The Florida agriculturist., 1889-01-02
Foa TIE FLORIDA AGRIcULTURIsT.
Agriculture in South Florida.
ORANGE HONEY, AND wINTERING BEES.

While Florida, with the exception OF
the mangrove islands near the coast, can
not compete with some other States in
the amount Of it's possible honey pro
ductlon, there are probably few localities
IN the State where a limited number of
colonies OF bees would not be q source of
both pleasure and profit to any apiarist
who could give the time and skill neces-
saly to make a success of beekeepin0 in
any other locality. The climate and bee
forage would have to be studied and
taken into account in order to realize the
best results, even by the most skillful
There is a great difference in the honey
producing plants of different sections,
and nearly every locality where it might
be desirable to keep hees is within reach
of hammock land, palmetto, gall-berry or
some other honey producing bee-forage
that would help to make a supply of
honey at some time OF the year. Even in
the fatwOods "hee-trees" are often
found well stocked with choice honey.
Here in South Florida wherever there are
settlements, there are sure to be plenty OF
orange groves, which in favorable sea-
sons yield bountifal supply Of very
good honey. During the five years that
we have had bees here there has been no
season without yield OF orange honey,
some seasons, however, being much more
favorable than others. Last season was
especially favorable, and | had an ex-
cellent opportunity to observe the GUAM
tity and quality Of the honey, both in my
own apiary and IN others near DeLand,
where there are thousands OF bearing or
ange trees. More pure orange honey was
obtained than ever before, and as q con
<Nf l-,e
for excellence was much improved. Tn
less there is a large yield, the qualify is
likely to be deteriorated by the honey be-
ing mixed with honey of an Inferior grade,
at either the commencement or close of
the orange season. In our own apiary
the last part CT the yield Is likely to run
into q flow Of honey from AndPomeda
ferru9inea, a shrub that grows plentifully
.en scrub land, of which there is an abun-
dance within about a mile. The quality
Of this honey is generally considered not
to be as good as that Of the orange.
We use the extractor. and by extract
ing, at the commencement of the orange
yield, all the honey from such frames as
weintend to extract from, and at the close
being on the lookout for Androusedeu
honey, we can manage to have most OF
the orange honey nearly pure. Those who
work for comb honey could obtain the
same result by putting On empty sections
Or boxes at the commencement OF the
season; those not filled at the end OF the
orange yield would have to be taken OF
partly filed or left to be filled with some
other kind of honey
A friend who had two colonies OF bees,
requested me to look at them early in the
season some weeks before the orange
trees we're in bloom [ found them in
Langstroth hives partly filed with comb
and brood, but the brood separated by
frames Of foundation only partly drawn
out. On account of the weak condition
of the colonies and the cool weather, |
changel the frame SO as to have the
brood combs near togetherinas compact
q form as possible, thus securing a
greater degree of warmth to facilitate
brood raising A second visit found the
lower story of the hive well filled with
bees. brood and honey. A few frames of
brood were then placed in the upper
story, their places being filled with
frames of foundation. The colonies were
now strong enough to keep the whole
hive warm for brood rearing. The
weather was also warmer and orange
honey coming in freely A few days later
another call found upper and lower
stories filed to overfowing with bees,
brood fnl honey. The frames OF
foundation were drawn out and filled
with pure orange honey in a manner to
delight anv lover of agriculture. Twenty
five or thirty pounds of nice honey could
o1y4ro otod from off hnp