406 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



this is that honey is gathered from 

 so many different Sources that there 

 is no uniform quality. Some of the 

 Mississippi honey is of as fine a qual- 

 ity as goes to market anywhere. 

 However, it would be difficult to se- 

 lect a sample of honey as typical, and 

 supply the same customer with a sec- 

 ond lot exactly like it, from a dif- 

 ferent place or at a different time. 

 Although the northern bee-man has 

 fewer sources of honty, his product 

 is much more uniform and the honey 

 going to market is very similar year 

 after year. In the South it may hap- 

 pen that the bees from one dolony 

 will be bringing in honey of a dif- 

 ferent color and flavor from that 

 coming to another hive at the same 

 time. It seems to me that the reme- 

 dy lies in the organization of co-op- 

 erative associations whicli will blend 

 the honey of a particular locality and 

 establish a market for it under its 

 own trade name. Unle",s this is done 

 the bottlers are likely to continue 

 to take advantage of the situation to 

 force down the price. 



There were several colored men 

 present at the Greenville meeting 

 and I was told that there were some 

 very good beekeepers among them. 

 We drove out to the apiary of Rich- 

 ard Grant, which was the nearest. It 

 was well kept and a picture herewith 

 shows both the apiary ?nd the black 

 mammy who bottled the honey. 

 The Agricu'.tural College 



Beekeeping is not neglected at the 

 Mississippi College of Agriculture. 

 R. B. Willson gives his full time to 

 beekeeping, most of it being spent in 

 extension work in the field. Willson 

 is a live wire chap who makes a good 

 impression, and who is a good 

 .booster for beekeeping, and espe- 

 cially for the State of Mississippi. 

 To hear him tell it there is no better 

 State than Mississippi and no better 

 business than beekeeping. He is do- 

 ing much to improve the methods in 

 the localities where he works. Dr. 

 R. W. Harned, the State Entom'olo- 



Field force of the Mississippi Plant Board 



gist, has too many irons in the fire 

 to give much of his personal time to 

 beekeeping. However, in his official 

 capacity he helps along at every op- 

 portunity. As Secretary of the State 

 Board he supervises the activities of 

 miore than twenty field men who are 

 busy with various problems of in- 

 sect control. The Plant Board men 

 are fine fellows. All are thoroughly 

 trained men and several are inter- 

 ested in bees. A picture of the 

 group in the field near Gulfport is 

 shown in connection with this article. 

 There was a very good meeting at 

 the college, as there was als^o at 

 Gulfport. 



The Gulf Region 

 There is great development along 

 the Gulf Coast. Large orchards of 

 pecans and Satsuma oranges are be- 

 ing planted. Some of the land is 

 very sandy and poor, while in other 

 neighborhoods it is good. Fine shell 

 roads are being built which make it 

 easy to drive from place to place by 

 auto. The woods are full of titi and 

 gallberry, and failures of the honey 

 crop are very rare. Near Pass 



R. B. Willson, t.i.Ui IK sintialist. anJ K. VV. Ilariicil, Slate Entomologist of Mississipiii 



Christian I again found some honey 

 plants which were new to me. Mexi- 

 can clover (Richardia scabra), is not 

 a clover at all, but a weed introduced 

 from the tropics. It is common in 

 cultivated fields in the Gulf States 

 from Georgia to Louisiana. It cov- 

 ers the ground in corn and cane 

 fields after cultivation has ceased. 

 The blossoms are small, but the bees 

 seek them eagerly and, according to 

 reports, gather much nectar from 

 them. The Mexican clover is often 

 cut for forage and fed to cattle in 

 place of hay. The picture will give a 

 good idea of the appearance of the 

 plant. The French mulberry, also 

 called Spanish or German mulberry 

 in sGme places ( Callicarpa ameri- 

 cana), is a common plant in South- 

 ern Alabama and Mississippi. Al- 

 though the plant grows from West 

 Virginia to Florida and west to 

 Texas, I can find no mention of it as 

 a honey plant in any of the beekeep- 

 ing literature. It seems to be regard- 

 ed as valuable in Texas, as well as in 

 the Southeastern States. The pic- 

 ture shows the fruit and leaves. 



Another plant which seems to be 

 valuable is a species of Ludwigia, 

 probably Ludwigia pilosa, which we 

 found in the swamps. I can find no 

 common name for the plant, but it is 

 found in swamps from the Carolinas 

 to Florida and west to Louisiana. 

 The bees were working these plants 

 very busily at the time of the visit 'of 

 our party, but we were unable to get 

 much information as to their value to 

 local beekeepers. 



There are many plants common to 

 Mississippi which are little known to 

 the beekeepers, even there, and 

 which are seldom mentioned in the 

 beekeeping literature. .Since there are 

 some very active beekeepers in the 

 State and the college is also taking 

 up beekeeping seriousl}', we may well 

 expect that much more will be 

 known about the honey flora within 

 a short time. 



I was very favorably impressed 

 with Mississippi beekeepers and bee- 

 keeping. There are many well-in- 

 formed commercial ibeekeepers 

 within its borders and it ranks well 



