The honey industry is unique in this respect, that there is hardly a part of the United States where one cannot engage in it with profit. Locality has much to do with the flavor and quality of honey, owing to the different sources from which it is produced. Honey is simply blossom nectar gathered by the bees, distilled or evaporated in the beehive with the same distinctive flavor as the perfume of the blossoms from which it was gathered; consequently we have as many different flavors of honey as plants that bloom in sufficient profusion to produce honey. For this reason it is easy to recognize the distinct flavors of honey produced in different localities. In California orange honey we get the delicate aroma of the orange blossoms, and the water-white honey from the mountain sage has its characteristic flavor. Throughout the states east of the mountains and west of the Mississippi, are produced the well-known varieties of honey--alfalfa, sweet clover and other honeys from fall flowers. From the Middle West and Eastern states comes the matchless white clover honey, basswood and the dark aromatic buckwheat. The Southern states produce a multitude of different honeys, the sweet clover, tupelo, and the palmetto being the most common. The total annual production of honey in the United States as given by the best authorities is approximately 55,000,000 pounds. This, compared with other crop reports, may appear very small, but when considered from the standpoint of the enormous amount of bee labor represented, it is stupendous. Undoubtedly present reports will greatly exceed those given. [Illustration: “FRESH AIR BEES”--No hive needed.] [Illustration: QUEEN CELLS--Note size compared with worker cells.] [Illustration: MAGNIFIED VIEW OF SECTION OF HONEYCOMB] [Illustration: SOME OF THE BEST HONEY COMES FROM SUCH LOCALITIES] [Illustration: A NICE, EVEN FRAME OF BEES] [Illustration: A MODEL ARRANGEMENT FOR KEEPING BEES FOR PLEASURE] [Illustration: REMOVING BEES FROM COMB] [Illustration: SECTIONS OF HONEY AS TAKEN FROM THE SUPERS] [Illustration: STAGES OF WORK IN BUILDING A SECTION OF HONEY] * * * * * Where do Figs Come From? [Illustration: URUK GIRLS SPREADING FIGS] [Illustration: TYPICAL SMYRNA FIG ORCHARD] The fig tree, which is of the mulberry family, belonged originally in Asia Minor, but it has been naturalized in all the countries around the Mediterranean. It grows from fifteen to twenty, or even thirty, feet high. In good climates it bears two crops in a season; one in the early summer, from the buds of the last year; the other, which is the chief harvest, in the autumn, from those on the spring growth. Figs, particularly dried figs, form an important article of food in the countries of the Levant, and are exported in large quantities to America and Europe. The best come from Turkey. What are “Fighting Fish”?