142 SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 



surplus from it. It is generally used up in brood-rearing and refilling the 

 combs in the beginning of spring. 



The last of September and first of October we have a bloom here that 1 

 do not know the name of. It is a weed and grows about i8 inches high; 

 has a white blossom on top and yields some honey. I have heard them called 

 summer farewells, as they bloom at the very last of summer. The honey that 

 we get from this has a peculiar flavor, something like fresh turpentine, and it 

 is as white as snow. The honey we get from the partridge-peas is very fine in 

 color and flavor. When the bloom first opens we sometimes get a pale-yellow 

 honey, and I think it is fine — so rich and sweet. The first and last of the 

 partridge-pea honey is very white. 



We have no bee-keepers in this country to speak of. I suppose I have 

 more than the rest of the country. Mr. J. M. Hall, six miles east of me, has 

 some forty colonies and he is making a very good success on a small scale, 

 and will increase his stock from time to time, as he has a pretty good case of 

 bee fever. Mr. Crawford Truluck, two miles southwest, has sixteen colonies 

 which have been paying him finely for the little trouble he has given them. 

 He is employed in the phosphate-mining business, and does not take much 

 time with the bees ; and what bees he has are the common blacks. 



Mr. Wm. Kinard, two and a half miles northeast, has sorne thirty or forty 

 colonies in both improved and old box hives, which are paying him finely for 

 the expense he is at with them, and these men cover almost all the bee-men 

 who have improved hives. Some few others have from two to six in the 

 improved hives. 



There is a Mr. Bates in Lake City, our county-seat, who has several 

 colonies in improved hives, and has Carniolan bees, I think. I have not seen 

 bim to talk with him for over a year. 



There are a few bees scattered about in old box hives or gums, but they 

 get very little attention. What we lack here is men who will get out of the 

 cotton-field and give bee-keeping a little study, and take on a little courage. 

 We could raise honey, not by the hundred pounds in Columbia Co., but by 

 the carload. 



There is thousands of dollars worth of honey going 'to waste for the 

 want of experienced bee-men, or men who will learn the' business and put 

 bees on the ranges to harvest the sweets. 



I agree with our experienced bee-men, that we can get a race of bees 

 and improve our stock of bees to where we could accomplish wonders here 

 and in adjoining counties in the amount of honey that could be gathered and 

 put to a profit on the right side. Our county needs it, and should have it; 

 and I hope to see the time when we may have the needed men for the busi- 

 ness, and when the honey that to-day is going to waste may be gathered and 

 put on the market where families can get it, as I am satisfied it is the most 

 healthful sweet we have. 



R. W. HiRHENY. 



