382 THE BEEKEEPERS" REVIEW 



ovens. We might characterize this section as the section, where 

 the bee yards stand on stilts and the hives float off and swin about 

 now and then for variety I Ask Marchant. Isbel or Alderman, they 

 can tell you. Honey production there is somewhat of a gamble. 

 But. in spite of all that, it is one of the most important sections 

 of the beekeeping of all Florida. 



Skip with me again over the high pine lands of the northern 

 and central portions, and visit the southern two-thirds of the state ; 

 you are now in the great orange belt of Florida. It is here that the 

 largest crops of orange honey, that we get. are secured. While 

 our yields do not reach those of California, they are annually on the 

 increase. It is here that the beemen must contend with condi- 

 tions, and enemies different even from those further north, and 

 other than those in the extreme south. Orange honey is and has 

 always been a scarce article, nor will it ever be a drug on the mar- 

 ket. In Florida our orange trees bloom so early that we have hard 

 work to build up colonies to be boiling over with bees in time. And 

 unless they are booming, the orange trees may unfurl their white 

 petals, like sails to the au'. in vain ; for the cool nights and the often 

 windy days make nectar gathering extremely problematical, one 

 year with another. Oranges bloom with us from the early part of 

 February to the last of March, depending on the section and the 

 year, while in California it is nearly a month later. I know 

 not how it is in California, but with us. we must practice stimula- 

 tive feeding if we are to secure an annually large crop of this rarest 

 and choicest of honeys. Our yields average. I presume, about fifty 

 pounds per colony from this source. It is less, if anything. Again 

 it is much more difficult to secure our orange honey pure and dis- 

 tinct from all other honeys, than it is in California, for example 

 or than it is to secure Tupelo, for example, or Mangrove. For in 

 the orange belt many other minor sources bloom simultaneously. 

 or overlap the bloom, either earlier or later ; these are usually dark 

 and inferior, and make it hard to "sift" the pure orange, as it were. 

 We must extract promptly, and often a little before the orange is 

 done blooming, if we would not mar the clear transparency and lim- 

 pid amber of our orange blossom honey. And. again, the remain- 

 ing darker honeys in the brood chambers of our hives will often 

 darken the lighter orange, unless we extract the hives clean just 



prior to the opening of the orange flow. But. when we do have 



our choice honey, oh My I It is hard to imagine a finer flavored 



honey in the world. I am sure you gentlemen from California will 



jump up '"mad as hornets," when I tell you, that I think our best- 



