638 
ORANGE 
blossoms begin to appear in this section. 
The spring of 1915 was unusually cold and 
rainy, and the flowers did not open until 
about the first of March, and did not yield 
nectar well until the end of the month, 
when the bloom became very abundant. 
Usually nectar is not gathered later than 
April 10; but this year a hive on scales 
showed a gain of three pounds on April 
20, and the flow did not cease entirely until 
a few days later. 
The trees remain in blossom for about 
four weeks, if the weather is not too hot 
and dry. As a rule the later the bloom 
appears, the shorter the time it lasts. Cool 
Orange blossom. 
and frosty weather will prolong it unless 
the frost is so severe, as in 1911, that it in¬ 
jures the blossoms, when it brings the flow 
speedily to a close. The average surplus 
in a good year is about 40 pounds. The 
best hive in an apiary at DeLand in 1914, 
.stored 200 pounds and, in 1915, 150 
pounds. At Plant City, about 100 miles 
south of DeLand, in 1915, there was an 
average of not more than 10 pounds per 
colony—the poorest record since 1904. 
An orange grove in full bloom, display¬ 
ing innumerable white blossoms among the 
dark-green leaves and exhaling a sweet fra¬ 
grance that can be perceived for a quarter 
of a mile in all directions, is beautiful be¬ 
yond description. The bloom is as sensi¬ 
tive to weather conditions as is that of the 
mangrove. Either very hot and dry 
weather, or sudden changes to cold and wet 
weather, will lessen the flow. In 1915 at 
DeLand the flow varied more, according to 
E. G. Baldwin, than he had ever noticed in 
any previous season. One day the scales 
would show a gain of 11 pounds, the next 
day it would drop to four or five, then rise 
to seven or eleven, then drop to four again. 
A warm damp day, with sun and cloud al¬ 
ternating, seems to be most favorable for 
the secretion of nectar. Then it can be 
seen in the early morning shining in the 
white blossoms, and the bees are heavily 
laden thruout the entire day. Because of 
the uncertainty of the secretion of nectar, 
orange trees can not be counted on for 
honey oftener, on an average, than one 
year fin three. 
The honey is light amber, < clear, and 
crystalline, without the thick opaque ap¬ 
pearance sometimes observed in even clear 
amber palmetto honey. It has a body 
heavier than cabbage palmetto, but not as 
heavy as scrub palmetto honey. The flavor 
and aroma, which preserve the fragrance 
of the blossom, are delightful, and can not 
be duplicated in any other honey. E. R. 
Root once said of this honey “We are in¬ 
clined to think the flavor is a little finer 
than anything of the kind we have ever 
tasted.” 
Pure orange honey in Florida is scarce 
and always will be. Altho shipped from 
California by the carload it is not easy to 
get in Florida for the reason that there is 
only a limited area where the trees are 
sufficiently abundant to yield a surplus 
unmixed with nectar from any other 
source. There must be thousands of trees 
within an area six miles in diameter, and 
little else in bloom at the same time. A 
little admixture of wild cherry or andro- 
meda will spoil the pure article and give it 
a dark tint and a pungent taste. While 
there are many orange groves in Florida 
they are so widely scattered that there are 
not many good orange-honey localities. 
Probably Volusia County has more sections 
where pure orange honey can be obtained 
than any other single county in Florida, 
unless possibly it be Manatee County on 
the west coast. There are also extensive 
groves which are attractive and promising 
