THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



45 



oaks. We were greatly surprised a 

 year or two since, when we first learn- 

 ed that the Basswood appeared at all 

 in Florida. It is a decided grey, not 

 the black or dark brown of the north; 

 but this is due partly to the damp- 

 ness and mildew of that dense jungle 

 of vines and trees and shrubs. Lich- 

 ens and mosses also make it much 

 more greyish than it would other- 

 wise appear. But it is a lighter hue 

 than the northern species. The name 

 the hunters give it sounds like a 

 small edition of a Seminole war- 

 whoop. They call it "Wa-hoo," and 

 it is very plentiful in Turnbull Ham- 

 mock. A few beemen living near this 

 hammock derive considerable honey 

 from this source, and though it never 

 blooms long enough to allow it to 

 be secured in its purity, still it in- 

 creases very materially the honey crop 

 in certain years. Mr. Jas. H. Hus- 

 key, of Ariel, Fla., who has three 

 yards of bees, said that one of his 

 yards worked very freely on the bass- 

 wood bloom, and that he was sure 

 his yield was increased from this 

 source. Tally one more for the "tree- 

 honeys" of Florida! Show me an- 

 other state where the honey comes 

 so largely from trees. Listen to this: 

 Maple, Titi, Tupelo, Orange, Holly, 

 Basswood, Palmetto, Mangrove, all 

 trees or near-trees. (E. G. B.) 



The Review Sells Bees for its 



Subscribers 



On another page of this number of 

 the Review will be found a new de- 

 partment, that of assisting the sub- 

 scriber in disposing of surplus bees. 

 This department ought to help both 

 the ones who have bees for sale and 

 the ones who want to buy. Subscrib- 

 ers are invited to use this department 

 when having bees for sale. 



Mr. E. M. Rennolds, of Hansford. 

 Fla., writes me that, under date of 

 late December, his bees were breeding 

 up rapidly, storing surplus, and boom- 

 ing generally. The cause is the won- 

 derful pennyroyal, truly a "plant 

 royal," to paraphrase the name. For 

 it begins blooming early in November 

 or December, and continues without 

 stop until oranges bloom in the spring. 

 It finds the hives light, in bees and 

 honey; it leaves them heavy with 

 both. It is the best stimulant for the 

 early development of colonies, and it- 

 self is a fine honey plant, the honey 

 being light in color and exquisite in 



color. 



In the A B C and X Y Z of bee- 

 keeping, under this name, we have 

 called the plant "erratic." Mr. Ren- 

 nolds thinks this term does the plant 

 an injustice, that it is one of the most 

 regular yielders, etc. But the forest 

 fires, started by the cattle men, all 

 over Florida, are the cause of a very 

 uncertain yield from Pennyroyal, just 

 as they are in case of scrub palmetto. 

 Mr. Rennolds adds: "It is entirely 

 dependent upon the control of forest 

 fires; for a plant of this pennyroyal 

 does not bloom at all the first year, 

 and only slightly the second year, and 

 is at its best the third year of its 

 age. And so I have started a crusade 

 against the promiscuous annual burn- 

 ing of everything and anything that 

 will burn, and have convinced the cat- 

 tle-men that it is for their ovra in- 

 terest to burn off the woods only 

 once in two or three years, and re- 

 sults are beginning to show. I hope 

 to keep down so much burning, but 

 I am living over a volcano that i.s 

 likely to become active any moment; 

 some careless or mischievous person 

 may drop a "match." Pennyroyal 

 seems to have been very dependable 

 the past two or three years. Its hab- 

 itat reaches from the latitude of 

 Tampa, southward. (E. G. B.) 



We have received a letter from Mr. 

 J. G. Teter, an old queen breeder and 

 apiarist of many years' experience, 

 now living in the winter time at Tar- 

 pon Springs, Fla., on the west coast. 

 He tells of terrific havoc made among 

 his working bees by the ravages of 

 the mosquito hawk, or dragon fly, dur- 

 ing the past summer. He adds that 

 some stands were totally depleted, 

 and almost all felt the losses deeply. 

 Strange to say, his pure Italian col- 

 onies were most severely handled by 

 the robber hordes of the air, but Mr. 

 Teter thinks this was merely acci- 

 dental, due to the more exposed posi- 

 tion of the hives of his pure stock- 

 Very often Florida queen breeders 

 have complained, and bitterly, of the 

 losses sustained in their mating queens 

 during their wedding flights; but it 

 is seldom that we hear of any beeman 

 sounding his woes over losses of work- 

 ers from same source. We are con- 

 vinced that the flight of these mos- 

 quito hawks is often very local. We 

 have noticed that in some years they 

 will be very troublesome, a positive 

 pest, in one locality, while in another 



