908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



facilities for wintering, the less clanger of 

 spring dwindling, and the greater scope given 

 to the queen if she proves fertile? In a word, 

 am I not better off at that difference of cost 

 with a hive that can be made as small as any 

 one can wish it or as large as may be needed 

 to accommodate the best quten ? I leave } our 

 reader to reply, and decide in his mind wheth- 

 er I am right. 



I see that I have not yet considered Doo- 

 little's objection, which is of some weight. I 

 will consider it in my next, and will also give 

 my ideas as to the future of the large hive. 



Hamilton, 111. 



SOUTHERN HONEY. 



Honey from all Portions of the United States Com- 

 pared ; Honey from Cuba, and its (Juality. 



BY O. O. POPPLETON. 



It looks as though many bee-keepers have 

 very mixed and crude ideas about the qualily 

 of honeys raised in the vSouth as well as in 

 Cuba. See record of discussion at Omaha, on 

 page 626, in the Avier. Bee Journal : also ed- 

 itorials in Gleanings, pages 771 and 805, and 

 in the Amcr. Bee keeper, page 195. Possibly 

 I can add a mite toward straightening out the 

 tangle of ideas. 



The honey region of the North is a compar- 

 atively narrow section across the continent, 

 and there are less than a dozen species of flow- 

 ers that yield large enough quantities of sur- 

 plus honey to be a factor in our general mar- 

 kets. The South furnishes a much larger va- 

 riety of honey-yielding flora. There are at 

 least two main reasons for this. One is, the 

 greater diversity of soil ; and the other is, that 

 the nearer one gets to the tropics, or what 

 many call the frost-line, the greater the varia- 

 tion in vegetation within short distances on a 

 north and south line. The southern part of 

 our country is so near this frost-line that radi- 

 cal changes in plant growth occur within short 

 distances. One can journey on a railroad 

 train, between sunrise and sunset of any day, 

 and not a single flower that yields honey 

 where he started from in the morning will be 

 found where he is at night. There are three 

 sections in Florida, in which the honey-flora 

 of each differs widely from that of the others. 

 A large part of the honey from Texas differs 

 widely from that from any other section of the 

 South. Honey from the hill region of Geor- 

 gia, around Atlanta, differs from that obtained 

 200 miles either north, south, or east from that 

 place. The conditions outlined above are true 

 all over the South. I doubt whether there is 

 or was any one, unless it might have been the 

 late Mr. Muth, who was fully posted on all 

 the different kinds of Southern honey. 



Each kind of honey obtains its own dis- 

 tinctive flavor from the flower that j-ields it ; 

 and it follows as a matter of course, that, as 

 the different varieties of flowers that yield 

 surplus honey in the South are many, so the 

 different kinds of honey, each with its own 

 distinctive flavor, are also many. There is no 

 single kind of honey that is general to the 



South, as is white clover, basswood, or buck- 

 wheat general to the North. We have all 

 kinds of flavor in our Southern honey, grading 

 all the way from the mildest honey 1 know of 

 to the strongest, from the whitest to the black- 

 est, and from the extra light in weight to the 

 heaviest. 



A study of the conditions which I have only 

 outlined shows that it is quite impossible to 

 have a standard for Southern honey, each one 

 of quite a number of sections having its own 

 standard, which differs from the standard of 

 all other sections. This is one reason why 

 there are such diversities of opinion regarding 

 the quality of vSouthern honey. Nearly all of 

 us are prone to judge any general subject by 

 the few conditions bearing on that subject 

 coming under our own individual observa- 

 tion, without any investigation of the whole 

 subject, and this is why so many of us have 

 judged all Southern honey by the few samples 

 we have seen. 



It is a much simpler matter to get at the 

 facts regarding CuVjan honey, as the kinds of 

 honey from there are so much fewer in num- 

 ber. At least two-thirds or more of all the 

 honey we shall get from Cuba comes from a 

 single species of flower, the so-called bell- 

 flower. This honey is almost exactly like 

 white-clover honey, both in color and body, 

 but is a trifle milder in flavor. I am inclined 

 to think that, as a marketable honey, it will 

 be a little below white- clover hone)', but above 

 that from basswood. While I was in Cuba we 

 sent Mr. Muth about 40,000 lbs., a good deal 

 more than half of it bt-ing this kind of honey. 

 He has told me that his customers took it 

 readily in place of white clover — much better 

 than the}' would have taken basswood honey. 

 I have seen but little California honey ; but if 

 what I have seen are fair samples of honey 

 from that State, then the bellflower honey 

 from Cuba will equal if not excel it as a mar- 

 ketable honey. Those who are so favorably 

 situated that they can find a home market for 

 their honey in the countr}' and small towns 

 will hardl}- feel any rivalry from Cuban hon- 

 ey ; but those of us not so situated, but who 

 have to sell in the general markets, can not 

 help finding such rivalry a serious matter. 



The rest of the honey from Cuba is of an 

 entirely different character, being dark and 

 with very strong flavor — not as good a honey 

 either in body or flavor as is buckwheat hon- 

 ey, but will probably be just as acceptable to 

 the bakers, who seem to be the principal con- 

 sumers of all kinds of dark strong honey. 

 Should very many American bee-keepers set 

 up business in Cuba I think Mr. Coggshall, as 

 well as a good many more of us, will find 

 their rivalry a much more serious matter than 

 we shall enjoy. 



Stuart, Fla., Nov. 19. 



[This article will cover a good many points 

 about which there has been a thirst for more 

 knowledge. I know of no one more compe- 

 tent than our friend Poppleton to give us the 

 facts. 



The bellflower honey he speaks of is of very 

 fine flavor. If I were to offer any criticism it 



