92 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



but most of the. articles written for the 

 Bee Journals advocate white sweet 

 clover- 



Pres. Huffman — ^Anything further on 

 this subject? Has any one had any 

 experience with buckwhekt? 



Mr. Stuebing — I have about fifteen 

 acres of buckwheat in front of my 

 hives, and all the time I used it there 

 was not a single bee on the buckwheat; 

 it had nice blossoms; it was eight or 

 nine inches high, and I never saw a 

 single bee on those blossoms; it was 

 located right in front of the hives. I 

 would like to know how that is; there 

 was not a single bee on the buckAvheat 

 this year. 



Pres. Huffman — Along this line, I 

 would like to ask a question, for the 

 consideration of you bee-keepers. 



Would you consider it advisaJble to 

 cultivate or try to raise heartsease? I 

 have seen it growing abundantly in the 

 lowlands, and a big crop of honey was 

 produced from it. We might take up 

 something like that when our honey 

 producing plants become scarce — take 

 up the growing of heartsease. 



Mr. Pyles — Through the greater part 

 of Illinois it does not require any effort 

 to raise heartsease. In the southern 

 part of the state the land is very poor. 

 In the fore-part of the season they 

 have great quantities of heartsease, and 

 then just off the land that is not 

 covered with heartsease they have acres 

 and thousands of acres growing the 

 Spanish needle; the land is so poor it 

 will not grow anything else, but it 

 grows a crop of honey. If I were going 

 anj-where to go into the bee business 

 other than where I am now, I would go 

 into the southern part of Illinois; thej? 

 have the population and they have the 

 honey plant. They have an aster that 

 grows wild there all over the hillside 

 and everywhere else. That 'produces a 

 great crop of honey; they produce a 

 great crop of honey on some of those 

 hills: they have white clover in the 

 early part of the season, and then fol- 

 lows heartsease and the Spanish needle 

 and the aster — 'and the land is cheap. 

 The market for honey is very good; 

 you can get twenty cents a pound for 

 any kind of chunk honey. 



Mr. Steubing — We have white clover 

 on our place, but our bees pretty nearly 

 starve to death until the time of sweet 

 clover; they do not get a drop of honey 



from the white clover; we have to feed 

 the bees until July. 



Mr. Cavanagh — Where are you lo- 

 cated? 



Mr. Steubing — West Pullman. 



Mr. Cavanagh — My friend here (Mr. 

 Steubing) speaks of the failure of the 

 white clover to produce enough feed for 

 his bees; I think that is controlled by 

 atmospheric conditions a great deal. 

 Probably in his case the clover was 

 a year old plant; the age of white 

 clover has something to do with it; 

 you can usually get honey from a two- 

 year old plant; or perhaps the rain- 

 fall was too scant and the atmospheric 

 conditions had something to do with it; 

 the conditions were evidently wrong 

 for nectar secretion. 



Regarding buckwheat — I do not think 

 from what little I have seen of it, 

 that it is so particular about the soil 

 as the atmospheric conditions. Buck- 

 wheat produces a yield some years and 

 some years, none. It will yield right 

 along until a sudden change in the 

 weather, and then it will be cut short. 

 In our section of the country the Span- 

 ish needle is a sure yielder. Asters are 

 sure yielders if the weather is right. 

 Most all flowers are nectar yielders, de- 

 pending on the land and atmospheric 

 conditions and rainfall. Spanish 

 needles grow where they have a water 

 supply. Mr. Huffman spoke about 

 growing heartesase. I think that would 

 be a failure if out of its natural ele- 

 ment; in the uplands heartsease and 

 the Spanish needle yield honey only 

 once in several years, when we haVe 

 a wet season. You had better go to 

 the flowers, rather than bring the 

 flowers to you, although sweet clover 

 is an exception and will yield nectar 

 almost everywhere. 



Mr Dadant — What do you call two 

 ■ year old clover? 



Mr. Cavanagh — As I understand it, 

 two year old clover is from the seed 

 that is cast some time in July or Au- 

 gust, the clbver from that seed the 

 next year would be one year old clover; 

 (it will come up in the fall;) and next 

 year it is called one year old clover, 

 and the year after that, two year old 

 clover; the year following, three year 

 old clover. The two year old p-lant, 

 as a rule, furnishes our nectar. In 1908 

 we had a dry fall and it killed our two 

 year old plants; the following year 

 there was no plant to yield nectar; the 

 next year we had two year old plants. 



