April, 1916. 



American ^ec JonrnalJ 



123 



<v^^ ; 



the hundred as I know from personal 

 experience. The elderberries are pol- 

 len flowers, and are absolutely devoid 

 of nectar; they are visited mostly by 

 flies, and a honeybee might properly 

 be called by an Irishman a ittia <ivis. 

 The gooseberries, currants, blueberries 

 and cranberries all yield nectar, and 

 frequently attract honeybees. The 

 gooseberries and currants produce lit- 

 tle fruit in the absence of insects. The 

 strawberries tend to have the stamens 

 and pistils in different flowers ; the pis- 

 tillate flowers are of necessity depend- 

 ent on insects for pollination, while 



Fig. 3— Red or swamp maple (A<erriibruni L.). 

 Pistillate flowers; the stamens and pistils 

 are borne on different trees, but both 

 kinds of flowers secrete nectar. 



many perfect plants are partly or 

 wholly self-sterile. 



Since the cucumbers, squashes, mel- 

 ons, etc., have the stamens and pistils 

 in different flowers and the nectar 

 more or less deeply concealed, four 

 words cover the condition — no bees, 

 no fruit. Among the plants producing 

 edible fruits cross-pollination is the 

 rule, many varieties are self-sterile and 

 nearly all are benefited by cross-pol- 

 lination, pollen from other varieties of 

 the same species being prepotent over 

 own pollen or pollen from the same 

 variety. The structure of the pollen 

 is such that it cannot be carried by the 

 wind. 



The early honey flow in New Eng- 

 land comes from the clovers, chiefly 

 white and alsike. According to my 

 experience the flow from white clover 

 is very dependable, but the flight of 

 the bees may be greatly hindered by 

 rainy weather, as during the season of 



1915. Buckwheat is planted on so 

 small a scale as to be negligible, except 

 perhaps in special instances. Many of 

 the mint family are good bee flowers, 

 but they are seldom abundant. Milk- 

 weed, according to Gates, is an impor- 

 tant honey plant in Berkshire Co., 

 Mass. The columbines, Tartarian 

 honeysuckle, red clover and gentians 

 are bumblebee flowers. Mustard is 

 common in grain fields; in California, 

 Mendleson states that one year one of 

 his hives gathered exclusively from 

 mustard. 



The sumacs occur throughout New 

 England and in certain sections, as the 

 hillside pastures of Connecticut, some- 

 times afford the beekeeper a startling 

 surprise. The flowers appear in July, 

 and on hot days the nectar flows very 

 freely. Allen Latham says that a 

 strong colony has no trouble in gain- 

 ing 20 pounds or more in atypical day. 

 In good seasons his colonies store 

 from 40 to 100 pounds each. The honey 

 is a bright yellow color, and has at first 

 a bitter taste, which disappears when 

 it has ripened. He adds that it is safe 

 to say that much of Connecticut would 

 be worthless to beekeepers but for this 

 plant {Rhus fflabra). The stamens and 

 pistils are on different plants; the 

 staminate flowers are white and the 

 pistillate green. 



According to E. H. Shattuck there 

 are thousands of acres in Connecticut 

 devoted to tobacco culture. Tobacco 

 plants were formerly '' topped " or cut 

 back, but they are now permitted to 

 bloom and produce myriads of flowers 

 from Aug. 1 to late in September. The 

 bees visit the flowers very eagerly, and 

 a surplus of a hundred pounds to a 

 colony may be obtained. The honey 

 is dark or brownish, but is without a 

 rank odor or taste, and is comparable 

 to buckwheat honey. Where tobacco 

 is raised under cloth it is less accessi- 

 ble than in the open, but there are 

 always numerous openings through 

 which the bees can pass. In August 

 there ar * in this State few other honey 

 plants in bloom. Apiaries seldom ex- 

 ceed 25 colonies. 



In Massachusetts, Gates says that the 

 sweet pepper bush {^Clethra abiifolia) 

 yields a fair surplus of light colored 

 honey. It is abundant along the east- 

 ern coast. Another shrub widely dis- 

 tributed in New England, and a great 

 favorite of insects is the New Jersey 

 tea {Ceanothiis americaniis). Banks has 

 listed 382 visitors (bugs, flies, beetles, 

 wasps and bees) taken on Ceanothus in 

 Virginia, a larger number than has 

 been taken on any other American 

 flower, and I believe, on any other 

 flower in the world. 



In pastures throughout New England 

 lambkin {_Kalmia angustifolia) (Fig. 4) 

 is common, and in western Massachu- 

 setts I have seen a hillside covered with 

 mountain laurel (A', lalifolia). Honey 

 obtained from the flowers of these 

 plants is very commonly believed to be 

 poisonous, but apparently on very in- 

 sufficient evidence. These shrubs are 

 abundant over large areas, and in the 

 mountains of Carolina the mountain 

 laurel often presents an unbroken 

 sheet of bloom. If the honey were 

 deleterious frequent reports of illness 

 might be expected, but nothing of the 

 sort happens. Kalm, the Swedish trav- 



eler, after whom the genus Kalmia is 

 named, says that if domestic animals 

 eat the leaves they fall sick or die, but 

 that they are harmless to wild animals. 

 The belief that the leaves are poison- 

 ous seems to have extended to the 

 honey. But Dr. Bigelow states in his 

 Medical Botany that he repeatedly 

 chewed and swallowed a green leaf of 

 the largest size, without perceiving the 

 least effect in consequence. A powder 

 made from leaves recently dried in 

 doses of from 10 to 20 grains produced 

 no perceptible effect. The taste of the 

 leaves is perfectly mild and mucila- 

 ginous. Dr. Biglow was inclined to 

 believe that the noxious effect of the 

 leaves on young domestic animals was 

 due to their indigestible quality. The 

 probablitv is that the honey is per- 

 fectly harmless ; the matter should be 

 tested, using, of course, proper caution. 



It would seem far more probable that 

 the poison ivy {Rhus toxicodendron) 

 and poison dogwood (Rhus vemix), 

 both common shrubs in New England, 

 would yield poisonous honey; but so 

 good an authority as Dr. Miller tells us 

 that the honey is excellent and has 

 nothing poisonous about it. 



If I were compelled to stake the ex- 

 istence of bee-culture in New England 

 on a single genus of plants I should 

 select the goldenrods. There are many 

 species, and they all yield nectar and 

 pollen. They begin to bloom in mid- 

 summer and continue to bloom in Oc- 

 tober. They are very common, and 

 there are species adapted to the sea- 

 shore, the fields, the rocks and the 

 woods. I have never known the flow 

 of nectar to fail, and a great quantity 



Fig. 4— Sheep laurel or lambkill Kalmia an- 

 ' sustifolia L.)' Bee flowers: the anthers are 

 held in little pouche- in the corolla and 

 the tilaments are elastic. A bee in moving 

 around on a flower strikes the stamens, 

 setting free the anthers, which fly Quickly 

 upward throwing the pollen on the body 

 of the insect. 



