174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 15 



same manner as 

 their brother bee- 

 keepers take it 

 from the yucca- 

 tr unk hives 

 around Tampico. 

 It is made from 

 shts of bamboo, 

 woven basket 

 fashion, and is 

 plastered over 

 with a coat of 

 mud to keep out 

 the air. 



CONDITIONS I N 



MEXICO AS A 



WHOLE. 



Summarizing 

 my trip of inves- 

 tigation through 

 Mexico I will say 

 that I do not in- 



Fig. 17. — Cluster of orange-blossoms and fruit. 



tend at the present time to locate any bees 

 in the republic on the strength of any thing 

 I saw; but I wish to call attention to the 

 fact that I did not visit the low and strict- 

 ly tropical regions. I was told that one 

 could buy bees in yucca-trunk hives around 

 Tampico for a dollar a stand. There might 

 be some money made there buying them 

 and working exclusively for wax; but I 

 would advise any one interested in this sort 

 of thing to go and thoroughly investigate 

 it before closing out any bee-outfit he al- 

 ready has. I had read and had been told 

 that living is very cheap in Mexico, but I 

 did not find it so. I got double the number 

 of dollars when I changed my money at the 

 line, but it went about twice as fast; and 

 with many of the common articles of food, 

 two dollars in Mexican money will not buy 

 as much as one dollar will in the United 

 States. 

 Mesilla Park, N. M. 



BEE-KEEPING IN FLORIDA. 



The Surplus-honey Sources. 



BY B. G. BALDWIN. 



-J^^t^' 







Fig. 27.— Orange-trees produce the finest honey in Florida when taken pure. 

 When conditions are right the nectar can be seen shining in the blossoms, 



CQntinued from last issue. 

 \\'hile in a general way the northern 

 half of Florida (see map) is the land of 

 the pine, and the southern half the land of 

 the palm, the dotted areas will give in a more 

 comprehensive way the sections of the vari- 

 ous honey-producing sources. Of the fifteen 

 odd sources of possible surplus honey, a 

 glance will reveal the truth of the claim 

 that the large majority of them are trees, 

 not plants. Name any other State of which 

 this can be said. 



These, considered singly and in their sea- 

 sons, are about as follows: 



1. Wild pennyroyal (of the mint family) ; 

 grows in the southern half of the State, 

 blossoming in 

 .Tanuary and Feb- 

 ruary. The hon- 

 ey is clear and of 

 good llavor and 

 body, but the 

 yield is slight, as 

 a rule, nor does it 

 figure very largely 

 in the honey put 

 on the market. 

 Weather is apt to 

 be uncertain while 

 it is in bloom. 



2. Titi [Cyritla- 

 ceae, or titi fam- 

 ily). An ever- 

 green that grows 

 in pine swamps in 

 the northern por- 

 tion of the State; 

 gives surplus only 

 in the extreme 

 northwest in the 

 so-called West 

 Florida. It bios- 



