April, lirjl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



>07 



in the South, thi'ie are many days there 

 when the tenijjerature is down to 50 degrees, 

 and even slightly below freezing. During 

 these times I think one will suffer as mueli 

 as or more than he will in the North when 

 the temperature is down to zero with a dry 

 atmosjihere. But it is fair to say that the 

 greater part of the days in the South are 

 very comfortable; and the further south one 



Fig. 1. — A typical gallberry and blacklierry coun- 

 try, stretchinff from North Carolina to Louisiana. 

 The blackberry yields a dark-colored honey of in- 

 ferior flavor : but it is invaluable for boosting 

 brood-rearing. 



goes, the more it is like summer in the 

 North. 



Many of the readers of this journal are 

 interested in knowing what they can do 

 with bees in a warm climate, and would like 

 to know the sources of honey, and whether 

 it is possible to make a living. As to the last 

 1 can say yes and no. 



As I have often said before in these col- 

 umns, one must take time not only to accli- 

 mate himself but to learn that bees must 



North to carry them thru from one main 

 honey flow to another. Almost constant 

 breeding wears out the queens so that they 

 are seldom good for anything after the first 

 year; and in some localities in the South the 

 time will come, I think, when beekeepers 

 will discover that it will pay them to re- 

 queen twice a year. 



In going south one should remeni})er tlint 



Fig. 2. — This jiicture was taken thru the wind-shield 

 of a Ford auttMiiobile that was "fording" the so- 

 called road lengthwise. On either side of this road 

 are gallberry, llackberry, high and low bush huckle- 

 berry, tupelos, black gums, and dozens of other 

 honey plants. 



he will not see much white clover; ;uid what 

 there is, is of but little value. Starting from 

 Virginia and North Carolina he will find 

 growing on the coastal plain near and up 

 to a hundred miles from the coast, gallberry, 

 tupelos, black gums, blackberry, high and 

 low bush huckleberry, and titi. Thru Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Geor- 

 gia, and Alabama, niucli of the territory 

 along the swamiis, ri\ers, nnd bays is acid, 



Fig. '■'>. — The banks of the Roanoke aliiiDst its (^.ntirl^ 

 l<Migth are covered with honey-bearing flora, mainh 

 lujielos and Ijlack gums with some gallberry and 

 blackberry. The apparatus shown close to thei .shore 

 is an automatic iishing machine for catching herring-. 



1)1' liandlcd somewhat differently. "While they 

 ih) not freeze to death in the winter, I will 

 venture to say that there are more bees that 

 die in the Southland from starvation and 

 what we might call spring dwindling than 

 actually die of winter cold in the North. 

 Moreover, bees there require twice or three 

 times the amount of stores necessary in the 



Fig. 4.— Charles Duvall, of the, Uuvall ct Leggett 

 Co., Williain^ton, N. C. He is looking at several 

 of his comb-honey supers during the second week 

 of .\pril, when the editor was at his ai)iary. It is 

 honey from hawthorn and craliapple largely. 



so tli;it the wliifc cloNcrs cMii not grow. But 

 this xcry .-icid condition is favorable to the 

 growtli of the gallberry — a very welcome 

 substitute for white clover, that requires a 

 sweet soil. This same sour soil, so favorable 

 to the growth of gallberry, is likewise un- 

 favorable for the growth of the malarial 

 mosquito. If it were not for this condition 



