found along the coast and in the Costal Plain, among which are Mexican clover, rattan-vine, and yellow jessamine.

FLORIDA

Total area, 58,666 square miles. The entire state forms a part of the Coastal Plain; and, except for a central ridge and a hilly region in the northwest, is nearly level. Geologically it is the youngest of the states. The foundation of the whole peninsula is a series of coral reefs, the upper half of which did not rise above the waters of the Gulf until the Tertiary and the lower half until the Quarternary Period. Gradually its wave-washed surface became covered with a deposit of gravel, white sand, and loam. The underlying rock is thus limestone, in which there have been eroded numerous caverns and channels by subterranean streams which often rise to the surface as “boiling springs.”

The entire length of the state, from St. Mary’s River to the most southern key, is 450 miles. The vegetation of the southern portion of the peninsula naturally differs widely from that of the northern, and offers a convenient basis for dividing the state into three sections: North, Middle, and South Florida. North Florida is bounded on the south by a line running from Cedar Keys to Fernandina, and has a climate similar to that of the Gulf States. Middle Florida lies between this section and a line passing from the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River to Indian River Inlet. The climate is semi-tropical, and adapted to growing oranges and other citrus fruits. South Florida has a nearly tropical climate, and its vegetation has come largely from the West Indies. Of 247 species of plants growing here, 187 are common to tropical America. Common tropical plants which grow in this region are the banana, cocoanut, royal palm, custard apple, mango, guava, and all kinds of citrus fruits.

Northern Florida, or the region north of a line extending from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville, does not have a climate suitable for growing citrus fruits, as the temperature at times drops to 16 degrees below freezing. The surplus honey is secured chiefly from gallberry, tupelo, titi, partridge-pea, summer farewell, and chinquapin, as in southern Georgia, and similar methods of bee culture are followed in both localities. The northwestern counties offer along the streams and coast moderately good opportunities for beekeeping, but a large area of hilly upland is timbered with pine, oak, and hickory. The soils are sandy loams or sands underlaid by red clay subsoils.

The most famous portion of the state for the production of honey is the swampland along the Apalachicola and Ocklocknee Rivers, where the white tupelo and spring titi are very abundant, and about 15,000 colonies of bees are maintained. From the Georgia line to the mouth of the Apalachicola River the country is a great swamp and the river has low banks, the main channel breaking up into small streams which wind through the marshland. This bottom-land may be 10 miles across, and is covered with a luxuriant growth of white and black tupelo. As it is overflowed in the rainy season, it is necessary in many cases to place the hives on platforms six to ten feet high. In one instance as many as 360 colonies in one apiary were thus raised above the ground. Apiary sites are leased along the banks of the river and its tributanes, and, as they are accessible only by water, are visited by motor-boats. Foggy weather and light showers prevent the early withering of the flowers and favor a large yield of honey. As there is a shortage of pollen in this locality after the flow from the tupelos is over, the bees are moved up the river for the remainder of the summer.