SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 139 



eat up the combs, the colony is destroyed, and all the blame is laid on the 



worms, while it is the bee-keeper or bee-robber that is to blame. 



Another drawback to the log gum is the excessive swarming. The gums, 

 as a rule, are too small. Black bees and some strains of Italians will swarm 

 themselves to death when the swarming fever strikes them if crowded into 

 small hives. Large hives will prevent swarming to a great extent — so much 

 so it is not worth while to bother looking after swarms. Our golden stock 

 seldom swarms. Some of our colonies have never attempted to swarm, 

 even when they superseded their old queens. They are the nearest to a non- 

 swarming strain we ever saw. 



This section is improving in the supply of nectar under stock law, as 

 there are more honey-bearing weeds and shrubs that are not destroyed 

 by stock than there formerly were while fencing the crops was in vogue. 

 While this section does not produce as heavy flows as some parts of the 

 country, the honey is as good and fine as the best, except red shank and 

 aster. The flavor of these two honeys is not liked by many. Especially is 

 this the case with the red shank. The sourwood produces the mildest 

 honey with the most pleasant flavor known. Poplar, sumac, and huckleberry 

 produce a fine-flavored honey with a good body. There is room for lots of 

 good bee-keepers, and any progressive bee-keeper who will give his time 

 and talent to bee culture in many sections of North Georgia will be amply 

 rewarded, not only in dollars and cents, but in health and pleasure, the best 

 of water, and a fine climate. The demand. for both comb and extracted is 

 good. There are fine openings for outyards, and a nice healthly business 

 can be enjoyed among these hills and mountains. Thousands of tons of the 

 finest honey is wasted for the want of bees and a bee-keeper to take care of it 

 or gather it. There is a demand for all the honey that will ever be pro- 

 duced whenever the cost of production is reduced so as to put it in the 

 list of the necessities of life,' at a price so that the common class with 

 small means can aflFord to buy it and use it as they do sugar and butter. It is 

 the most healthful sweet there is. It is better for the children of our land 

 than su^ar or syrup, or candy made from sugar of any kind. Honey is good 

 for the old folks as well as the young ones. 



Bees are wintered on their summer stands without any packing of any 

 kind. All that is needed is plenty of bees, 25 or 30 lbs. of honey, and a 

 hive that will keep the rain and snow out. 



T. S. Hall, 



BEE-KEEPING IN SOUTH GEORGIA. 



The most of South Georgia is a newly developed section. Only a few 

 years ago it was a dense pine forest which has made thousands of turpentine 

 and sawmill men rich as well as railroad companies. While it was being 

 lumbered the agricultural industry took a rise and it has made great progress; 



