I3P SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 



35 lbs. per colony of honey from this source. Sometimes we have a good 

 flow from basswood; but as chestnut and sourwood bloom about the same 

 time we do not often get any pure basswood honey. Often we get about 35 

 lbs. per colony from these several sources, which is our summer flow. I 

 usually take off honey twice a year— once about June i, and again in August. 

 The first is white-clover honey, and the latter is from basswood, asters, chest- 

 nut, etc. The sourwood yields honey in the pea-ridge, or "barren" sections. 



Our honey and pollen plants are quite numerous, and bloom about as 

 follows: First, water-maple, elm, red cedar, fruit-bloom, redbud, box-elder, 

 black g^um, crimson clover, poplar-trees, white clover, alsike clover, persim- 

 mon, capel-tree, or paradise-bush ; sumac, chestnut, basswood, sourwood, cot- 

 ton, cowpea, boneset, many varieties of melons ; aster, goldenrod, rabbit-foot 

 clover, toy-weed; and, about every third year we have honey-dew from 

 aphides on hickory. 



The progressive bee-keepers in my section are, James Moyer, Joe Mont- 

 gomery, John Pigg, Mr. Parker, Col. Galoway, D. J. Douthit, Joe Thomison, 

 and myself. 



J. H. Bearden. 



BEE-KEEPING IN ALABAMA. 



Fort Deposit, Ala. 



Replying to yours asking for a write-up of bee-keeping in my State, ow- 

 ing to the short time you have given me I will confine myself to my county 

 (Lowndes), which was once a fine bee country. 



Our first flow after fruit-bloom is poplar, which sometimes yields 100 

 lbs. of surplus, commencing in April and lasting until about the 15th of May. 

 We then have a dearth of honey until about June i, when wahoo or basswood 

 begins to yield, lasting from fifteen to. twenty days, in good seasons coming 

 in such quantities that the bees fall in heaps in front of the hives, and the whole 

 yard has that peculiar aromatic smell that basswood alone has. I have taken 

 more than 100 lbs. from that source alone of extracted hone\, without any 

 special attention. Oh, if all the trees were poplar and basswood, wouldn't we 

 bee-keepers be happy I But, alas! the timber-men have invaded our happy 

 hunting-ground, and the cotton-planter has followed close on the heels and 

 turned a once fine bee-range into a cotton farm which soon turns rich black 

 fertile land into a red-gullied unsightly region. 



But this same cotton-plant on rich bottom land, some seasons, gives us 

 a nice surplus; but the hill lands do not amount to much for surplus, but 

 yield enough for queen-rearing. This plant commences to bloom about the 

 15th of June, continuing until frost, making a beautiful sight with its dark- 

 green leaves and cream-colored blooms covering millions of acres. We can 

 always tell when it is yielding well by the appearance of the bees when they 

 enter the hive, as their coat is covered with the yellowish dust; but I do 



