176 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



September, 



MIGRATORY BEE-KEEPING IN FLORIDA. 



BY O. O. POPPLBTON. 



THERE has always been a pecu- 

 liar fascination in the subject 

 of migratory bee-keeping, espe- 

 cially when practiced on our river 

 highways by the use of boats. 



I suppose that real migi-atory bee- 

 keeping on the water means the keep- 

 ing of bees on large flats, scows or 



work cannot be of much value to the 

 fraternity, it may possibly interest 

 some. 



Black mangrove is a semi-tropical 

 tree oceum-ing in salt marshes, in close 

 proximity to the ocean itself. There 

 are three localities in East Florida 

 where it grows in sufficient quantity to 



POI'I'Liri'dN'S KLKKT A'!' THK I.ANDIN'ii 



boats which are frequently moved from 

 one locality to another so as to take 

 advantage of different honey flows 

 as they occur in different but not too 

 distant localities. The only instance 

 I know of this having been tried on a 

 large scale in this country was a cost- 

 ly failure. I douljt whether conditions 

 in this country will ever allow of its 

 being done successfull.v. 



Th(tt-e are localities, however, where 

 a modified form of migratory bee-keep- 

 ing can he practiced, and I happen to 

 be lucky or unlucky, enough to be so 

 located that I have to practice it to at- 

 tain even medium success in my work. 

 While a brief description of some of 

 the conditions.etc, connected with this 



be of value to bee-keepers. One is near 

 New Smyrna and Hawks Park, in Vo- 

 lusia county, another is some 50 to 100 

 miles southward in the Indian River 

 Narrows, in Brevard county, and the 

 other is on the kej's south of Miami in 

 Dade and Monroe counties. 



Along almost the entire east coast 

 of Florida extend estuaries or salt- 

 water lagoons, and the mangrove la 

 mostly found on marshy islands in 

 these waters. In many cases, espe- 

 cially at the New Smyrna field, the wa- 

 ter is narrow enough between the is- 

 lands and the mainland so that bees 

 on the mainland have ready access to 

 them;. but in much of the other loca- 

 tions, the water is so wide that bees 



