1884.] BEES. 73 



best. I suppose that the golden-rod gives the finest flavored 

 honey. 



Question. Is there any artificial food that can be fed to 

 bees profitably to be converted into honey ? 



Mr. Jeffries, No, sir ; it cannot be done. You may feed 

 them anything you have a mind to, and it is just exactly as 

 you fed it to them when you take it from the comb. Bees 

 change nothing that they take into the honey sack at all. 

 Sugar and water fed to them and stored in the comb remains 

 sugar and water after they have put it there. It is a good 

 plan to sow a little salt around the hive ; they will work on 

 it some. I never could notice that there was any honey taste 

 to sugar and water, and I never have seen anybody else who 

 could, although it has been fed to bees for the sake of finding 

 out if the bees, when they stored it in the comb, gave it the 

 taste of honey to a person who did not know what it was. 



Question. Do bees work on locust trees ? 



Mr. Jeffries. Yes, sir ; it is one of the best honey trees. 

 The flowering locust they do not work much on ; the black 

 locust is the one they work' on most. If a person has a stock 

 of bees it will pay him to plant a black locust tree, and when 

 it gets to be about eight or ten inches through cut it down for 

 posts and use it in the fence, and let the stump sprout. You 

 will get honey enough out of the black locust to pay for the 

 occupation of your soil. The blossom of the one I mean is 

 rather pinkish, and the honey is in the lower part of the flower 

 to such an extent that you can see it plainly with the naked 

 eye. 



Mr. . Perhaps I can describe the locust so that the 



assembly will know what I mean. It bears a long cluster of 

 blossoms, and each blossom is like a pea-blossom, somewhat. 

 The leaves are divided into a gr^eat number of segments. It 

 is classed as a timber tree, and, as Mr. Jeffries says, when it 

 is cut down it makes first-ratfe posts and lasts forever. 



Mr. Jeffries. There is a little yellow in all of the locust 

 blossoms. 



