GL.KANLNGS IN BEK CULTUBK 



E.G.Baldwin 



FLORIDA SUNSHINE I "-■"-^^ ^^- 



At present writing, May 7, the 

 saw palmetto (called also scrub 

 palmetto {Sabal megacarpa) is 

 just coming- into bloom, and yield- 

 ing a pound per hive a day in the 

 neighborhood of Eau Gallie East 

 Coast, about fifty miles below here. 

 It will be in full bloom here by the first or 

 second week in June. Weather has been 

 very dry, but that is no criterion of the 

 yield. The year when the bloom looked the 

 pooi-est, the yield was the best ever known. 

 From six to eight pounds daily per hive has 

 been reported from this source, and eight or 

 nine is not unknown. This palmetto gxows 

 all over the " flatwoods " (the low pine- 

 lands that overflow more or less during the 

 rainy season), also along all water-oourses, 

 and on the edges of all heavy hammocks. 

 The latter places are best, for there the 

 bush grows to the height of eight feet or 

 more, and yields best. The stunted sort in 

 the flatwoods does not yield so well. Too 

 much rain during bloom produces a mildew ; 

 too great drouth or dryness in the air, too 

 much heat, produces a parched bloom that 

 withers soon. Both conditions are detri- 

 mental to nectar secretion. When all condi- 

 tions are right, however, it yields profuse- 

 ly, and is the finest of table honey. Some 

 think it the very best in the state. It is 

 lemon yellow, thick heavy body, and aro- 

 matic both in taste and smell, wonderfully 

 appetizing and delicious. Having bad two 

 poor years in succession from this source, 

 it looks as if we might get a yield this year, 

 or, as the vernacular has it, " We belong to 



have a good bloom." 



* * * 



" Even an error may give text for a ser- 

 mon." I confess, when I read " Don't we 

 have good-looking covers?" (Mrs. Allen, 

 page 182) I was ready to shout, " Yes, if 

 they are metal covers;" but further perusal 

 of that department contribution showed 

 me that our poetess was thinking of one 

 kind of covers and I of another. But, all 

 the sam-ee, I must give that sermon, even 

 tho a mistake led up. to it. 



Florida, above all other states, needs 

 metal-roofed covers. For sixteen years I 

 have tried all the kinds of covers ever tried 

 by any mortal man. I have used wooden 

 covers, put together with kerfs, with 

 grooves and tongues, painted joints, etc. I 

 have used tarred-paper covers and roofing- 

 paper covers. I have never yet found a 

 brand that would not leak sometimes, and 

 many of them all the time, some very badly. 

 A bad case of mildeAv, warping, and decay 

 is the result to the cover that leaks, and 



maylia]! worse to the colony. As a roof is 

 the most important part of the house, so it 

 is of the hive. If that is poor, the whole is 

 a failure, no matter how good in itself the 

 rest may be. Here the summers are in the 

 rainy season. We may have bright hot 

 sunshine for half a day, and downpouring 

 rains the rest, then steaming heat again. 

 You can imagine how an ordinary roof 

 suffers — even a roof that would pass as a 

 pretty good cover in the North. 



I find galvanized iron better than tin. If 

 you paint the former, all the better; if you 

 do not get around to it in time, it suffers 

 little, if any, for a good while — no rust, no 

 warping, no leaks, and last, but not least, 

 no blowing off. I used to be annoyed in 

 outyards, or at the home yard, when absent, 

 by the covers going rolling across the yard 

 in some of our summer high winds. Now, 

 with the metal-roofed telescoping covers all 

 is solid, secure, and dry as a powder-horn. 

 I can leave a yard for months, and know 

 that all is absolutely as dry and secure as 

 the heart of the pyramids ! " I care not 

 what others may say; but as for me, give 

 me " metal covei-s or give me none ! While I 

 know some advocate, even here, a cheaper 

 cover, sooner or later they will regret it. I 

 nail the metal part down over the telescoping 

 side and ends with one-inch clout nails that 

 clinch easily. I have devised a way of plac- 

 ing the cover over the projecting edge of 

 the sliding leaf in my saw-table, and clinch- 

 ing the nails on the iron table. It takes but 

 a few moments to go over a hive thus. The 

 nails are driven at an angle, so as to enter 

 the sides and ends, not into the board top 

 merely, under the metal, thus welding the 

 whole into almost one piece that can be 

 thrown and banged around endlessly with 

 no danger whatever of breakage. And then, 

 too, these covers can be piled up so neatly, 

 take little room, can be used for piling hives 

 on, act as a seat in the yard, stand firm 

 when so piled, do not rock and slip around 

 as sloping covers do. They are exact and 

 symmetrical, and practical in every way. It 

 seems to me for our climate especially, they 

 are the "last word " in hive-covers. I would 

 strongly advise all who are beginning with 

 bees here, or who may not be entirely satis- 

 fied with the sort of covers they are now 

 using, to give these metal-roofed covers a 

 trial, convinced as I am that they will 

 thence use no others. They cost a bit more, 

 but are well worth it. To come back to the 

 starting-point, you can still exclaim, "Don't 

 we have good-looking hive-covers? " for 

 none give a neater look to a yard than these 

 same metal telescoping covers. 



