344 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



safely put away, there is little left but to in- 

 quire what are the demands of the coming 

 year. 

 Lapeeb, Mich. Nov. 7, IS');}. 



The Orange Blossom. 

 "bamblee." 



mHE proper 

 Jl time for a 

 person who has 

 always resided 

 in the East to 

 come to this 

 far Western 

 Shore, is dur- 

 ing the h o li- 

 dayf or in -Jan- 

 uary. The dif- 

 ference in tem- 

 perature between East and West will be 

 prominently noticed, and if we have had our 

 winter rains the fresh foliage upon the trees 

 and the blooming flowers will attract atten- 

 tion. If the traveler lands in the citrus belt, 

 the orange and the lemon are now getting 

 their color. The lover of symetrical forms 

 will love the tree and its fruit, and while the 

 tree holds its form well, and attains a 

 heighth of twelve to fifteen feet, the fruit in 

 the form of those perfect golden globes rest- 

 ing against a background of deep green 

 leaves, or peeping here and there from 

 among the dense foliage presents one of 

 the most beautiful pictures of vegetable 

 growth, that one might with profit travel a 

 long distance to view. The deep green 

 leaves of the center of the tree is livened up 

 by the new growth at the tips of the branches 

 being of a light pale green. 



The portion of the orange tree, however, 

 that interests the bee-keeper, is the bloom 

 that puts forth in May. The orange 

 tree is profuse in l)lossoms and presents a 

 very white appearance during blossom : the 

 blossom is borne in clusters like the apple 

 or cherry, and appears very mucli like the 

 latter. Its fragrance iierfumes the air for 

 quite a distance, and it is not unlike the 

 odor of the lilac. The bees work upon it 

 with as much enthusiasm as they do upon 

 the basswood, and during the honey flow 

 work continues from early morn until dewy 

 eve (though the fact is we have but little dew 

 here just at that time. ) The orange blossom 



can be relied upon for some honey every 

 year, but like all other free bloomers it has 

 its good and its poor seasons. When the se- 

 cretion of nectar is profuse bees will go a 

 long distance to obtain it and apiaries di- 

 rectly in the orange groves get the surplus 

 receptacles rapidly filled. Many beekeep- 

 ers in the citrus belt are now taking advan- 

 tage of the fact and during the orange bloom 

 locate their apiaries among or near the or- 

 chards, and after giving their bees a joyous 

 time upon the bloom, which lasts about 

 three weeks, the hives are then moved out 

 into the foot hills where the boiled sage is 

 coming into blossom and ready to yield its 

 nectar. Whole apiaries are safely moved and 

 the bees are interrupted in their work but a 

 few hours and seem to take quickly to the 

 new class of blossoms that they now find 

 surrounding them. Though migratory bee- 

 keeping might be practiced to a great extent 

 in California, it is not in ulged in to much 

 of an extent, but with the growing area of 

 orange groves it may become a settled plan 

 of operations. 



Orange honey in color is of a very light 

 amber, and when first extracted and put into 

 a bottle it has a creamy white appearance 

 owing to minute bubbles of air which grad-. 

 ually come to the top but so slowly that it is 

 several days before the honey presents a 

 clear appearance. The taste of orange hon- 

 ey is very pleasant and the person buying it 

 is sure to call for more of the same quality. 

 It is to be regretted that there is not enough 

 of it produced to place it upon the market as 

 a distinct quality. It is also to be regretted 

 that honey from other sources is palmed off 

 upon the public as orange blossom honey. 

 This right of substitution will probably be 

 practiced as long as there are so many qual- 

 ities and flowers in the honey produced by 

 the bees. 



Did you ever think of the amount of adul- 

 terated maple sugar there is upon the mar- 

 ket ? At least we must judge there is a large 

 amount from the fact that there is a way to 

 make good maple syrup without a particle 

 of maple liquid aboutit. And the foliage of 

 the tree is caused to blush every autumn 

 over deception practiced in its name by dis- 

 honest men. We hear but little said by the 

 consumer about this adulteration and the 

 reason lies in the fact that there is but one 

 prominent flavor to maple products, be it 

 sugar or syrup, and when the adulterator 

 catches this he finds a ready market for his 

 compound. 



