Great Limestone Valley of Virginia, the most fertile section of the state. In the valley of the Shenandoah, where blue thistle is abundant, good success with bees has been obtained. The smaller limestone valleys in the extreme southwest corner of the state are most promising, and the area of sweet clover and white clover is yearly become greater. There is little commercial beekeeping in West Virginia. In the eastern mountainous section old-time equipment is still common, and the average yield per colony is small. The largest number of colonies of bees is found in the Ohio River Valley in Kanawha and Roane counties. Beekeeping is in an undeveloped condition in West Virginia.

In eastern Kentucky, in the mountains and coal-fields, as in eastern West Virginia, the country is thinly populated, and the methods of beekeeping are backward. Beekeeping is prosperous in Kentucky in the famous Blue Grass region, or Lexington Plain. It is a limestone area, and in Pendleton and Bracken counties there is a great acreage of sweet clover. In the lowlands west of the Tennessee River there are many colonies of bees near Paducah. In Tennessee the eastern Tennessee River Valley is one of the best locations for beekeeping in the state. The fertile limestone soils support an abundant honey flora. Another excellent region is the Central Valley around Nashville, where most of the commercial apiaries are located. The Mississippi Slope seems to possess great possibilities.

The Coastal Plain of North Carolina, with its vast area of swampland covered with gallberry, gum trees, huckleberry, and blackberry, offers great opportunities to the specialist. In the future, gallberry honey, according to E. R. Root, may be sold by the carload. The cotton belt is the poorest part of the state for beekeeping. In the western portion of the Piedmont Plateau and in the mountains a large surplus is secured from sourwood and tulip tree. There are in South Carolina 10,000,000 acres of pine barrens which are largely destitute of honey plants. Beekeeping here is in a very undeveloped condition. Good opportunities may be found along the coast (Horry County), and in Pickens and Oconee Counties in the northwestern part of the state.

In southeastern Georgia, where the gallberry, white tupelo, and black tupelo are abundant, are located the largest apiaries in the state. The crop is usually reliable, and an average surplus of 100 pounds per colony is often obtained. As has been stated above, southeastern Georgia, in the opinion of E. R. Root, offers better locations for beekeeping at the present time than any other region in the South. Throughout northern Georgia there is little commercial beekeeping, but many farmers have a few colonies.

Of all the states in the Union, Florida has the mildest winter climate. Winter losses, when they occur, are due to worn-out queens and starvation. Almost constant breeding wears out the queen and the bees, and uses up the stores. Bees are found in all portions of the state, but because so much honey is used in brood-rearing during almost every month, a very large surplus is seldom obtained. While there are specialists who successfully make beekeeping their sole occupation, as a rule it is not advisable to depend entirely on it for a livelihood. Florida is located too far south for the shipment of package bees to the North. The Apalachicola River region in northwestern Florida is an excellent region for beekeeping in some seasons, when black titi, white tupelo, and black tupelo yield well; but there is a shortage of pollen and the country is a desolate swamp. In Manatee County, on the west coast, there are probably as many colonies of bees as the flora will support. In middle Florida the flow from orange bloom and the palmettos is often unreliable, so that this section is only a fair locality. The mangrove was formerly the source of a large amount of honey in southern Florida, but the great freeze cut it down and it has only partially recovered.