214 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



FOSTER'S OUTDOOR SLEEPING-ROOM OVER THE KITCHEN. 

 SEE PAGE 219. 



and mangrove. Up to the year of the big 

 freeze in 1895 it was the greatest honey-yield- 

 er known to the apicultural world, barring 

 none. It is also a very interesting plant for 

 many other reasons.* 



10. Sensitive pea {Cha7naecrista) , com- 

 monly called partridge pea, because its seeds 

 are so relished by the quail. It is a tough 

 weed of the senna family, growing all 

 through the high pine lands of the northern 

 half of the peninsula, in great abundance. 

 In summer, here,*l for example, the woods 

 are yellow for miles 

 with it as far as the 

 eye can see. It grows 

 from two to three feet 

 high, as Mr. .1. .1. 

 Wilder, of Cordele, 

 Georgia, has already 

 pointed out in these 

 columns. It has a 

 very long bloom-pe- 

 riod, from .luly to 

 mid-September, and 

 yields honey every 

 year unless the sum- 

 mer rains are too 

 heavy, as was the 

 case the past sum- 

 mer. Then its qual- 

 ity and quantity are 

 inferior. The honey 

 has a very pretty hue, 

 light amber and very 



*Readers of Gleanings 

 who maybe further Inter- 

 ested In this rare plant 

 will do well to consult 

 Dr. Wilson, of the Com- 

 mercial Museum, Phila- 

 delphia, who is a recog- 

 nized authority on the 

 subject. 



clear; in body it is 

 rather thin, and the 

 flavor is strong to one 

 accustomed to milder 

 types; would probably 

 sell better as a comb- 

 honey product than as 

 extracted honey (see 

 later notice of this 

 plant) . 



11. Cabbage palmetto 

 (sabal palmetto) ; a tree 

 growing from 20 to 30 

 feet high, with spread- 

 ing top and drooping 

 leaves, huge and fan- 

 shaped (see the back- 

 ground of Fig. 6, and 

 also the foreground of 

 Figs. 25 and 26). The 

 blades of the leaves are 

 plaited in the bud, form- 

 ing an imbricated cov- 

 ering over the trunk for 

 many feet below the 

 top, gradually falling 

 away as the tree grows 

 higher. Its blossoming 

 time is from mid-July to 

 the end of August. The blossoms are huge 

 ostrich-like plumes, six to eight feet long, 

 drooping from the same center as the leaves, 

 densely covered with small greenish-white 

 blossoms, very aromatic. They are subject 

 to blight, however, from too much rain or 

 too little, and so it is not counted on often- 

 er than one year in three. It yielded pro- 

 fusely in 1907; again this year (1910). When 

 it does yield, it is always heavily. Its habi- 

 tat coincides pretty nearly with that of the 

 saw palmetto. However, it reaches its most 



\ 



OUTDOOR SLBBPING-ROOM ON SIDE PORCH. SEE PAGE 219, 



