No. «. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. ?13 



3. Fruit blo6m, catnip, raspberry, red clover.* 



4. Soft maple, locust, wild cherry. 



In this region I have not known Golden Rod to yield honey. We 

 have an abundance of it. A few bees in season may be seen working 

 it for pollen only. As to buckwheat, its honey-bearing properties 

 are well known, but so little is cultivated with us that 1 have not 

 included it in the list. 



During the summer of 1903, we had an unfortunate secretion of 

 honey dew. The bees going wild in their haste to store it, to the 

 neglect of any honey-bearing flower in season at the time. 



We will now consider separately the various sources of honey as 

 named in the given list, being as brief as possible. Standing at 

 the head, we find white clover. It is pre-eminently the honey-bear- 

 ing flower or plant of the region. It grows in profusion, covers wide 

 stretches of cultivated soil with its mantle of green or snowy white 

 flowers, blooms from 8 to 10 weeks, and generally gives the bees a 

 honey harvest of from four to six weeks. Referring to m} r notes of 

 the past summer, I find it began blooming May 25, and continued 

 in bloom until about August 1. Its honey-yielding period extended 

 from about June 1 to July 0. Were it not for white clover, bee- 

 keeping with us in Adams county would be a losing game. It is our 

 main — I was about to say, our only source of surplus. 



And right here we find a hopeful sign. During the last few years 

 the plant seems to have taken on a new lease of life. Old resident 

 farmers and old-time bee-men say they never knew white clover to 

 grow so profusely and vigorously as it has in the last few years. 

 May this not point us to one of the mysterious workings of Nature 

 wherein she makes good in one way the loss sustained from some 

 other source? Years ago the country was covered with a dense 

 forest. The honey bee had an abundance of pasturage. As the 

 forests began to disappear bee-keepers lamented the scarcity of 

 pasture. This has remained the common complaint among those 

 who keep bees in a small way. May it not be, however, that Dame 

 Nature is slowly but surely making good in white clover the loss 

 sustained to the bee-keeper in the removal of the forests? 



The next in value with us is the fine flowered aster. I do not know 

 to what extent this plant may be found throughout the State, nor 

 do I know what other names may be given to it in other localities. 

 With us the plant grows in abundance. It is to be found by the 

 roadside, in pasture fields, grass fields, waste places, etc. It at- 

 tains a height of from 2 to G feet, bears a small flower — hundreds of 

 them on one small stalk — that yields a honey distinct in flavor and 

 consistency. In color this honey is golden, in flavor very pronounced 

 sweet and sugary. It has a heavy body and when extracted granu- 

 lates quite readily. This plant comes into bloom about August 25, 

 and from September 1 until frost the bees have a rich harvest gen 

 erally. 



Again referring to my notes, I find that as to the past summer, 

 September 1 was the first real busy day for the bees on this plant, 

 and that the flow continued until September 28, when a cold wave 

 struck us, a forerunner of the severe frost of October 3, which put 

 the bees out of business for the season. We do not count on much 



•Red clover Is here assigned according to its available yield to the bee and not according to Its 

 honey-bearing property. 



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