AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 11 



to the mouth of the Ohio River, literally covering in many places 

 the waste and uncultivated grounds, and reaching out along byroads 

 and borders of fields and woodlands. It its northward spread it has 

 largely taken the place of the mayweed (Anthemis cotula), a European 

 weed of early introduction." 



Regarding honey from this source J. J. Wilder says (American Bee 

 Journal, Vol. 54, page 410) : 



"It is truly a nectar-laden plant. Though it does not grow in great 

 fields as yet, bees will store from 30 to 35 pounds of surplus from it. 

 Its flowers are of a deep yellow; the honey, light yellow, heavy body, 

 soon granulates when extracted. It is bitter; in fact it is about as 

 offensive to the palate as quinine. In most sections of the South the 

 cotton plant begins yielding two or three weeks before the bitter- 

 weed, and if it were not for the well-established fact that bees do not 

 desert a honey plant for another as long as it yields well, nearly all 

 the summer and fall honey would be unfit for market on account of 

 the bitterweed. In sections where the cotton does not yield much, the 

 honey is all bitter, and a small amount of it will ruin a tank of good 

 honey. Bitterweed is also a great pollen plant, furnishing abundance 

 of bright yellow pollen throughout its blooming period. Even the 

 stems and foliage of this plant are intensely bitter, and no animals 

 eat it." 



Pammel cites a quotation which states that it has been reported as 

 fatal to horses and mules in several of the Gulf States. It is said to con- 

 tain a narcotic poison and to be the cause of bitter milk. 



A relative of this plant, the northern sneezeweed (Helenium autom- 

 nale) is also a good honey plant, and probably less bitter than the south- 

 ern or narrow-leaved sneezeweed just described. Neither, however, can 

 be said to be a desirable addition to the honey-producing flora, because 

 of spoiling good honey from mixing with it. The northern sneezeweed is 

 found in various localities from Connecticut to the Dakotas and south- 

 ward. It is also found in places in the Rocky Mountain States. 



The bitter honey seems to be as good as any for brood-rearing and, 

 where present, the beekeeper should use care to avoid mixing it with his 

 marketable produce, and use it for feeding the bees. The bitterness is 

 said to come from the pollen grains present in the honey, which improves 

 greatly with age, as the pollen grains settle to the bottom of the con- 

 tainer. 



BLACKBERRY (Rubus). 



The blackberries, dewberries and raspberries are closely related 

 plants, all of which are good honey sources. The blackberry is especially 

 well known in the Southeastern States, where it thrives in fence corners 

 and moist woodland borders. In north Georgia it is one of the principal 

 sources of surplus honey. Farther north the nectar yield is apparently 

 not as good, and in some localities the bees apparently do not get much 

 honey from this source. Lovell states that in New England there is very 

 little nectar available from either wild or cultivated blackberries. Richter 

 Slates that the Himalaya variety of blackberry yields some honey in Yuba 

 County, California. John W. Cash reports an average of 25 pounds per 



