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AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



NEW YORK 

 HOr.A.vjCAL 



OAk»OHN 



The late Prof. A. J. Cook estimated that there are nearly eighteen hun- 

 dred species of plants on which bees work in America. Most of these are 

 minor sources, which the bees visit incidentally for the minute quantity 

 of nectar that may be available, or for pollen. There are some plants rich 

 in nectar which can never be important to the beekeeper because they 

 are not suihciently plentiful. 



Honey production, as a business enterprise, is dependent upon a few 

 species which yield nectar abundantly and which are sufficiently common 

 to enable the bees to secure honey in large quantity. In order to make 

 the most of his business, the beekeeper should have a thorough knowledge 

 oi the honey plants in all the country surrounding his apiaries. It often 

 happens that a distance of but a few miles makes a great difference with 

 the available honey sources. Many a man by moving an apiary a few 

 miles has greatly increased the yield. It sometimes happens that the plant 

 which is the main dependence will fail, and that by moving to some other 

 source, a crop may be harvested. To know fully the honey plants of his 

 region, their time of blooming and habit of nectar secretion under his 

 particular conditions, is of fundamental importance to the man who would 

 succeed as a beekeeper. 



In many places the presence or absence of a single plant determines 

 whether or not beekeeping is worth while. Over a large portion of the 

 Middle West, the beekeepers depend almost entirely upon white clover for 

 surplus, and in seasons when this plant fails they get no honey to sell. 



Likewise, in many localities in the irrigated regions of the Rocky 

 Mountain States, when alfalfa fails to yield, there is no surplus honey. 

 Yet in all these sections, beekeeping would be impossible if there were no 

 other plants. There are localities where tremendous honeyflows occur for 

 a short period of time, where beekeeping is not practical because there is 

 insufficient forage to support the bees the rest of the year. In such places 

 beekeepers often take advantage of the flows by moving the bees away as 

 soon as the plants cease to yield nectar, and returning them the following 

 year at blooming time. This applies to some parts of the valley of the 

 Appalachicola River in Florida. While the flow from Tupelo is sometimes 

 remarkable, there is a shortage of pollen throughout the summer months. 



The ideal situation for beekeeping is one where there are at least 

 three plants which yield surplus honey in considerable quantity, and which 

 bloom at different periods. Beside the main sources, there should be a 

 great variety of minor plants yielding both pollen and honey throughout 

 CT> the season to support the bees between the main flows. In such a situa- 

 tion, there is seldom an entire failure of the honey crop; and, in good 

 years, the beekeeper fares well, indeed. 



There are many localities where the bees suffer seriously for lack of 

 pollen at some seasons of the year. An available source of pollen is 



