1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



195 



the market stalls of his city. Of course I need the 

 parcels post: but I don't need it half as badly as the 

 man in the city. 



What is the use for you and me, brother, to pay a 

 man to drive past our doors every day with fifty 

 pounds when he might just as well be hauling a 

 couple of hundred with the same equipment he has 

 now ? Ekxest Merrill. 



If it would be possible to send eggs by 

 parcels post, why would it not be possible 

 to send comb and extracted honey in the 

 same way? A good large sample would 

 stimulate a demand for honey in larger 

 quantity. Bee-keepers should get after 

 their Congressmen. If the farmers and bee- 

 keepers would keep everlastingly after the 

 parcels post they would get it. Thousands 

 of letters pouring in to Congressmen act 

 like hot shot. If you leave the job of writ- 

 ing to the other fellow you will never get it. 



FLORIDA NOTES NO. 2; DROUTH AND ITS EF- 

 FECT ON THE FLORIDA HONEY CROP; 

 A WORD TO THOSE WHO EXPECT 

 TO GO TO FLORIDA. 



The drouth throughout Florida and parts 

 of the South at this writing, March 18, is 

 still on. It is reported that it is the most 

 severe that has occurred for over a dozen 

 years past. While a drouth in Florida does 

 not by any means do the damage that it 

 does in many parts of the North, it may 

 cut down the honey crop very materially. 

 On the west coast, at least, heavy dews many 

 nights (almost equal at times to a light 

 shower) and a natural sub-irrigation do 

 much to modify the severity of drouth; but 

 still vegetation does not take on that beau- 

 tiful bright green seen at other times, so it 

 is said. 



As many bee-keepers are thinking of com- 

 ing here, a few facts as I have been able to 

 glean them may not be out of place. While 

 A. I. R. has given a truthful picture, the 

 view-point of another is often helpful. 



It is a land ot sunshine and beautiful cli- 

 mate. In the lake region, where I live, a 

 clear day during winter is the exception. I 

 was struck with the clear sky in Florida at 

 night, and the bright sun during the day. 

 A cloudy day during winter is the excep- 

 tion; but some people would not like the 

 damp atmosphere at night. Perhaps some 

 others wouldn't be favorably impressed with 

 the miles and miles of sand. Indeed, one 

 tourist said it seemed to him that Florida 

 was one "great sand heap," and it isn't 

 much of a " heap " either, for it is all level. 

 A hill in Florida is a joke. The scenery 

 away from the beautiful lakes and bays is 

 monotonous for that reason. Indeed, some 

 parts of Florida, on account of the level 

 country, the sand, the numerous lakes, and 

 the pine-trees, remind one of Northern 

 Michigan. 



But there are immense possibilities to the 

 man of brains and energy. One old-timer 

 said to me, "Florida is a right smart place 

 to live in; but," he added, with a twinkle, 

 "no one should come here unless he has 

 money or muscle. Money here will leak 

 like water, unless you look out. Powerful 



funny how the suckers give their good mon- 

 ey for land that tain't no account, and then 

 when they find how thev got bit go up north 

 and give the whole of Florida a black eye." 

 Much if not all that he said is true. On the 

 other hand, many have come here, found 

 health, and made money. If one is going 

 to "invest" he should go into Florida and 

 investigate. To buy "out of sight and un- 

 seen " of a real-estate man in some northern 

 city, without seeing the land, how it is lo- 

 cated, and whether it is productive, is the 

 height of folly. 



Florida has good and bad spots, and the 

 bad spots may be close to a good one. The 

 fact that a piece of land is next to an orange- 

 grove doesn't necessarily signify that it will 

 grow oranges. Don't let any one try to sell 

 you "white muck " land. Where the sand 

 is white it is about as useless as it can well 

 be. When you go into the State, inquire 

 carefully, and don't be in a hurry to invest 

 until you look around. There are plenty of 

 honest real-estate people in the State who 

 will tell the truth. 



Again! land may do well one year and 

 fail the next. Said one man who had come 

 here, "I made good money last year off my 

 lettuce, but this year I lost on it. The drouth 

 cut it off. I have made up my mind that 

 one should be prepared to irrigate his land." 



Many flowing wells are found in many 

 parts of Florida, and near Bradentown flow- 

 ing wells and windmills are seen everywhere. 



The orange business is being overdone in 

 many parts of the State. Good land will 

 often grow garden truck as well as or better 

 than oranges. 



But what are the chances for the bee-keep- 

 er? Good, providing too many don't hug 

 together in one locality. The bee business, 

 unlike truck-gardening and orange-growing, 

 should be scattered. The apiaries should 

 not be closer than two miles of each other, 

 and there should not be too many bees in a 

 yard. When a northern bee-man goes to 

 Florida he should learn to look out for rob- 

 bing and starvation. Bees can fly every 

 month in the year, and during the rainy 

 season they are liable to run short of stores. 



What about the people of Florida? I can 

 best answer this by quoting one old fellow 

 who said that "Every one you meet here is 

 from somewhere else." During the winter, 

 at least, almost every one you meet in the 

 State seems to be from the North. Every 

 State in the Union, especially those in the 

 extreme north, is well represented here. 

 Indeed, it looks now as if the most southern 

 State in the country will have a population 

 very largely of northern people. I don't 

 say this because the New Englanders and 

 the people from the region of the Great 

 Lakes are any better than those from the 

 Southland. Far from it! The latter may 

 not have quite so much money; but their 

 kindly cordiality can not be surpassed. The 

 southern people are more open-hearted; and 

 if they have money or property they are far 

 less iiiclined to be snobbish with it. — E. R. 

 Root. 



