THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 381 



A Glimpse at Florida-Hex Beekeeping and Her 



Bee-Flora 



PROF. EDWIN G. BALDWIN, Deland, Florida 



Given ut the National Convention, Denver, February, 1915 



While the winds of winter howl about your doors, here in the 

 frozen North-west, or pile the fleecy snow high over the sleeping 

 bees in your bee-yards, come with me on a bee-line express, away 

 down south to Dixie, to the land where the sweet magnolia blooms, 

 and the bees instead of sleeping, may gather surplus in December! 



We shall not stop off even at the picturesque and poetic Suanee, 

 we shall not halt till we reach Florida, land of sunshine and mos- 

 quitoes, land of flowers and land sharks, land, of which all have 

 dreamed, and heard so much, but of which most know so little at 

 first hand. And especially true is it apiculturally, that you must 

 know Florida first hand, if you would really know the state. Yet, 

 as we go, I may give you a little moving picture of things, which 

 will whet your desire to know more. If so, I shall not have written 

 this, or taken your time, in vain. 



Florida's peninsular position, almost kissed as she is by the 

 Trades winds on the west, and lapped by the Gulf stream on the 

 south and east, gives beemen there greatly varying conditions. In 

 fact there are really five Floridas, so far as honey sources, and gen- 

 eral conditions are concerned. In New York, for example, or Penn- 

 sylvania, or Illinois, beemen work under more or less similar con- 

 ditions, at least, under conditions of honey flow and climate, that 

 are approximately alike. Not so in Florida. Florida is much larg- 

 er than you imagine, geographically. Almost 400 miles she reaches, 

 toward the west and south from the northeast corner, Fernan- 

 dina. Her five divisions, are of course more or less overlapping, 

 but are still really distinct. We pause first over the fields of the 

 Partridge Pea, and the Chinquepin, in the north, where the honey 

 is so plentiful, and so unpalatable. To our right stretches the 

 land of the Apalachicola and Chipola rivers, where the Titi and 

 the Two Tupelos, the White (Nyssa Ogechee), and the Black (Nyssa 

 Aquatica), make the beemen happy, about every other year, keep- 

 ing them hoping the year between. The Tupelo honey is the only 

 honey, of any great commercial amount, that will not candy or gran- 

 ulate. If it is unmixed, altogether, it wifl not granulate under 

 most trying conditions. Its flavor and color and body leave little 

 to be desired. Not much can be said however, of the Titi ; it is 

 dark, and red, and good for stimulating purposes or the baker's 



