Beekeeping in the Tulip-Tree Region. . 
The tulip-tree is one of the finest trees native to America. The 
foliage is handsome, and it is a clean tree. It is relatively free from 
insect attacks, although in some localities it is the host of abundant 
plant-lice which secrete honeydew. This is unfortunate from the 
standpoint of the beekeeper, and it discolors the leaves somewhat, de- 
tracting from their beauty. The reader is referred to Forest Service 
Circular 93 for information concerning this tree, it being called 
yellow poplar by the Forest Service. 
PRESENT DEVELOPMENT OF BEEKEEPING IN THE 
REGION. 
The area where the tulip-tree is abundant enough to constitute 
an important source of honey is not, as has been stated, one where 
beekeeping is well developed. This is due in part to a failure by 
the beekeepers to recognize the value of this tree, but especially to 
a failure to practice those methods which will permit the bees to be 
in the right condition to get a full crop from this species. Further- 
more, beekeeping has not developed so rapidly in the Southern States 
as in the North and West, and there are still many colonies of bees 
kept in box-hives and “gums” in this territory, probably the ma- 
jority of the colonies being so housed. While bees are more abun- 
dant in this area than in any other large area of the United States 
(fig. 2), beekeeping is not so progressive, and there are few com- 
mercial beekeepers devoting their chief attention to this branch of 
industry. According to Jones,’ the tulip-tree now supplies only 2.8 
per cent of the total honey-crop of the country, whereas if the region 
were adequately developed it could produce as much honey as the 
clover region now produces. Especially in those places where the 
honey resources are augmented by nectar from sourwood or some 
other plant which furnishes nectar later in the season, there is op- 
portunity for the development of extensive beekeeping operations, 
and wherever the tulip-tree secretes nectar as freely as it does near 
Washington, D. C., commercial beekeeping could be conducted profit- 
ably, even if this were the only major source of nectar. 
PECULIARITIES OF THE REGION. 
One of the difficulties encountered in the tulip-tree region is that 
practically nothing has been published concerning this plant from 
the standpoint of the beekeeper and there is little to guide the pros- 
pective honey-producer except his own experience. Under such cir- 
cumstances it is little wonder that so small an amount of honey from 
this source is now produced. The usual beekeeping practices of the 
7 Department Bulletin 685, 
