remember that the bees 

 paid much attention to them. That 

 they were not visited by bees here is no 

 reason that bees do not find nectar in 

 them elsewhere. 



FLORIDA AND CALIFORNIA. 



On the same page referred to above, 

 another correspondent, one in Florida, 

 attempts to hoist the claims of that 

 State above those of this, and winds up 

 by asking Dr. Gallup to " take off his 

 hat to the climate " of the Peninsular 

 State, because he (the Florida corres- 

 pondent) has condescended to doff his 

 hat to apicultural California. 



Now, I know that our Dr. Gallup will 

 not hurrah for Florida and its climate, 

 at the same time I will let him attend to 

 Dr. Oren, the aforesaid Florida gentle- 

 man who is so anxious to see this great 

 State humiliate itself by "taking ofif its 

 hat " to the climate of any other section 

 of the world, especially to that of 

 Florida. I believe that comparisons are 

 often odious, but as the M. D. amid the 

 alligators has thrown down the gaunt- 

 let, I cannot refrain from having a little 

 say about the so-called "flowery land," 

 that may not be to his liking. I shall 



not say much, because it is needless to 

 say much to prove that many, if not all, 

 the claims made in favor of the latter 

 place are unjustified. 



Those of us who were to the great 

 Fair that so recently closed in Chicago, 

 were able to judge of the immense dif- 

 ference there is in the two States named. 

 In every respect Florida was "not in 

 it" alongside of California at the Fair. 

 The Golden State's exhibit of fruits and 

 other products eclipsed those of every 

 other portion of this continent. 



As to fruit, those of Florida were not 

 to be compared with the large anddivei;- 

 sified display that this State made. I 

 had heard so much of Florida that I 

 made it my especial business, while at 

 the Fair named, to see what Florida had 

 to show. I was never so surprised in 

 ray life as I was when I found that that 

 State had virtually nothing worth look- 

 ing at. She went there in hopes of 

 " doing up" this State, but our products 

 so eclipsed Florida from the very start 

 that the latter State gave up the race. I 

 expected to see magnificent oranges 

 from there, but they were worse than 

 our third-class fruit. And they consid- 

 ered them the best in the world. They 

 were measly things, at best, and a 

 school-boy in this State would not take 

 them as a gift; and what a school-boy 

 will not take when it is offered him 

 gratis, is certainly not of much account. 



While at the Fair I had the good for- 

 tune of meeting a number of Florida 

 editors, for they had been on there to 

 attend the National Press Convention, 

 and these gentlemen were quartered at 

 the same hotel where I was stopping. 

 We Californians had taken on a lot of 

 our oranges and other products. We 

 kept open house, and treated all the 

 editors an^ their friends from all over 

 the country to our fruits, and such other 

 things that they felt like taking. I well 

 remember how the gentlemen from 

 Florida were surprised at the beauty and 

 wonderful qualities of our oranges, 

 raisins, figs and other fruits. 



I heard them say that they could not 

 equal what we had treated them to, 

 though, naturally, to some extent, they 

 stuck up for their oranges. Yet, they 

 did not bring any of their vaunted 

 oranges to show the Californians. Pos- 

 sibly they knew that the fruit would 

 stand no comparison alongside of our 

 superior qualities. 



As to having Japanese plums ripen in 

 the winter I have no objections. It is 

 right; we have different kinds of fruit 

 ripen in the winter, but we do not crow 

 over it, as we prefer to show the fruit 



