for August, 1920 



275 



Goldenrod Honey 



H. W. SANDERS 



IT has been sometimes proposed to make the golden- 

 rod the "National Flower" of the United States, as 

 it is so widely distributed, some variety or other 

 being found in nearly every section of the country from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the tropics to the 

 severe climate of the Canadian border. The family 

 of goldenrods (Solidago) comprises a very large num- 

 ber of varieties, so many in fact that there are some that 

 have never been described or named. There are about 

 eighty named kinds, ranging from dwarf and insignificant 

 forms to the tallest kinds that form some of the most 

 conspicuous and handsome of the wild flowers. 



The value of goldenrod for honey depends largely 

 upon the locality, in some parts there being very little 

 if any honey gathered, and in others there being a plenti- 

 ful surplus of very nice honey. In the New England 

 States, one of the best authorities on beekeeping states 

 that the goldenrod would be his choice if he had to 

 stake the existence of beekeeping on any single flower, 

 and from those regions clear across the northern States 

 it is a honey plant of great importance. The honey is 

 thick and rich, of a beautiful golden yellow, and so thick, 

 that sometimes there is difficulty in extracting it. It 

 granulates readily and sells well, for once people get 

 the taste for it they have a way of demanding it in 

 preference to all other honey. Some beekeepers have 

 solved the "container" problem by allowing their honey 

 to granulate and then cutting it into blocks like butter 

 and selling it in neat cartons. So long as one can be 

 certain it is not exposed to temperatures sufficient 

 to melt the honey, this is the very best method of 

 selling it. 



Goldenrod begins to flower at the end of July and 

 continues through -Vugust and well into September. 

 Sometimes the bees can work on the plants for six 

 weeks, and coming as it does late in the season, the 

 colonies are likely to be at their strongest. One can 

 always tell when goldenrod is coming in, for the hives 

 are busy from morning till night and a peculiar smell, 

 rather sour, can be detected, often at a distance of sev- 

 eral rods from the hives. Just what causes this is not 

 known, but it is very characteristic and has even been 

 mistaken before now for the strong and disagreeable 



smell of foulbrood — the worst disease that affects our 

 bees. 



During the time when goldenrod is in bloom there are 

 several duties that can be performed with profit. The 

 hives should be gone over every week and carefully in- 

 spected to see that all is in the best of condition for 

 Winter. Leaving this until late in Fall makes it im- 

 possible to give the bees proper attention for when all 

 the honey-flowers have perished the bees try to rob 

 one another to such an extent that opening of the hives 

 should be done only when absolutely necessary and then 

 as quickly as possible. So that we always aim to do 

 this work while there is enough honey coming in to keep 

 the bees busily occupied and the job can therefore be 

 accomplished in comfort. 



Some of the things we aim to attend to in prepara- 

 tion for Winter are to see that there are good combs 

 in the part of the hive that will be the bees' Winter home. 

 The combs they go into Winter quarters upon are the 

 ones that will be used for next Spring's breeding op- 

 erations, and an excess of drone comb will mean that 

 we shall have altogether too many of these unprofitable 

 consumers in 1921. So we aim to see that combs are 

 all worker-comb, and straight and clean. Then there 

 is the food supply. We aim to see that the storage 

 combs for Winter are filled with the best of the sea- 

 son's honey, for poor honey is liable to granulate in 

 the combs and starve the bees to death in the midst of 

 plenty, as they cannot eat granulated honey in Winter. 



Finally, and most important, the condition of the 

 queen calls for the most careful attention. If she is get- 

 ting old, and the brood is scattering, or contains too large 

 a percentage of drones, then she should be replaced 

 by a young queen, either purchased from a dealer or 

 raised at home. A vigorous young queen is a good 

 investment in the late Summer for the honey stored 

 the next year will be gathered by her bees and if she 

 is a better one than the superseded queen, there will 

 be many more bees. 



Hives should be watched to see that they are tight 

 and. well made and old rickety ones patched up or dis- 

 carded. Bees will suffer in the chilly days of Fall and 

 .Spring if their houses are not warm. 



PLANT MORE WOODLANDS! 



{Continued from fcgc 274) 

 dcra Bciicoin), Button Bush (Ccphalanthiis) and Alders 

 will be at home as cover plants. Then we have the native 

 Rhododendron and Azaleas, Holly, Dogwood, Snow- 

 berry, Hazels, several Viburnums, Chokeberry and 

 Huckleberry ( Vacciniuin ) . 



Fref|uenlly a gro\e of trees is planted to screen some 

 objectionable outlook ; one of the commonest faults in 

 the selection of plants for this purpose is to omit the dense 

 low growing sorts which serve not only as good "cover" 

 subjects, beneficial to the growth of trees, but retain their 

 low branches and thereby form an effective base screen 

 after the tall trees have grown up and lost their lower 

 branches. Such, trees as the Hornbeam (Carpiiiiis), 

 especially the European species (C. betulus). which holds 

 the dead foliage throughout much of the Winter: Iron- 

 wood {Ostrya vir^^inica) , Cnrnns Horida: Beech, when 

 on the border, and many shrubs should, therefore, be in- 

 cluded with the tall fast growing trees if the lower part 

 of the screen is to be perpetual. In selecting the species 

 of trees to be planted it is well to avoid too large an as- 

 sortment. Limiting it to a few kinds is more pleasing and 



natural. In fact, a pure stand of one species is very ef- 

 fective, though it has the disadvantage that if a blight — 

 Chestnut, for instance — or epidemic of an insect pest 

 comes along, it may destroy the entire plantation, 

 whereas, in a mixed planting, there are likely to be im- 

 mune species. 



.-\ woodland is alsO' not without its commercial value an^ 

 if one will "plant thick and thin quick" a more rapid up- 

 right growth is induced by the close planting and the trees 

 removed in thinning may be used for poles, posts, rails 

 and various purposes for which small timber is utilized. 



The value and enjoyment of a woodland to a country 

 place should, therefore, not be underestimated, and 

 nurserymen in recommending the establishment of such 

 a planting will find a sale for much stock as well as mak- 

 ing it the means of bringing pleasure and satisfaction to 

 tree-loving clients. — S. M. B.\xtek, Florists' Exchange. 



[In closing Mr. Baxter's valuable paper we must add 

 from our own observation that even on a one acre propo- 

 sition a small woodland planting to occui)y one-sixth to 

 one-eighth of that area, can be urged on your customers 

 as one of the permanent and most agreeable parts of the 

 property. — En.l 



