384 THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



for better things this year. The honey is rather thin in body, but 

 good in flavor, color about straw hue. If not allowed to ripen well, 

 it will ferment. Alas for the beeman who in overambition extracts 

 his Mangrove honey too soon. At New Smyrna one season, it was 

 no uncommon sight to hear a "pop" of a giant size, and see honey 

 flung over everything about the depot for many feet, from a burst- 

 ing barrel of unripe mangrove honey — I might say, nectar; for if 

 fully ripe, Mangrove honey is as "safe" as any toy pistol, and even 

 a child can play with it. 



Before the freeze, the region from Daytona to Titusville was 

 verily the Mecca of beemen ; hither "trekked" the apiarist from the 

 inlands, near Apopka and Leesburg; hither came in lighters with 

 their bees the men from the northern counties, after the orange 

 bloom, to this land of humming bees swarmed the launches from the 

 southern waters, coming even as far as from Miami and Palm Beach. 

 I may conclude this portion on the Mangrove honey by saying, that 

 when it really is producing well, it is practically impossible to over- 

 stock a field. A bee can secure a load from a single blossom and 

 "then some." 



Side by side with the Mangrove, but also covering the shores 

 of all rivers and lakes of the interior, grow the tall and stately 

 Cabbage Palmetto, their "fans" (the leaves) rattling in the wind. 

 Almost equally extensive, coextensive even, is the saw palmetto, 

 called "scrub palmetto" locally. The latter is low growing, the 

 trunk crawling along earth, burying itself even in the top layer of 

 leaves and earth. While the flatwoods are covered with the saw 

 palmetto, still it does not yield much honey unless large and lux- 

 uriant in growth ; that means that only the places nam.ed, shores 

 and lakes, are the sources of this honey. That from the cabbage 

 palmetto is white, almost water white, but thin ; the flavor is exquis- 

 ite and mild, a popular honey if secured pure. The great honey, 

 perhaps the best in Florida if unmixed, is that from the saw palm- 

 etto. It is lemon hue in color, pure and clear in its transparency, 

 thick as molasses in January, and of a flavor fit for kings. It 

 is a honey customers never tire of, and always ask "I want some 

 more of that Palmetto honey ; that is fine !" All these honeys 

 candy early, unless we except the Tupelo, which is unique. The 

 Mangrove candies most easily, the saw palmetto next, and the or- 

 ange next. 



We must not leave our dear old state without taking a peep at 

 the plant that is attracting much attention from our beemen at the 

 present time. I refer to the Pennyroyal. It grows over the south- 



