THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



335 



his apiary, this is a matter of serious 

 eonsitleration. 



I know it lias been claimed that it 

 was almost impossible to over-stock 

 this " Bee Belt," as it has been called, 

 and as it has been stated to extend 

 from Port Orange on the Halifax 

 river, li5 miles south ti) O.ik Hill on 

 Mosquito Lagoon, it certainly does 

 seem as though there was room for a 

 good many yet. But instead of li5 

 miles, the section spoken of is really 

 but about IS or 19 miles. Then comes 

 a break in the black mangrove, of 

 some miles, and the next good loca- 

 tion for an apiary, with a view to the 

 mangrove pasturage, is some distance 

 down the Indian river. That the 

 black mangrove is our best honey- 

 producing tree, is beyond a doulit, 

 but that there are plenty of locations 

 in the State, far away from any man- 

 grove, in which bee keeping can be 

 made more proli table than it usually 

 Is in the North, is also beyond a doubt, 

 in my mind at least. 



Until all the coH.stand Salt River of 

 south Florida, where the black man- 

 grove grows, is taken up and occupied 

 by practical apiarists, I would recom- 

 mend that section, but as I find the 

 black mangrove sections are more 

 limited then 1 formerly supposed, I 

 will say a word for other pasturage. 



Our hammock lands are rich loamy 

 spots of from one to several thousand 

 acres eacli, scattered about over the 

 State. This land is covered by a 

 heavy growth of cabbage palmetto, 

 basswood, hickory, oaks, prickly ash, 

 necked wood, youpon, white maple, 

 bays, etc., etc., all of which have a 

 greater or less value as honey 

 producers. These hammocks are 

 surrounded by pine woods or savan- 

 nahs. In the former are to be found 

 the saw palmetto, gallberry and other 

 good honey-producers, and in the 

 savannahs are the willows, for early 

 pasturage, and later, a perfect sea of 

 wild suntlower, fora late crop, besides 

 innumerable small flowers. 



If with all these resources to draw 

 from, a few colonies of bees cannot 

 do well, when properly cared for, near 

 almost any of these hammocks, I am 

 certainly greatly mistaken, but if that 

 were the case, then, with our climate 

 exempting us from all wintering 

 troubles, and giving us nearly the 

 whole year to work our bees in, with 

 cheap living, cheap transportation, 

 and other advantages too numerous 

 to mention, I see no reason why a per- 

 son cannot locate in the pine woods in 

 sections where there is naturally but 

 very little honey produced, and there 

 plant just what he wants his honey 

 from, in such a way as to give a con- 

 tinuous flow nearly the whole of the 

 year. I believe this will be done be- 

 fore many years, for, if it will pay to 

 plant for honey in the North, it seems 

 to me it will pay better here. I am 

 now trying sweet clover, Simpson 

 honey plant, and spider plant; the 

 seeds of which were kindly sent to 

 me by a gentleman in Cincinnati. 



Now, in reference to O. H. Lake's 

 article in the Bee Jouunal, April 25, 

 page 213, 1 will say, as he got his in- 

 formation from correspondence alone, 

 he has naturally fallen into some 



errors which, as I feel sure that Mr. 

 Lake would wish it, and as it might, 

 aS it stands, mislead parties coming to 

 this State, I take the liberty of cor- 

 recting and commenting upon as fol- 

 lows : 



1. The length of the " Bee Belt " is 

 some 18 or 19 n)iles instead of 12.5. 



2. There is quite a tract of black 

 mangrove at Indian River narrows, 

 and more or less all along the river, 

 although in many places the red man- 

 grove i)redotninates. On many por- 

 tions of the river the black variety is 

 too scarce to be of much value for 

 honey. 



3. Mr. Ol.son is quoted as saying it 

 is " impossible to over-stock the conn 

 try." Now, if the countnj means the 

 " Bee Belt," there certainly must be 

 a mistake some where, for this section 

 of Florida can be very easily over-stocked, 

 and Mr. Olson knows it, and, being a 

 strictly honest man, he would not 

 intentionally make any statement that 

 would convey the idea that the above 

 quotation does, or at any rate, not 

 since he got well posted as to the re- 

 sources of this country. While the 

 mangrove is in bloom, it seems almost 

 impossible to get bees enough to 

 gather it all, but bring enough bees 

 here to gather one-half of it, and bee- 

 keeping would be reduced to a poorly 

 paying business. Much less theii 

 ■' 90 per cent." of our season's crop is 

 mangrove honey. 



4. The cabbage palmetto produced 

 much less honey last season then 

 usual, but considerable pollen was 

 gathered from it. This may have 

 something to do with the diversity of 

 opinion in regard to its value. 



5. Our prospects for Hrst-class 

 transportation by the middle of sum- 

 mer, is now very good. A railroad 

 and the coast canal are both within a 

 short distance of the Halifax river, 

 and will soon be through to it. 



6. Messrs. Alderman and Roberts, 

 of VVewahitchka, Fla., have reported 

 350 colonies, which, I think, must be 

 the largest apiary in the State. 



7. Mr. Chas. F. Muth has praised 

 our honey without stint, and has gone 

 to great pains to put it before the 

 public. In reply to a note and some 

 samples of our honey sent by him to 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth, the latter 

 wrote as follows : 



Oxford, Nov. 16, 1882. 

 Friend Muth : — I have delayed 

 giving you my opinion of that Florida 

 palmetto honey until I could get the 

 verdict of others besides myself as to 

 its merits. Its color is unexception- 

 able, and its flavor very pleasant. I 

 am not sure but that tlie majority of 

 consumers will consider it equal, if 

 not superior to white clover honey. 

 Our Southern friends are to be con- 

 gratulated on being able to supply our 

 market with such a choice article. 

 L. L. Langstroth. 



Any one that would ask for a better 

 endorsement than that, would be alto- 

 gether too particular. It will sell my 

 honey in any market of the world at 

 top prices. 1 feel that the thanks of 

 all Florida bee-keepers are due Mr. 

 Muth for his kindly interest and ef- 

 forts on our behalf, as by them our 



honey now has a market proportionate 

 to its quality, while formerly commis- 

 sion houses would take advantage of 

 the old phrase, and when honey was 

 quoted U and 12 cents per pound, they 

 would make returns thus : " Gallons 

 Southern strained honey at 80 or 85 cts. 

 per gallon;" and this in spite of all 

 we might say about " quality " or 

 " extracting." 



8. If Mr. Olson stated in his letter 

 to Mr. Lake that he "made (i swarms 

 from one colony this season, and took 

 from the old colony 440 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey," he certainly wrote 

 what he did not intend to. He meant 

 to have said that he took 440 pounds 

 from the old colony and its increase. 

 Now, as I know Mr. Olson to be an 

 upright and honorable man, and I be- 

 lieve Mr. Lake to be the same, and 

 that only good was meant by hia 

 letter, I want it understood that the 

 foregoing is not intended to reflect on 

 the honesty of either party in the 

 least, but that the discrepancies arise 

 through Mr. Lake's not getting the 

 exact ideas intended by the writers, 

 or some carelessness on the part ot 

 the writer, perhaps. Such misunder- 

 standings are very common, Mr. 

 Lake's letter is interesting, and I can 

 endorse all it says, with the exception 

 of the above mentioned errors, which 

 only serve to bring out more facts. 

 There is still plenty of room for prac- 

 tical bee-keepers in this State, if they 

 will only look up the locations. 



New Smyrra, Fla., May 14, 1883. 



Read before the Texas Convention. 



Enemies to Honey Bees in Texas, 



B. F. CARROLL. 



In choosing the above for a subject, 

 it was in hopes that I might bring 

 something before you that would be 

 of interest to the bee-keepers of our 

 noble Lone Star State, and I will, 

 mostly, conhne myself to what I have 

 seen in my apiary since I began the 

 cultivation of the honey-bee, on mod- 

 ern principles, in 1869 ; at which time 

 I was using the old " log and box 

 gum." 



My first notice was the destruction 

 of several colonies by the moth. It 

 was my custom to knock off the tops 

 of the log or box gums and cut the 

 honey out until I reached the brood 

 nest,"^and often the honey would run 

 out at the bottom, and as anything 

 sweet will draw the moths, in large 

 numbers, tliey would flock around the 

 hives about nightfall, and tind plenty 

 of bits of comb cut down by the bees 

 in which to deposit their eggs, which 

 would so demoralize the colony that 

 they invariably fell a prey to the rav- 

 ages of this insect. 



I luckily saw the advertisement of 

 H. A. King & Bro., of Nevada, Ohio, 

 in some agricultural paper in 1868, 

 offering hives, etc., for sale. I ordered 

 13 American hives, and in 1809 I had 

 them full of bees, and but little 

 trouble did I have from them, until I 

 introduced the Italian, Holy Land 

 and Cyprian bees, and especially the 

 latter in 18S0. I have not seen a sin- 

 gle colony infested by these dirty- 



