G48 
PALMETTO 
lished beekeepers, and his yields per colony 
will be considerably less. While the policy 
is not here advocated, local beekeepers 
sometimes agree on the plan of freezing 1 
out, or, more exactly, starving out, the 
new coiner. The latter enters the territory 
with a yard of bees. Immediately the 
old-established beekeeper or beekeepers 
will place around that yard, within, a 
quarter of a mile of it or less, a lot more 
bees—enough to overstock the place very 
greatly. The old residents, knowing the 
locality, build up their colonies, and are 
ready for the nectar when it does come in. 
As there is not enough to go around by 
considerable, the bees will not secure an 
average of ten pounds per colony. But 
the old resident beekeepers will secure more 
than the new comer because they know the 
locality and how to meet the conditions. 
After Mr. Newcomer has tried it out one 
season, and finds he cannot make anything, 
he will move out. This freezing-out or 
starving-out game has been worked to a 
finish in a good many places in the West. 
As a rule the resident beekeepers in the 
locality will agree among themselves to 
divide up the territory and put no more 
bees to the yard than the locality will sup¬ 
port. This policy prevails in many of the 
orange and sage districts of California and 
the alfalfa districts of the West. A good 
feeling exists, and in some places they co¬ 
operate among themselves to sell their 
honey, perhaps picking out one of their 
number to visit the big markets. Such a 
policy is much more sane than for every 
one to grab territory and compete against 
his neighbor, with the result that no one 
can make a fair living. 
In one or two localities Mr. Newcomer 
has been met by a shotgun. He is told to 
get out or “take the consequences.” As 
such a policy is, of course, indefensible, a 
milder and gentler means should be em¬ 
ployed. 
As a rule the s new comer can find terri¬ 
tory if he will make some inquiry before 
he attempts to squat his yard or yards. 
By making a personal visit and becoming 
acquainted with the beekeepers in any 
given locality, he can usually make satis¬ 
factory arrangements, and open territory 
may be assigned if there is any. Some¬ 
times none is available. In that case, Mr. 
Newcomer should not attempt to crowd in, 
for he may find some one beekeeper who 
will resort to the shotgun argument. 
P 
PALMETTO. —The palm family (Pal- 
maceae) is represented in Florida by 15 
native species, not including the cultivated 
date palm. There are in the world 130 
genera and over 1,000 species of palms, 
which are nearly equally divided between 
the tropics of both hemispheres. Palm 
trees with their slender, unbranched colum¬ 
nar trunks, surmounted with a crown of 
immense fern-like leaves, are among the 
most stately and graceful of trees, and 
occupy an important place in both story 
and history. The individual flowers are 
small, stemless, and white or greenish-col¬ 
ored, resembling the flowers of a rush; but 
they are borne in enormous branched spikes 
or flower-clusters. The largest flower-clus¬ 
ter in the world, which is 40 feet in length, 
is produced by the Talipot palm of Ceylon. 
The natives of the tropics utilize every 
portion of the palms for food, wine, cloth¬ 
ing, medicine, and dwellings. 
