348 ■ ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Dot 



keeper. White clover is perhaps the principal nectar-yielding plant 

 and blossoms more or less throughout the entire season. Its heavi- 

 est flow is in the month of June, Bassvvood and poplar, which once 

 were mainstays for honey, are no longer so plentiful, owing to the 

 destruction of timber. The sumac yields a fair grade of honey and 

 blossoms for a period of several weeks. Following these closely is 

 buckwheat, beginning in July and lasting until late in the season. 

 Farmers have different seasons for sowing their seed, and one living 

 in a buckwheat section may be lucky in having his bees visit fields 

 for four or five weeks. The yield from this plant is sometimes enor- 

 mous, and it seldom fails to give a good crop. The grade of honey 

 however is dark and usually of a very strong flavor. It does not 

 bring as high a price on the market owing to its color and yet there 

 are those who prefer it to a honey of a lighter color. It is usually 

 capped a snowy white and sometimes can scarcely be told from 

 white clover. The golden rods and asters complete the season and 

 last until killed by heavy frosts; the honey usually goes into the 

 brood-chamber and is consumed in the winter. Red clover yields a 

 fine grade of honey and the blossoms are filled with it, but these 

 flowers are seldom visited except by the Italians. The corolla tubes 

 are too long for the tongue of the average bee, and so hundreds of 

 tons of the finest honey remain ungnthered and its fragrance is lost 

 on the desert air. Attempts were made some time ago to breed 

 bees with longer tongues with but little success. A greater result 

 can be accomplished if some Luther Burbank will train us clover 

 with shorter corolla tubes. He will not only assist the bee-keeper 

 but will help the farmer as well by increasing the yield of his seed 

 because the honey-bees will then polleuize the clover blossoms. 



It is becoming more generally known that alsike clover mixed 

 with other clover makes an excellent hay and pasturage; that it 

 seldom fails in "catching" and that it is more persistent in tlie soil 

 than the red clover. Where apiaries are located within reach of 

 alsike fields large quantities of honey were reported. The grade of 

 honey is the very best both in color and flavor. What better could 

 be done than to urge the sowing of this plant to increase the honey 

 crop and better the quality of the hay. The price of the seed is the 

 same as the other clover usually, the grains are not as large and 

 60 the same amount of seed will cover a larger space of ground. 

 After we shall know better how to grow alfalfa in Pennsylvania, we 

 will be able to report another valuable addition to the honey flora 

 of the State. W'th this profusion of honey-bearing flowers, lasting 

 and covering the whole State, and with the additional assistance 

 of the farmers by sowing the clovers, there is no reason why Penn- 

 sylvania should not be placed at the head of all the states in the 

 production of honey. 



Of the races of bees, there are a number, from the common black 

 bee to the golden Italian. The black and hybrid are perhaps the 

 m:Ore common throughout the State. Various races such as the Oar- 

 niolans, Cyprians, Caucasians and Banats have been introduced and 

 tried. Some of these races are more gentle to handle but what they 

 excel in one good quality they lose in another, and the consensus 

 of opinion is that certain strains of Italians are to be preferred as 

 tbe best honey jfatlierers and the most profitable. 



