376 



November, 1316. 



American l^ee Journal 



as rearing skunks and chicken-hawks 

 for pets, as Pellett has done. We had 

 a whole half day together the next 

 morning and we went to one of his 

 outyards, with his two boys. We 

 roamed through the brush and for the 

 first time in my life I went blueberry 

 hunting. If Connecticut cannot boast 

 of endless level fields like those of Illi- 

 nois, it surely has a more delightful 

 climate, for there is no snch oppressive 

 heat as in our plains and the wooded 

 hillsides, pastures and s'one fences re- 

 minded me forcibly of the scenes of 

 my childhood in sunny France. 



Here I first tasted pure sumac honey, 

 for half a dozen varieties thrive in New 

 England, and I saw more in the vicinity 

 of Norwichtown than anywhere else. 

 The honey, is excellent and of a very 

 pretty, pale, lemon color. I have no- 

 where seen honey of a similar shade. 

 Sweet pepperbush {Clethra abufoUa), a 

 pretty shrub growing naturally in a 

 number of States, mainly along the 

 coast, appears to be a plentiful honey 

 producer, as bees are on its blossoms 

 constantly. It is pretty enough to de- 

 serve a place in our yards, with the 

 spireas, barberry, etc. 



(To be continued ] 



Honey Sources of Canada 



F. W. L. SLADEN, DOMINION APIARIST. 



ALSIKE and white clover are the 

 principal honey plants of Canada, 

 the clover honey region extending 

 from coast to coast, but they fail more 

 or less in the heart of the prairie coun- 

 try and in the dry belt of British Co- 

 lumbia. In many places alsike is as 

 important as, if not more important 

 than, whit* clover. This is especially 

 true of the Great Lake region of Onta- 

 rio, alsike being the principal source of 

 honey in southern Ontario, where it is 

 also cultivated for seed. In many parts 

 of the Maritime Provinces white clover 

 and alsike are usually abundant and 

 very productive, but repeated freezing 

 and thawing in winter and early spring 

 kills the plants some years. As a 



source of surplus honey, these clovers 

 are mainly confined to the farming 

 sections, and they are extending every 

 year as the land is cleared. 



The principal commercial honey 

 plant of the timber lands is fireweed 

 {Epi/obiiim ang^uslifo!ium^,vi\iich grows 

 in abundance in moist and rich clear- 

 ings, especially those that have been 

 burned over. The fireweed becomes 

 more common as one goes northward. 

 Like clover, fireweed extends from 

 coast to coast. It has a longer yielding 

 period than clover, comes a little later 

 and is not so badly affected by drouth, 

 three important advantages, while the 

 quality of the honey is very good, the 

 color being even whiter than clover 

 and the flavor mild. In many places 

 raspberry is associated with the fire- 

 weed. 



The alfalfa honey region extends into 

 Canada in southern Alberta. It has 



not been much exploited yet. An aver 

 age of about 130 pounds of honey per 

 colony, spring count, mainly from 

 alfalfa, has been obtained at the Domin- 

 ion Experimental Farm, Lethbridge, 

 during 1914-15. The region of paying 

 crops of alfalfa honey probably extends 

 westwards into the British Columbia 

 dry belt. 



The timber and scrub lands of the 

 prairie possess a number of wild honey 

 plants that are of commercial value 

 collectively. The most important of 

 these are the wolfberry {Symphoricaf- 

 pos occidenfalis). Canadian sainfoin 

 i^Hedysarum boreale), a.nA the anise hys- 

 sop {Agastache fccniculum). Among the 

 honey plants with a restricted range of 

 production there is buckwheat in south- 

 ern Ontario and southwestern Quebec, 

 and also basswood with a similar but 

 wider range extending into southeast- 

 ern Manitoba. Both are uncertain 



A FEW OF THOSE PRESENT AT THE ELIZABETH. N, J., MEETING. AUG T. 



MT. HOLLY. N. J.. MEETING JULY 31. I9i6 

 The tall white pillars are colonies of bees 



yielders from year to year, but fre- 

 quently important. Goldenrods and as- 

 ters are of importance in the Maritime 

 Provinces, of less value in the settled 

 parts of Quebec, and improve again in 

 northern Ontario and in Manitoba, east 

 of Winnipeg. Two species of golden- 

 rod, Solidago puberula and S. squar- 

 rosa. that grow abundantly on recently 

 burned-over sandy plains in the water- 

 shed of the Gatineau Valley north of 

 Ottawa have given good yields of light- 

 colored honey at the end of August 

 and during the first part of September. 

 Solidaffo uliginosa and Aster umbellatus 

 are important honey plants in the 

 swamps in Charlotte county. New 

 Brunswick, and in the Molson district 

 of Manitoba. 



The dogbane, Apocynum androsumi- 

 foUum, is one of the principal commer- 

 cial honey plants in the Kootenays, B. 

 C. Wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, 

 and the gum weed, Grindelia squarrosa, 

 have been reported as sources of honey 

 in Manitoba. Among the introduced 

 weeds, the wild radish, Rap/ianus raph- 

 anislrum, is evidently a source of a 

 good deal of honey in the Annapolis 



