AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 181 



plant in large numbers when in full bloom from eariy morning until late 

 evening. — L. H. Pammel, American Bee Journal, November, 1917. 



Eleaegnus argentea, wolf willow or silverberry. It is said to yield 

 honey on the prairies. — W. J. Sheppard, British Columbia. American Bee 

 Journal, November, 1917. 



OLIVE (Olea europaea). 



The olive is generally cultivated in orchards throughout California. 

 Richter states that his bees, within easy reach of several thousand olive 

 trees, do not work on them, but that T. O. Andrews, of Corona, and B. B. 

 Hogaboom, of Elk Grove, report bees .working well on olive bloom. He 

 further states that the olive tree is a well known source of honey in Spain. 



ONION (Allium). 



According to Richter, wild onions sometimes yield surplus honey in 

 the vicinity of Sacramento, California. In some parts of that State, where 

 cultivated onions (Allium cepa) are grown for seed, they are also im- 

 portant. The onion yields freely and the honey is said to be amber in 

 color with a characteristic onion flavor which disappears after the honey 

 i> fully ripened. There are few localities where onions are sufficiently 

 abundant to be important. 



ONTARIO— Honey Sources of. 



The principal honey plants of Ontario, in the order of their import- 

 ance, are alsike and white Dutch clover, buckwheat, basswood, fireweed, 

 wild raspberry, goldenrod, aster, dandelion, sweet clover, viper's bugloss, 

 Canada thistle, milkweed and boneset. 



Buckwheat, basswood, sweet clover, viper's bugloss, milkweed and 

 boneset are confined principally to the southern part of the province. 

 Willows and maples are important for early spring brood rearing. — F. W. 

 L. Sladen. 



OPUNTIA, see Prickly Pear. 



ORANGE (Citrus aurantium). 



The orange tree is a native of Asia, early introduced by the colonists 

 into Florida. It thrives in a semi-tropical climate and its culture in 

 America is confined to southern Florida, a few small areas along the Gulf 

 Coast, the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and to California. It is 

 sensitive to frost and the trees are easily killed by freezing. 



In California, orange is one of the important sources of honey. The 

 trees bloom in April, when many colonies are too weak to make the mosi 

 of the crop. The flow is extremely rapid, as at times the nectar is se- 

 creted in such abundance that men and horses working in the orchards 

 are saturated with it. The flow lasts about three weeks. In 1919 it con- 

 tinued 23 days in Tulare County. Four hundred colonies in one yard aver- 

 aged more than 60 pounds per colony from orange. O. F. Darnell, of Por- 

 terville, extracted 171 pounds of orange honey from one colony in ten days, 

 after having previously extracted 24 frames which were not weighed. A. 



