298 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EEPOET OF APIAEY FOE 1891. 



By Prof. A. J. Cook, Oct. 1, 1891. Michigan Experiment Station. 



The following report is a duplicate of the report of experiments made 

 for the U. S. department of agriculture under an arrangement made with 

 them in the autumn of 1890. The report was made to Dr. C. V. Eiley, 

 the chief of the division of entomology. 



The past season has been very unfavorable for apicultural experiments, 

 not only in Michigan but throughout the entire country. The secretion 

 of nectar from clover, and indeed from nearly all other honey plants, was 

 very meagre indeed. In Michigan the season has been peculiar for drouth 

 and cold. The exceptionally cool temperature has been very general 

 throughout the country, while in many sections there has been an excess 

 of rainfall. 



As the honey production has been very light in nearly all sections, it 

 would seem that the low temperature might be the chief cause of the light 

 honey crop for this season. 



SPECIAL PLANTING FOR HONEY. 



The experiments this season have been a continuation of those of the 

 past three years. The aim was to determine whether it would be profit- 

 able or not to plant solely with the view of increasing the acreage of 

 honey plants and so the production of honey. 



As the expense of planting, use of land, and danger of failure to secure 

 a crop are considered, we see that unless a field of plants which have no 

 value except for honey is almost sure to give us honey with but little care 

 after planting, and to hold its own against weeds, drouth, and all dis- 

 couragement, it will not pay the expense incurred in planting it. 



THE CHAPMAN HONEY PLANT. 



As this plant has been very highly extrolled, was lauded by a special 

 committee selected to examine it, and has been widely distributed by the 

 government, it was considered a very desirable plant for experiment. 

 Quite a large area was planted to this Echinops spho?rocephalus on two 

 successive years. The soil was clay loam. The ground was fitted as well 

 as for corn, the seed sown in drills and cultivated the first season. The 

 plants came up well and grew very well. It never blossoms until the 

 second season, so there are no returns the first year. This is the first 

 serious objection to the plant as a honey plant. The second summer they 

 blossom full, and are very vigorous and the blossoms very numerous. 

 The bees seemed to visit the flowers very freely. Mr. Th. W. Cowan, 

 the celebrated apiarist of England, said to me some years since regarding 

 this plant: "The bees hang around it persistently, but I could never see 

 that the gain in honey in the hive was perceptible." I found the same 

 true here. Actual weighing showed very little gain, nor was our honey 

 crop superior to that of neighbors with no Echinops within the range of 



