orange honey has won just fame. Not many beekeepers, comparatively, in the early days realized the value of citrus trees as a source of honey, but a very few did even then and profited accordingly. W. W. Hart of Hawks Park, O. O. Poppleton of Stewart, Mr. Longstreet of Coronado, and E. B. Reed of Bradentown were among those who reaped bountiful harvests in certain seasons from the production and sale of orange-blossom honey. Since then, the number of beekeepers who have secured good crops of honey from this source has steadily increased—perhaps it would be more exact to say, has increased unsteadily; for good seasons as well as bad occur, and there have been the usual number of “fair weather” beekeepers in Florida as anywhere else. Mild winters and good blooming periods swell the ranks of orange-honey producers: but “freezes” and cold winters drive many such out of the business again as quickly as they rushed into it. The same is true of the orange-growers.
It is only too true, that devastating “freezes” do occur, and have occurred, with infrequent intervals between them, and ever since history has any records of the State. The worst in many years, perhaps the worst, was that of the winter of 1894-5. That cold wave killed both fruit and trees down to the ground, as far south as almost the southern end of the peninsula. Since then two more rather devastating winters have occurred, giving the. citrus industry, and consequently orange-honey production, a temporary setback. A pretty severe cold snap damaged the trees as far south as the Everglades in the