No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 263 



garded as important in honey-producing at the present time. Sumac 

 and the late maples are of some value, but there is no plant like the 

 white clover. Alsike, where grown, is valued for honey. While it 

 is not generally believed in the East that Alfalfa is a nectar-pro- 

 ducing plant, we have recently found Honej'-bees, Bumble-bees, 

 Butterflies and Skippers on alfalfa flowers, and we have seen it yield 

 well developed seeds in Cumberland count3\ It is our opinion that 

 insects would not visit it if it were not nectar-producing. It is 

 one of the most valuable honey-producing plants in the western 

 part of the United States. 



After the white clover comes the Mellilotus or Sweet Clover, of 

 which we have two varieties, the Yellow Avhich is early, and the 

 White, which is later, and is prolonged through July into August. 

 In rich damp valleys this is a most valuable honey-producing plant, 

 while on the hillsides and along roads the catnip is often found in 

 such abundance that it is an important factor in producing nectar 

 The various mints are also important in midsummer and. later. 

 Later in the season we have the far-famed buckwheat with its dark 

 well flavored honey, which, where grown, makes it possible for the 

 bee-keeper to remove all the white clover honey from the hive and 

 the bees will make their entire winter store from the buckwheat. 

 In the southeastern part of this State, especially in the low lands 

 and along streams, there is a plant known as the Yellow Plant or 

 Yellow Autumn Flower. When the seed is mature it is known as 

 the Spanish-needle (Bidens). This is a valuable plant and yields 

 an abundance of honey for the winter storage. While red clover 

 is grown in this State, the bumble-bees make the greatest use of it, 

 for the honey-bees do not usually work upon it unless the flowers 

 are short, as on sandy soil or during a dry season. While Red 

 Clover Honey Bees are advertised by some dealers, they are nothing 

 more than a good grade of Italians and a great many of them are 

 no better than some of the other strains. 



The inhabitants of a hive consist of (a) the queen, who is the egg- 

 layer or the mother of the entire colony, (b) a few or many drones, 

 which are the males and which are present only during certain parts 

 of the year, and (c) a great many workers, which are rudimentary 

 females, and which ma}' develope the function to lay eggs if they 

 be long deprived of a queen. However, their eggs, not being fer- 

 tilized, always hatch drones. When they ar« preparing to swarm 

 or when the queen dies, is lost or becomes infirm from age or dis- 

 ease, the bees construct queen cells and feed the larval bees with a 

 secretion from their heads, known as ro^-al jelly, until the young 

 queens are full grown. A young queen then comes forth and takes 

 the place of the old queen. This displacing a worn-out queen by a 

 young one is known to bee-keepers as superseding. 



Swarming is nothing more than the old queen leading most of 

 the old workers in flight to a new place and establishing a colony. 

 The new queens are left in the hive, and the strongest one kills all 

 the others. If at any time the queen be removed or lost by any 

 means, the bees immediakdy proceed to feed royal jelly to some of 

 the larvae that are less than three days of age and continue to feed 

 them abundantly with this substance until full grown, when they 

 are enclosed in their cells a few days and then emerge as queens. 

 The first one out of the cell bites open the other queen cells and killg 



