498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mav 15 



there are many other flowers equally as- 

 tonishing. 



As is usual in more northern countries, 

 manyof the fruit-trees are excellent nectar- 

 bearers, but some are not. That magnifi- 

 cent fruit, the sour-sop, and its relatives 

 the sugar-apple, cherimoyer, and custard- 

 apple do not produce nectar, neither does 

 the bread-fruit family. But we bee-keep- 

 ers have no reason to complain of Dame 

 Nature in the tropics, for she has been lav- 

 ish to excess. 



The avocada pear, which is not a pear at 

 all, is one of the best producers of really 

 good honey; and when this fruit comes to 

 be grown on a large scale, as it deserves to 

 be, it will cut a great figure in tropical 

 bee-keeping. 



The golden apple {Spom/ias diilcis) is a 

 first-class honey-producer, quite equal to 

 bass wood or any other northern tree. This 

 is a fruit that would probably cut a great 

 figure with fruit-evaporators and canning- 

 factories. It certainly has a " future " be- 

 fore it in Cuba and the south of Florida. 



Malacca apple, pomerosa, or pomtne-er- 

 ae, is a great tree for the bees, and no mis- 

 take. They can't get at it too early in the 

 morning or too late in the evening. Ameri- 

 cans generally regard the fruit more as a 

 vegetable than a fruit, resembling a radish 

 in taste and texture. As it blooms two or 

 three times a year it is very valuable to us. 

 It is probably as valuable to pig-raisers as 

 it is to bee-keepers. 



The tamarind is one of the great trees of 

 the tropics, furnishing the famous tamarind 

 syrup of the drugstores. It is a fine large 

 umbrageous tree, valuable in various ways. 

 Its wood is somewhat like bass wood; and if 

 as common as the latter is in Wisconsin it 

 would cut quite a figure in West-Indian 

 bee culture. 



Cocoanut {Cocos nucifera). I have al- 

 ready alluded in another contribution to the 

 value of this great tree to tropical apicultu- 

 rists. It is almost impossible to overstate 

 the value of this nut to the agriculture of 

 the tropics, bee-keeping included. 



Date {Phijcnix dactylifera) is, strictly 

 speaking, semi-tropical, but will grow in 

 drouthy tropical countries. It is extra val- 

 uable to the bee-master. 



Coffee is a fine honey- plant, but labors un- 

 der the serious drawback of blooming only 

 one or two days. However, where coffee is 

 grown at different elevations in the same 

 valley its period is prolonged. The flow- 

 ers are exquisitely white, and borne in pro- 

 fusion. The Liberian coffee does as well 

 as the Arabian. 



Nutmeg is not a nut at all, but a fruit 

 bearing a great resemblance to the peach. 

 The nut, so called, is the kernel, and the 

 mace surrounds it. The fleshy part of the 

 fruit is not esteemed in the West Indies, yet 

 it makes a good preserve, American fash- 

 ion, and makes good pies or dumplings. In 

 a nutmeg-grove trees may be found in bloom 

 any day in the year, and the bees work on 

 it from morn till eve ; hence any locality 



where this tree is common must be a good 

 one for bees. In Grenada there are several 

 fine large gro\es of nutmegs. One in par- 

 ticular, the Wells estate, is very fine; and 

 during the life of its owner, who was a bee- 

 keeper, it must have famished a lot of fine 

 honey. 



Genip {Melicocea bijuga), a fruit-tree, is 

 a very heavy honey- bearer. In Jamaica, 

 where it is common, it forms one of the 

 chief assets of the bee-keepers. 



Hog plum {Spondias liitea) is a first-class 

 honey-plant. 



Maiden plum {Comodadia integrifolid) is 

 also a good honey-plant. 



Mango {Mangifera Indica). This great 

 fruit does not stand very high with me as a 

 honey -plant; but it may be better in some 

 localities than others. 



Sapodilla. This very nice fruit is pro- 

 duced on a large spreading tree like a live- 

 oak. It is a very fair honey-yielder. In 

 the island of Curacao I found these fruits 

 rather larger and finer than elsewhere in 

 the West Indies; and, what is most impor- 

 tant, cheaper, three large ones for a Dutch 

 cent, equal to one- fifth of an American cop- 

 per. There may be a hint here to grow 

 this very plain-looking but sweet fruit. 



Loquat. This is a first-rate honey-bear- 

 er, and seems to bloom when nothing else 

 does. It seems to me the Florida orange- 

 growers north of the "frost-line" might 

 grow this acid fruit for canning purposes. 

 It is certainly well suited for this use; and 

 taking this with its honey-producing quali- 

 ties we ought to hear more about it later. 



Sugar-cane — not a fruit exactly, but well 

 known to everybody. The "arrow," or 

 flower, seems to furnish both pollen and 

 nectar, and the cut cane exudes nectar, 

 which the bees eagerly collect. 



Rose- apple, or pomme-rose {Eugenia jam- 

 bos) , is a good yielder, but never common. 



Clammy chevTy{Cordia collococca) is good. 



Bastard cherry [Ehretica tinifolia) is al- 

 so good. 



Barbados cherry {Malphigia glabra) is a 

 good honey-plant. 



Chocho, christophine, or chayote {Sechi- 

 u»i ediile) is both a fruit and a vegetable, 

 and an excellent bee-plant. Southern read- 

 ers should keep their eye on this plant. 



Raspberry {A'ubres roscrfolius) . In some 

 islands, at an elevation, very good wild red 

 raspberries are found, and these the bees 

 work on while in bloom. Curiously enough, 

 in the I^rench-speaking islands it is termed 

 a strawberry in the Creole patois. 



Seaside grape [Caccoloha iivifera). This 

 is not a grape, by any means, but it is a 

 very fair honey-producer. The honey of 

 this tree looks and tastes like that from 

 basswood. 



Among the forest-trees of the tropics 

 there is no end to the nectar-yielders; but 

 neither myself nor any other person or le- 

 gion of observers could in a generation even 

 approximately tabulate them. I have seen 

 many that are not mentioned here, for the 

 reason I did not know their names, and 



