20 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ifc 



Jan. li, 



prairies of a few hundred acres to several thousand acres in 

 extent. 



In my remarks I will take the divisions of soils in rotation, 

 giving the names and a short description of the "surplus"- 

 yielding plants, trees, etc. 



THE HIGH PINE LANDS. 



First comes the high pine lands. This is principally yel- 

 low pine timber and black-jack oak ; it has but two native 

 plants that give a surplus — yellow partridge pea and limeweed. 

 The partridge pea is a small, bushy plant 24 to 36 inches 

 high, and its much-spread yellow blossoms give a dark amber 

 honey, yielding 50 to 60 pounds of honey per colony, from 

 July 1 to October. (All yields spoken of are extracted honey.) 

 The honey comes principally from glands at the base of the 

 leaf, and the stems and joints. 



Limeweed, defined by Dr. C. V. Riley as belonging to the 

 clover family, looks similar to dog-fennel, grows 30 to 36 

 inches high, and has a small white blossom. It lasts from 

 Sept. 25 to Oct. 1.5. It yields amber honey, 40 to 60 pounds 

 per colony. 



As fully one-half, if not more, of our orange groves are 

 situated on the pine lands, I shall place the orange in this 

 class. It blooms in February and March, yielding a very light 

 amber honey, and frequently runs to 100 or 150 pounds per 

 colony. I have known an average colony on "scales" to 

 bring 7 to 10, or 12 up to 14 pounds per day from orange 

 alone, and to keep this up for 10 to 14 days in succession. I 

 have secured a crop of 10,000 pounds of pure orange honey 

 in a single season, and I pronounce it one of our best surplus 

 sources, second only to black mangrove in quality and yield. 



THE LOW FLAT WOODS. 



This is timbered sparsely with a stunted growth of yellow 

 pine, and embraces many swamps and cypress ponds. Where 

 there is much "swamp" there is generally found a good 

 growth of gallberry and saw-palmetto, both of which, where 

 the growth is rank and abundant, yield good crops of honey, 



Gallberry is a small shrub 6 to 10 feet high, with small 

 white blossoms, from March 15 to May, and yields 20 to 60 

 pounds of very choice white honey per colony, though the 

 yield is uncertain. 



Saw-palmetto, of the palm family (too well known to need 

 a description), throws open its immensely large and fragrant 

 blossoms in April and May, and yields 50 to 75 pounds of 

 light amber honey per colony. This is a very reliable source 

 for surplus. 



In the swamps are foun'd a good deal of soft maple and 

 magnolia bay — the former yielding honey freely, but coming 

 in January bees are too weak to take advantage of it, and it is 

 used to build up the colonies for the gallberry and palmetto 

 flows later on. 



Cypress yields a large quantity of pollen in January and 

 February, though but little if any honey. 



Magnolia bay yields some dark honey, though not enough 

 for surplus. 



THE HIGH HAMMOCKS. 



These, as a rule, are not large in extent, the growth being 

 principally hardwood timber — oaks of the various kinds, with 

 some hickory and magnolia, andromeda, loblolly bay and saw- 

 palmetto, yellow jasmine and wild grape, affording a good 

 spring and early summer pasturage, and giving from 100 to 

 150 pounds of surplus per colony. The larger share comes 

 from andromeda and saw-palmetto. 



Andromeda is a small, shrubby tree 10 to 20 feet high, 

 with small, white, bell-shape blossoms. It blooms in February 

 and March, and yields 50 to 60 or 75 pounds per colony, of 

 dark amber honey. It is very reliable. 



The various oaks afford more or less honey, and large 

 quantities of pollen, but coming early it goes towards breed- 

 ing up colonies. 



Yellow jasmine blossoms Dec. 20 to March, and yields 

 large quantities of pollen, and but little if any honey. 



Magnolia, loblolly bay and wild grape come in April and 

 May, and alford some little surplus, though coming at the 

 same time as the saw-palmetto. I am not in position to state 

 how much, or as to the quality of the yield. 



THE LOW HAMMOCKS. 



These are found principally bordering on the rivers and 

 creeks, and also in vast stretches along the coast. The growth 

 is principally hardwood timber and cabbage palmetto palms, 

 and various vines, etc. — usually an oxcellont range for surplus 

 honey. The growth of timber Is very similar to the high liam- 

 mock, with addition of tlin cabbage palmetto palm, various 

 gums, ash and maple, and In places some basswood and you- 

 pon ; also more wild grape and yellow jasmine than are found 



on the higher hammocks. From these various trees and 

 shrubs the surplus crop will run from 100 to 200 pounds per 

 colony. 



Basswood throws open its blossoms early in June — about 

 the 5th to the 10th, though the area of this is comparatively 

 small. 



Cabbage palmetto palm opens about July 1, and lasts till 

 Aug. 5 or 10. It is not certain, but some years it gives a 

 good crop of very light straw-colored honey ; 50 to 100 

 pounds per colony. There are thousands of acres of this cab- 

 bage palmetto palm in our State ; when it does yield, it makes 

 quite a difference in our total output of surplus honey.; . ^ 



In the low hammocks the grape affords quite a little sur 

 plus honey in May, when colonies are strong ; also sweet bay 

 — a shrubby bush or small tree. This is especially so on the 

 stretches of low hammock near the sea coast. 



THE OAK SCRUBS. 



Extensive area of this is found at various places through- 

 out the State, and all along the East Coast and West Coast 

 for long stretches. The usual growth is oak bushes, 10 to 20 

 feet high, and spruce pine, usually young sapling timber, yet 

 at places there are heavy forests of spruce pine, which are 

 generally spoken of as "spruce pine scrubs." In most scrubs 

 both oak and spruce are found more or less a growth of andro- 

 meda. This and the oaks are the only surplus-yielding shrubs 

 or plants worth mentioning, and as both come very early ia 

 the season, when colonies have not had time to build up 

 strong, there is little encouragement for a bee-keeper to locate 

 in such places, except where he is in reach of, or has access 

 to, other classes of soils that may border on the "scrubs." 

 The spruce pine timber yields vast quantities of pollen, an 

 item worth jotting down in a bee-keepers' calendar. 



THE KIVER SWAMPS. 



The St. Johns river swamps are the only ones I am per- 

 sonally acquainted with. The growth of timber here is sweet 

 gum, black gum, ash, soft maple, water oaks, cabbage pal- 

 metto palm, cypress, and in places some willow, with yellow 

 jasmine, grape, bamboo and other vines. Gums and cypress 

 largely predominate. These swamps are generally narrow 

 stretches seldom more than a mile or so wide, and are bordered 

 by saw-paluietto and gallberry, running back into pine lands, 

 hammocks or scrubs, and consequently afford good locations, 

 as a rule. 



The river swamps in the northern and northwestern por- 

 tion of the State afford the main surplus ranges there. They 

 are somewhat different from the St. Johns river swamps. In 

 the swamps of the northwestern portion of our State — take 

 the Apalachicola river swamps, for instance — there are large 

 amounts of tueplo gum, ti-ti, and snow vine, all of which 

 afford good yields of surplus. I am told that the tueplo gum 

 gives their main crop, coming in April. The ti-ti is found in 

 large quantities all through southern Georgia, and around the 

 big Okefenokee Swamp in the lower portion of that State and 

 the northern part of this. In that section — the Okefenokee 

 Swamp — the ti-ti — a small, bushy shrub or tree 10 to 20 feet 

 high — yields their main surplus crop — a delicious white, nice- 

 flavored honey, and the yield is 50 to 100 pounds per colony 

 from the one source. It comes in March. 



The scrub barrens along the coast vary from a quarter to 

 a mile wide, the principal growth being saw-palmetto and a 

 few oak bushes, with some sea grape, a small shrubby bush. 

 This strip of saw-palmetto growth along the coast yields very 

 abuudantly, and the crop of surplus honey is as sure and cer- 

 tain as from any source I am acquainted with. The saw-pal- 

 metto is the only source there, except at a few places where 

 there are stretches of black mangrove swamps along the iuside 

 rivers. May is the season for the palmetto here, and the crop 

 is 60 to 100 pounds. 



Black mangrove swamps are found at only two or three 

 places on our East Coast, at a few places on the West Coast, 

 and around the Florida Keys and the Ten Thousand Islands, 

 and extreme southern portion of the Florida coast. Along tho 

 coast it is a small branching tree, 10 to 20 feet in hight, 

 growing only in salt water marshes, and, as a rule, it is the 

 only tree growth occupying the areas where it is found. On 

 the Florida Keys and tho Ten Thousand Islands it grows to 

 be a large tree, 40 to 60 feet high. It bears a small, white 

 blossom, opening June 10 to June 20, and lasting five or six 

 weeks. The yield from this one source has been marvelous — 

 from 30() to 400 pounds per colony for whole apiaries, the 

 average yield being about 200 pounds per colony. The quality 

 of the honey Is good, and it is almost as clear as water, and 

 fully as while as any honey produced anywhere. I have 

 harvested 42,000 pounds of mangrove honey in one season 

 from a trifle less than 200 colonies. In my immediate neigh- 



