June 15. 1911 



361 



Fig. 1. — O, O. Poppleton's old apiary under grapevines, at Stuart, Florida. 



BEE-KEEPING IN FLORIDA. 



ScniJ Representative Bee-men of Florida. 



BY B. G. BALDWIN. 



Continued from last ixsue. 



Facts and figures are essential to the ac- 

 curate exposition of any subject. But the 

 personal equation is always more interest- 

 ing. No account of bee-keeping in Florida 

 could, therefore, be considered complete that 

 did not give at least a glimpse at some of 

 tlie men who havenuule it what it is to-day. 

 The following is but a birdseye viewof some 

 of the most representative apiarists of our 

 Slate. The list does not begin to contain 

 all the men who stand high in the ranks of 

 bee-men here, but it is at least representa- 

 tive. Not only are they among the most 

 successful, but also the most prominent here 

 for the longest time, and are also from the 

 most widely diverse and separated portions 

 of the State. 



I think 

 that any- 

 body w h o 

 knows him 

 and his his- 

 tory w o u 1 d 

 agree with 

 me that Mr. 

 Oscar (3gden 

 Poppleton,of 

 Stuart, Fla., 

 is entitled to 

 the term of 

 prince and 

 p i o n e e r . 

 While 'he 

 has not been 

 a bee-keeper 

 in Florida 

 alone for the 

 g r e a t e s 1 

 length of 

 time, still he 

 began keep- 



ing Tbees in 

 Iowa away 

 back in 1870 

 — forty years 

 ago— and has 

 kept them 

 continuously 

 and as a s\ie- 

 cialty ever 

 since. Mr. 

 Alderman, of 

 Wewahitch- 

 ka, I think, 

 comes next 

 in length of 

 years a bee- 

 keeper. Mr. 

 P o p p 1 e t o n 

 came to Flor- 

 ida in 188«, 

 and began 

 bee-keei^ing 

 as a business 

 ai once. For 

 two years (1888 and 1889) he was in Cuba, 

 experimenting; then came back to Florida 

 and has resided here continuously ever since. 

 He has 280 colonies in six apiaries — 2 on the 

 mainland and 4 on the keys. He is, j)er- 

 hai)s, better known outside the State (un- 

 less it be Mr. Hart) than any other man in 

 the ranks. The reason is not only because 

 of his clear thinking and daring execution 

 of his plans, but also because of his facile 

 pen. He is, indeed, the "grand old man" 

 of Florida bee-men. He produces extracted 

 honey exclusively. 



He is the one man who makes his locality 

 by moving to it. His home apiary at Stuart, 

 Fla., is shown in Fig. 1. A twelve-horse- 

 power launch affords his power, and draws 

 a large lighter that carries 80 colonies of bees 

 at one time. Every January he loads his 

 mainland apiaries on this lighter and starts 

 for Key Largo, off the southeast coast. Fig. 

 2 shows him just leaving the wharf at Stuart 



Fig. 2.- 



-Tlie two boats ready for leaving the wliarf at'Stuart for a 17-Viiiile run to Ivey 

 Largo witli ttie first load of bees taken there. 



