1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



175 



•*■ H + + + + 



soms mid-February. The honey is red, and 

 strong in flavor; useful more for bakers' 

 uses. As the weather is almost sure to be 

 inclement, too, while it is in bloom, little 

 surplus is usually secured from it. 



3. Black tupelo (dogwood family). Same 

 habitat as the titi. Blossoms in early March. 

 Honey is clear, white, and good flavor, but 

 the body is rather thin. In consistency it 

 is about like that from partridge pea or the 

 cabbage palmetto. Bad weather, as for the 

 titi, makes the surplus from the black tu- 

 pelo rather uncertain. 



4. White tupelo {N^ussa, of the dogwood 

 family) . Blooms in March in low swamp 

 lands. While ft is more or less general all 

 over West Florida, it forms a factor in the 

 honey crop in only a rather limited dis- 

 trict — the so-called "tupelo belt." This 

 is confined to the swamps lying along the 

 Appalachicola and Chipola rivers, in Cal- 

 houn Co. Here it is the main source of sur- 

 plus, and from this section all the tupelo 

 honey of commerce is shipped. Honey 

 from the white tupelo is almost white, with 

 just a tinge of lemon hue in the sunlight 

 that is very beautiful. The body is thick 

 and the flavor is exquisite. It reminds one 

 of th e " sm ack " of " bu mble-bee hon ey " of 

 boyhood days; and that is a high compli- 

 ment too, let me hasten to explain to those 

 who have never been so fortunate as to re- 

 member how that tastes. Some would pro- 

 nounce it even superior to that from the saw 

 palmetto or mangrove. Tupelo honey, we 

 are glad to say, is now sold under its own 

 name. Seven years ago the writer tasted 

 some so-called tupelo honey in the office of 

 Mr. .1. H. M. Cook, in New York, which he 

 now knows was not pure tupelo honey; for 

 ihe pure article will not granulate, and that 

 was candied hard. By the way, that par- 

 ticular honey had been sold to Mr. Cook as 

 "orange honey," just because it came from 

 Florida and the name was suggestive. Tu- 

 pelo honey needs no such recommendation 

 now. I am indebted to Messrs. Higgins 

 and Hollinger, of W^wp.hitchka, West Fla., 



for a sample of pure white-tupelo honey, 

 and I must pronounce it about as fine an 

 article as I have ever sampled. 



5. Orange-blossom honey (all of the citrus 

 family). The best sectioris of the State for 

 this tree are from the north-central portion 

 to the southern end of the peninsula. It 

 blossoms in late February or early March. 

 There is no more beautiful sight nor sound 

 nor odor than an orange-grove in full bloom, 

 the air redolent of perfume, and the air 

 alive with humming, toiling bees amid the 

 snowy petals (Fig. 17) that shine like stars 

 from out the masses of shiny green leaves. 

 See Figs. 27 and 29 for good illustrations; 

 but no picture can do justice to the reality. 

 The honey is light amber, clear, and almost 

 transparent— clearer than that from saw 

 palmetto, though the body is not quite so 

 heavy. The flavor is delightful; "fruity" 

 is about the term for it; the aroma of the 

 blossom is in it— a perfume not found in 

 any other honey I have ever tasted. I once 



