1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



129 



General Correspondence 



BEE-KEEPING IN FLORIDA, 



Introduction. 



BY E. G. BALDWIN. 



[With the following article we begin the publica- 

 tion of a most interesting series of articles entitled 

 "Bee-keeping in Florida." Mr. Baldwin is well 

 qualified to speak of the industry in his State, for 

 he has traveled extensively and is well. acquainted 

 with the conditions, as will be shown by later arti- 

 cles, of which there are thirteen. We may say that 

 we have never before seen so complete and interest- 

 ing a discussion on beekeeping in any one State. 

 We are sorry that we can not give our readers the 

 opportunity to read the whole series at once, for it 

 reads like a book, and one who starts it can hardly 

 stop until he finishes. Most of the articles are il- 

 lustrated, and some of the pictures are exception- 

 ally fine. 



Mr. Baldwin, after discussing the honey-plants, 

 takes up the difflculties actually encountered, and 

 also has a good deal to say in regard to migratory 

 bee-keeping. Finally he gives a brief history of 

 some of the larger bee-keepers in the State, telling 

 how they succeed, describing their methods, etc. 

 We were surprised to find that there are so many 

 bee-keepers in Florida who number their colonies 

 by the hundred and even by the thousand. We are 

 sure that all of our readers, even tho.se here in the 

 North, will find these articles of great interest. — 



ED.] 



Florida is very much in the lime-light 

 just at present. Never before has interest 

 in all that concerns her seemed so wide- 

 spread. But, a "little knowledge is a dan- 

 gerous thing;" for where we cease to knoiv, 

 curiosity and imagination begin. Many 

 promotors and land-sharks, taking advan- 

 tage of the fact, are reaping a golden har- 

 vest selling Florida real estate to people who 

 know nothing about the State, but who 

 imagine a good deal. 



And Floridaispreeminently the land that 

 appeals to the imagination. Geologically, 

 the youngest of the United States; topo- 

 graphically, the most unique; and, geograph- 

 ically, the only peninsular State in the 

 Union, it is at the same time one of the 

 largest and the least known of them all. It 

 is in view of the two. facts above outlined, a 

 general ignorance of our State and a grow- 

 ing interest in it, that the following articles 

 have been prepared. Their purpose is achiev- 

 ed if they shall give to those really interest- 

 ed a safer knowledge by which to guide 

 them, and if they shall also, perhaps, keep 

 " fools '' from " rushing in where angels fear 

 to tread." 



A mere look at a map will only hint at 

 the size of Florida without really conveying 

 a correct idea of it. If some giant surveyor 

 were to place one point of his comjiass at 

 Fernaudina, in the northeast, and then 

 swing 250|miles westward with the other 

 point, he could barely reach the Alabama 

 line on the west. But to encompass the large 

 Keys that nestle all along the southern 

 coast, from Tampa to Miami, on the lower 

 fringe of coast-line, kissed for ever by the 

 great Gulf Stream, he would have to widen 



his arc by 180 miles— a total span of 400 miles 

 in length. While only a narrow portion of 

 the State, a part called West Florida, has 

 so great a width, still there is a total latitude 

 and longitude of 250 by 400 miles. A wide 

 geographical extent runningnorth and south 

 generally means a wide diversity in the 

 plant or tree life. Of no other State is this 

 diversity of flora more ajiparent than 

 here. Such wide range of flora must inevi- 

 tably have a great influence on the question 

 of the nectar-producing sources of the State. 

 But before passing to a consideration of the 

 honey-sources, let me correct a few misap- 

 prehensions about the place. 



In the first place, Florida is not a land of 

 scorching heat. The maximum tempera- 

 ture in summer is seldom higher than 94°; 

 the minimum in winter seldom falls lower 

 than 30°; 60° is the average temperature in 

 the winter season; 82° the average summer 

 temperature, while the average temi^erature, 

 the year round, is only 71°; and, lying as 

 the State does, slightly to the east of the 

 path of the trade winds, the resulting daily 

 breezes make sultry days extremely uncom- 

 mon. Sun-stroke is absolutely unknown 

 here. 



Secondly, Florida is not a land of poison- 

 ous things that creep and crawl. There are 

 deadly snakes, or poisonous snakes, at least, 

 in some portions, of course; but these areas 

 are rather limited in extent, and not in the 

 usual places of access. In ten years the 

 writer has not seen a live rattler here, though 

 he has hunted game over many miles of 

 swamp, hummock, and high pine land. 



An angry bee, with weapon hot. 

 That soaked him in a tender spot, 



has been the most venomous thing he has 

 encountered here. 



Thirdly, it is not a "land of flowers." Of 

 course, "Florida" means "flowery, "as any 

 Latin grammar or lexicon will tell; but, un- 

 fortunately for the poetry of the name, the 

 adjective comes from " Pascua Florida," the 

 Spanish for "Easter Sunday," on which 

 day Ponce de Leon discovered the land. 

 The language of the real-estate men is vast- 

 ly more flowery than the land they sell, in 

 most cases. Roses can be grown, to be sure, 

 in all the months of the year; but it requires 

 much more care and pains to grow them at 

 all here than in the North. There are many 

 wild flowers through the woods and on the 

 open tracts, but they are usually dull of hue 

 and insignificent in size. Nor are many of 

 them honey -producing; practically none 

 give any considerable surplus honey. The 

 prettiest blossoms are, almost without ex- 

 ception, found on trees or vines. 



Not only in terms of botany is Florida a 

 land of trees, but apiculturally, as well, it is 

 the land of tree-honey. That does not mean 

 bee-tree honey, either. To be sure, there 

 are bee-trees galore in the State, and easy to 

 locate, as a rule. One man on the south- 

 west coast told the writer he had 40 bee- trees 

 located, and another has 30 on his "waiting 

 list" right no-w. Live oaks, pines, and cy- 

 presses are rich producers of honey — but 



