1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



117 



many of the Composite are doubtless 

 helpful honey plants. In Washington 

 and Oregon there is a greater rainfall, 

 and the mountains are covered with a 

 magnificent coniferous forest, and 

 there is a great variety of shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants, which are sources 

 of honey. Along the coast of Oregon 

 vine maple and a fireweed are valuable. 



11. CALIFORNIA REGION. 



No other State within an equal area 

 contains so many species of plants as 

 California. On the Coast Mountains 

 are the famous redwoods. In the beau- 

 tiful valley of California the meadows 

 and foothills are carpeted with hun- 

 dreds of beautiful flowers, lilies, butter- 

 cups, lupines, poppies. Godetias, and 

 endless Compositae. To the eastward 

 of this valley the Sierra Nevada rises to 

 the height of 15,000 feet, bearing on its 

 slopes the finest coniferous forests in 

 the world, composed of giant Sequoias, 

 pines, firs and hemlocks. The rich 

 honey flora of California supports more 

 than 200,000 colonies of bees. There 

 are some 50 species which yield a sur- 

 plus in an average season, foremost 

 among which are the sages and alfalfa. 

 Over 40 of these are herbs and shrubs 

 and the balance trees. Fifty more spe- 

 cies, at least, are important to bee-cul- 

 ture, while many foreign plants have 

 been introduced, like the Eucalyptus, 

 which may prove very helpful in the 

 future. 



12. TROPICAL REGION. 



For convenience southern Florida 

 has been included in the Florida Re- 

 gion, but black mangrove, manchineel 

 and mahogany are tropical trees, and 

 so are the cultivated cocoanut palm, 

 the mango, and custard apple. Among 

 the honey plants of Cuba are the cam- 

 panulas i/f'omofa), mango, citrus fruits, 

 royal palm and coffee tree. In Porto 

 Rico there are logwood, mangrove, 

 mango, guava and guama. Guima 

 i^Inga laurina) is considered the best 

 honey plant ; it blooms several times a 

 year and the bees are never able to 



gather all the nectar. The tropical 

 forests of the mainland contain more 

 than 100 kinds of trees, many of which 

 are doubtless nectariferous. Logwood 

 fringes all the lagoons and much of 

 the seaboard of Yucatan. Only a glance 

 can be given the tropical flora, which 

 is evidently rich in nectariferous trees. 



In the present paper only a brief out- 

 line of the honey plant or nectar re- 

 gions of North America has been at- 

 tempted. In many instances very little 

 information is available in regard to 

 the honey flora of extensive areas. 

 There are scores of questions which 

 can be answered at once in regard to 

 honey plants by the comparison of the 

 soils, climates and floras of these dif- 

 ferent regions. There is no difficulty in 

 understandingwhy white clover reaches 

 its maximum development in the Prai- 

 rie Region, or why trees are the chief 

 sources of nectar in the Appalachian 

 Region, or why the tropical mangrove 

 and manchineel are confined to south- 

 ern Florida, or why mesquite, the cacti 

 and other xerophytes are found only in 

 arid areas. It is believed that the dif- 

 ferent regions are natural divisions, 

 and that this arrangement will prove 

 an incentive to the further study of the 

 North American Honey Flora. 



Waldoboro, Maine. 



Inspection Work in Illinois 



BY C. F. BENDER. 



I HAVE read with interest Mr. 

 Frank C. Pellett's article in the 

 last issue of the American Bee 

 Journal. Being one of the inspectors 

 in this State, and having studied the 

 same problems from every angle, I feel 

 like saying a few words in reply. 



With much of his article I entirely 

 agree. It is true that our appropria- 

 tions are too small, that there is some 

 difficulty in getting good men for the 

 work, that some bee owners will resist 

 inspection or fail to carry out instruc- 



FIG. 2.-HON2Y PLANT REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 



St. Lawrence Basin Region. Appalachian or Deciduous-leaved Forest Region. Prairie 



Region or White Clover Belt. Southern Region or Cotton Belt. Florida Region. 



Great Plains Region. Arid or Cactus Region. Rocky Mountain Highlands 



or AlfalfalRegion CalifornialRegion. 



tions. It is true that the pay is too lit- 

 tle, and therefore that a first-class man 

 cannot afford to give his whole time 

 to the work. On the other hand. I have 

 some fault to find with Mr. Pellett's 

 conclusions, and with his proposed 

 remedy. He suggests the holding of 

 apiary demonstrations, where the bee- 

 men can be taught en masse. The only 

 fault with that plan is that the very 

 men who most need instruction will 

 not attend. 



We have no difficulty with the intel- 

 ligent and progressive beekeepers who 

 will attend conventions and field meet- 

 ings. In fact, these are the very ones 

 who insisted on this inspection work 

 at the beginning, and who furnish the 

 power that keeps it going. The men 

 who harbor and spread disease are 

 most often farmers, or men too old to 

 work, who keep a few colonies, who 

 know nothing about diseases of bees. 

 When a colony dies they set out the 

 combs for the other bees to clean up, 

 or leave the hives open and exposed 

 which is nearly as bad. Such people 

 do not attend meetings to be instructed 

 in bee-culture. They have kept bees 

 from boyhood, and are sure that they 

 know all about it. 



No doubt Mr. Pellett, being a good 

 public speaker, finds it more to his 

 taste to address an audience, who come 

 to him voluntarily. He can perhaps do 

 more good in that way. Myself, not 

 being a good public speaker, but hav- 

 ing especial talents for private instruc- 

 tion, get much better results from visit- 

 ing the delinquents, giving the instruc- 

 tion that each one needs, and showing 

 him how to adapt it to his own circum- 

 stances. I have induced several trou- 

 blesome parties to give up trying to 

 keep bees, giving or selling the remains 

 of their stock to some neighbor who 

 was capable of treating them. In such 

 cases I never appear as the officer of 

 the law, but as the impartial friend of 

 both parties. As Mr. Pellett says, 

 much diplomacy is needed. Often a 

 very stubborn man may be conquered 

 by an apparent surrender; he will give 

 generously to the very thing that he 

 has refused on a show of force. It is 

 necessary to judge the man. 



There are a few people who wish to 

 injure their neighbors, who will know- 

 ingly keep diseased bees for that very 

 purpose. Such people are always cow- 

 ards, and take their mean revenge only 

 because they have not the courage for 

 • open warefare. In such cases the 

 police power is necessary for the in- 

 spector. I have found only two such 

 cases, and both gave in when I read 

 over the law to them, showed them 

 that resistance to the State was useless, 

 and would merely cost them a fine, and 

 possibly the destruction of their bees 

 also. An inspector without power to 

 enforce the law, it seems to me, would 

 be much like a policeman who had no 

 povver to make arrest, who could only 

 advise people to be quiet and keep the 

 peace. 



In regard to Mr. Pellett's plan of a 

 straight salary for the inspector, my 

 objection is unless another man is 

 employed to inspect the inspector, the 

 salary will be paid, whether the work 

 is done or not. The office of bee in- 

 spector will inevitably drift into the 

 class of political jobs, which pay a sal- 

 ary, but require no work, known froin 

 of old as sinecures. 

 Newman, 111. 



