182- AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



\V. Gambs, of Anderson, reported that some colonies, made extra strong 

 by drifting bees, stored four full-depth extracting supers of fresh nectar 

 from orange in four days. 



In some of the interior valley locations the bees get fair crops from 

 orange about four years in five. Along the coast, the fogs are unfavorable 

 and the crop is uncertain. Good orange locations are much in demand, 

 and many beekeepers move their bees long distances for the flow. With a 

 larger reserve supply of honey, left in the hives for winter to enable the 

 bees to build up early in spring, and with more careful attention to winter- 

 ing, it would be possible to greatly increase the average returns from 

 orange. This statement is based on the results of a few beekeepers who 

 take special pains to get their bees into condition for the orange flow. 



The honey from orange is white in color, heavy in body, of the finest 

 quality, and is much in demand in the markets. 



OREGON CRAB APPLE, see Crab Apple. 



OREGON— Honey Sources of. 



J. W. Wills, of Marion County, Oregon, lists the principal honey plants 

 of that State in the American Bee Journal as follows : 



Willow, chickweed, balm-of-Gilead, salmonberry, dandelion, fruit trees, 

 grapes, currants, gooseberries, maples, clover, Juneberry, barberry, huckle- 

 berries, laurel, milkweed, lobelia, catnip, snowberry, arrowwood, Spanish 

 needle and some others. 



P. W. Nicolle, in Gleanings, adds that chittam (Rhamnus purshiana) 

 is one of the principal sources. He mentions, also, salal (Gaultheria shal- 

 lon) as a source of nectar. Salal is frequently mentioned as valuable in 

 Oregon. 



OREGON GRAPE (Berberis nervosa). 



Oregon grape is common in the woodlands near the Coast from Marin 

 County, California, northward. It is abundant in the forest regions of 

 Washington. It is a shrub with prickly alternate leaves and yellow flowers 

 in racemes. Oregon grape is reported as a source of honey of minor im- 

 portance in the Northwest. Like the agarites or triple-leaved barberry 

 of Texas, it blooms in early spring when it is of special value for stimula- 

 tive purposes. Another species of barberry (Berberis Aquifolium) is 

 common to this region, and most beekeepers do not differentiate between 

 the two species. (See Barberry.) 



OREOCARYA. 



A desert plant growing on high, loose, sandy soils. Blooms in May, 

 with a small bur following the bloom. It ranges from Wyoming to Ari- 

 zona and west Texas. It yields nectar freely and an average of forty 

 pounds per colony has been reported from this source. The honey is light 

 amber, of niferior flavor, according to D. W. Spangler, of Longmont, Colo- 

 rado, but it is extremely valuable for building up colonies in spring. Ex- 

 tended cultivation is rapidly reducing the area where the plant is to be 

 found. 



