308 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



E.G.Baldwin 



FLORIDA SUNSHINE l^^^^^^^^^^ 



FOREWORD. 



When Editor Root admitted that there 

 might be '' room for one more " in the ever- 

 widening columns of Gleanings^ depart- 

 mental staff, a new hope was quick to leap 

 in my heart — the hope that fair Florida 

 might be the fortunate one to secure repre- 

 sentation among her sister states. 



I need not try to tell you, ye editors 

 many and capable, how glad I am to see 

 that hope being fulfilled. 



I have felt for several years past that 

 this big southeastern peninsula — the one 

 big peninsula of our Union — deserved more 

 magazine space, possibly, than had hereto- 

 fore been accorded her. I felt that Editor 

 Root had made a notable advance toward 

 nation-wide apiculture when he reached out 

 hands across the northei'n border to our 

 brothers and sisters in Canada; when he 

 widened the circle from central to middle 

 West, and then to the great West, until he 

 could see the sun set in the Golden Gate. 

 But my longing eyes missed something. 

 When first I heard the sweet humming of 

 the Dixie Bee I felt like lifting a glad cry. 

 From Medina to Nashville is a long stride ; 

 but I felt that this, tho profoundly a step 

 in the right direction, was still only a be- 

 ginning; for how immense is the territory 

 south of Tennessee and east of the 82d par- 

 allel, the line that runs thru eastern Ohio, 

 clips off the eastern tip of Tennessee, and 

 then cuts straight down thru the heart of 

 Florida! Now swing the compass that 

 reaches from Medina to Nashville, " away 

 down south " still further into Dixie, and 

 you barely reach our Jacksonville. 



The recent and systematic study of bee- 

 keeping conditions in the great Southeast, 

 begun under the direction of Dr. Phillips, 

 onlj' increased my conviction that now was 

 " the psychological moment " to extend still 

 further into the Southland the radii of 

 America's most representative bee-journal 

 — to make it, in this detail at leasi, more 

 completely representative. 



It is in this spirit of glad sendee, there- 

 fore, that I have undertaken the responsi- 

 bility of special contributor from this par- 

 ticular region of our gieat Union. Read 

 the telling chapter, " Regional Differences 

 in the United States " in Dr. Phillips' new 

 work, " Beekeeping," and I am sure you 

 all will agree with me that no one contribu- 

 tor can speak authoritatively for all regions. 



In the orange-honey belt, which extends 

 from about the 30th parallel of latitude to 

 the Southern Keys, the bloom on all citrus 



trees tliis year seems about the poorest since 

 the " freeze " of '99. A letter from my 

 friend Reynolds, near Fort Myers, on the 

 west coast, sqys " Orange-bloom a total fail- 

 ure." A like card from Mr. Harry Hewitt, 

 of Apopka, reads, " Only a light bloom." 

 On the east coast it is the same story; and 

 here at Deland on the St. Johns the bloom 

 is the " sorriest " I have known in 16 years. 

 Bees have built up splendidly on it, how- 

 ever, and the hives, light at first, are now 

 heavy with brood, bees, and honey — but 

 little or no surplus. The bees are still 

 working fairly well early and late, but lie 

 offin the heat of the day, showing that the 

 flow is gradually coming to a close. Mv 

 hive on scales has just about held its own 

 since the first of March, in weight; but it 

 is much stronger in bees than then. It was 

 not a fair representation of the average 

 colony, however. This year only the very 

 cream, the very pick of the prime colonies, 

 stored any surplus from orange. 



We cannot complain, however, for of the 

 previous three years one was fair and 

 the other two extra fine for orange honey. 

 It is safe to add that every blossom was 

 visited by many bees this season — no dan- 

 ger of scanty cross-fertilization, for the 

 blossoms were so few and scattering that 

 there would often be two bees trying to get 

 into the same blossom at the same time ! 

 Reports so far received from the penny- 

 royal-honey-section states show that there 

 is a fair crop of that choice article, tho not 

 so good as last year. We have not yet a 

 full report from the tupelo section. The 

 next main source will be the scrub palmetto, 

 then the cabbage palmetto, and mangrove, 

 pennyroyal being the first in point of time. 



Best Yields wlieii the Bees are Close to the 

 Source. 



P. C. Chadwick thinks the bees are to 

 blame if they do not go over 1% miles for 

 nectar, page 149, Feb. 15. On page 145 J. E. 

 Crane speaks of scattering bees thru the 

 orchard for better results. If bees go long 

 distances, why is it that they show so much 

 better results close to the bloom? Large 

 orange-growers here in Florida scatter the 

 bees, and they get better fruit close to the 

 bees. 



I can show Mr. Chadwick locations here, 

 1% miles from mangrove or orange, where 

 bees will starve, altho, close by the bloom, 

 they can get a large yield. I have tried it, 

 and not at one location either. 



Sanford, Fla., March 25. C. H. Clute. 



