230 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



pled the grapefruit, and Mrs. Dadant, 

 who says that grapefruit is too sour 

 for her taste, found them delicious. 

 They had ripened on the trees, that is 

 the secret. The bees had harvested 

 some honey from grapefruit and or- 

 ange blossoms and Mr. Christopher 

 cpecting a crop from saw and 

 cabbage palmetto bloom, which were 

 budding and would bloom within a 

 month. Mr. Christopher took out a 

 comb of orange honey which another 

 per, Mr. E. A. Reddout was 

 kind enough to put up in a tin for us 

 so that we could sample it at leisure. 



A new thing to me in the apiary 

 line was the raising of one end of the 

 hive cover by inserting a quarter inch 

 wedge under it. This is practiced by 

 Mr. Christopher in his apiary. It 

 gives ample ventilation during the 

 crop and helps keep down swarming. 

 The bees did not seem to use this 

 opening for in-and-out flight, possibly 

 because the broodnest was below. 



The same afternoon we took a trip 

 to Sarasota, with Mr. and Mrs. Wil- 

 der, who, by the way. is a charming 

 lady, and their little daughter. Acres 

 ami acres of vegetables are grown in 

 spots of fairly rich land along the 

 way betwen the two cities. There is 

 a great deal of enterprise in that 

 neighborhood-. A number of artesian 

 wells are just being bored to irrigate 

 the crops, for water is needed as 

 much as fertilizers. Sarasota is a 

 small place, but with a bright future. 

 We visited the Sarasota Bee & Honey 

 Company, managed by C. N. Biorseth. 

 with his sons and son-in-law. Be- 

 l wcin them they care for a number 

 of apiaries, some 500 or 600 colonies. 

 Learning that we wanted to taste the 

 honey of the locality, he brought us 

 a 20-ounce jar of orange honey which 

 had taken first premium at the»coun- 

 ty fair. This honey is fine, indeed. 



Back to Bradentown in the evening, 

 we made a call on the celebrated 

 founder of the largest bee supply es- 

 tablishment in the world. Mr. A. T. 

 Root Mr. Root and his wife spend 

 all their winters in Florida. We 

 found Mr. Root bronzed like a south- 

 erner, but as hale and robust as a 

 young man, in spite of his 78 or 79 

 years. He exhibited to us .a much 

 worn hoe and said that this hoe was 

 the secret of his health, for he spent 

 most of his time in the garden. He 

 gave us an introduction to Mrs. Root, 

 a charming old lady, whom I had 

 met, and made me the compli- 

 ment of introducing me to her as the 

 head of the strongest competitive 

 firm the A. I. Root Company bad 

 ever found in their business. Mr. 

 grows potatoes and beans 

 mainly in his garden and said that 

 hi had sold $100 worth of new pota- 

 . March 23. a feat that surely 

 110 one else in the entire United 

 Stati ■ ha dom so early. 



We had seen tomatoes and corn in 



bloom in Sarasota, but the only veg- 



■ il on the markets 



til us far were lettuce, radish- . Li 



abbage, etc. 



We wen- disappointed in the stir 



roundings of the Root home. That 



spot seemed to have suffered more 



from frosts than any other that we 



saw. The orange trees, the shrub- 

 bery and even some of the shade 

 trees had suffered as if a fire had 

 blown over them. It made a desolate 

 looking sight. It was the same at 

 the Wilder home, a few blocks away. 

 These homes are a mile or so from 

 the business part of Bradentown. 

 The growers of oranges keep off the 

 frosts with smudge on cold nights. 



Returning to St. Petersburg, we 

 remained there until the latter part 

 of March, spending a part of our 

 time fishing on the bay. Fish are 

 plentiful and those who are fond of 

 the sport can readily catch more 

 fish than they can eat. 



During our stay in Florida we saw 

 many lean cows and very few 

 healthy looking cattle. As milk is 

 high, wife remarked, "Why don't 

 they feed their cows better?" But 

 the answer came, "It is not the lack 

 of food, it is the tick that keeps 

 them thin." Then we were told that 

 to keep cows free from ticks in this 

 warm country, it is necessary to dip 

 them every two weeks in a bug- 

 killing solution. Some large cattle 

 growers keep a tank of medicated 

 water through which the cattle are 

 regularly driven. That is the only 

 way in which they can keep it away. 

 But aside from the ticks there are 



other drawbacks to cattle raising. 

 For instance, sandburs (cenchrus 

 carolinianus) are everywhere present 

 in the grass, not only in the country 

 but even in the city yards, and one 

 can imagine the difficulty for grass- 

 eating animals. 



Inquisitive friends want me to give 

 here my opinion of Florida as a 

 li- -in s producing State I do not 

 think that I can add anything or 

 change anything concerning this 

 subject, as it was treated by J. J. 

 Wilder in the April number, page 122. 

 If you wish to try Florida for bees, 

 investigate for yourselves, as there 

 are good and bad locations. Mr. C. 

 C. Cook, located at Tasmania, a new 

 town, close to the famous Lake 

 Okeechobee, on the west of it, in a 

 country that I thought entirely un- 

 inhabited, told me of the most won- 

 derful crops and swarming that I had 

 ever heard and sent me some de- 

 licious gallberry honey from that vi- 

 cinity. It is almost as white as 

 clover, but a little strong in flavor. 



There are unexpected possibilities 

 in Florida. It was on the east coast 

 that our departed friend, the veteran 

 apiarist O. O. Poppleton harvested 

 his immense crops. But the main at- 

 tractions of Florida are its wonder- 

 ful winter sunshine, its wild tropical 



a Florida la 



