80 



March, 1915, 



American Vae Journal 



tween the soil on which the plants 

 grow and the quality or amount of 

 honey produced ? Three prefer a clay 

 soil. Two want a ric i soil. Two say 

 that Spanish-needles need rich moist 

 land. Two want clover on high land. 

 Two on low land. Two say that any 

 soil is suitable which is suitable to the 

 plant. The others have no choice. 



What is the relation of the distance 

 apart between the hives and the plants 

 and the amount of honey produced ? 

 The consensus of the replies is that 

 the farther they have to go, the less is 

 the amount of honey gathered. One 

 mile good, 2 miles fair, 3 to 4 miles 

 poor. One man says it depends upon 

 the weather. One man's bees fly over 

 a part of the city of St. Louis and 

 across the Mississippi and fill their 

 hives, traveling over 2 miles. 



What is the usefulness of bees in the 

 production of fruit and seeds ? Eight 

 say that bees are a great aid, that there 

 is no fruit when bees cannot work on 

 the blossoms. Two report that clover 

 fields, close to large apiaries, far out- 

 yield other fields in seed production. 

 One reports fruit trees entirely barren 

 until bees were secured. 



Have you experienced injuries by 

 bees to fruits ? Seventeen say: Not 

 if the fruits are sound. Grapes and 

 peaches are easily damaged by wasps 

 and birds. 



The planting of what farm crops do 

 you recommend, and what garden 

 plants and trees ? Seventeen alsike, 15 

 sweet clover, 9 buckwheat, G white 

 clover (white clover being volunteer), 

 5 alfalfa, 2 red clover, 1 mustard, 1 

 cow peas, 1 Indian corn, 1 catnip, 1 

 spider plant, 7 fruit trees, 1 goose- 

 berry. 



What shade and ornamental trees .'' 

 Seventeen basswood, 7 maples, li black 

 locust, 3 willows, 3 box elders, 2 elms, 

 1 Cottonwood, 1 honey locust. 



What apiary problems would you 

 suggest as most important for investi- 

 gation by the experiment station ? Four 

 foulbrood eradication, ;i swarm pre- 

 vention, '6 how to get strong colonies 

 early, 2 queen selection, 1 cost of pro- 

 duction of beeswax, 1 wintering, 1 

 cause of European foulbrood, 1 secur- 

 ing shorter corolla in red clover, 1 

 testing hives of different sizes, 1 solv- 

 ing the marketing problem. Also test- 

 ing sweet clover for soil treatment, 

 testing foreign honey plants, finding 

 some honey plants that will I. loom 

 from midsummer until frost. 



In the list of honey plants under the 

 three groups of: 1 especially im- 

 portant, 2 furnishing an appreciable 

 amount of honey, and 3 visited by bees 



but of negligible production, the fol- 

 lowing votes were cast for each plant 



named : 



Pol- 



I 2 3len 



Wh i te clover ( Tri folium rcpeiis) ...144 4 



Alsike clover(7>//V////w/^i'^r/rf«/w)i4 2 4 



Basswood { TUia itttu-ri, jtut) 12 7 i 2 



Spanish-needles lA'/V/c;/,; ./r/.s7t^.frt).. 10 4 5 



While sweet clover(.'l/dV/7t>///-wzM(/) 4 11 



Smar tweed(/'i'/i'A'«// //«//«■««.( )•/>',///- 



uitm), also called hearts-ease 8542 

 TiA\-\^e\\o\\ VI ara.xiic urn officinale).. 8 6 4 10 

 Lady's thumb KPolveonuni fiersi- 



taria 5 I l 



Blackberry (A'»/>/«.t/i.) 3 3 7 5 



Willow (6",;//.v .!/>.) 3 7 7 8 



Yellow sweet clover (/V/. i>^jW«a/cj 3 4 7 3 



Cain'xD UVcpetii (irtaria) 3 t> 8 i 



AsleT [Aster s/>.) 3 4 5 1 



Apple (/')•/•//.> »/(///«) 2 g 7 d 



Black raspberry {/?.ocnde»/alis).. 2684 



P\um lPr////ii.< !/'.< 2 5 10 8 



Garden cherry {Pr/t////sceyiis/j.s)... . 2506 

 Coral berry, buckbush (Symphori- 



nit/'us oi,iih-//talis) 2522 



Willow herb {Et'ilobium afieustifo- 



linr/i 2 



The following plants were each given 

 one vote in the first group and a num- 

 ber of votes in the second and third 

 group : Soft maple, hard maple, pear, 

 Indian corn, red raspberry, horsemint, 

 common milkweed {.Isclefias syriaca), 

 nodding smartweed {Polygonum lafa- 

 Ihifoliian'), wild black cherry, goose- 

 berry (garden), black mustard, mother- 

 wort, large goldenrod, wild parsnip, 

 butterfly weed (.Isclepias tuberosa), red 

 bud, stinking clover (Cleome ser?-ulala). 



The following were classed in the 

 second and third list with 7 to 2 votes 

 in the second list: Buckwheat, Mis 

 souri gooseberry (A'/bes ^raa'le), straw- 

 berry, red clover, boneset, sunflower, 

 pumpkin, hawthorne, ironweed, ver- 

 vain {I e?bemt slr/cla), prunella, alfalfa. 

 The last named is mentioned as rarely 

 yielding honey in this region. 



The following are considered as in- 

 dilerent honey producers, with one 

 vote each in the second group : Melon, 

 grapes, dogwood, elder, smooth gold- 

 enrod (Solidaffo serotina), choke cherry, 

 figwort, Juneberry, swamp milkweed 

 (.Isclepias hicarnala), black haw, red 

 currant. 



The following are placed only in the 

 third column: Rape, partridge pea, 

 buckthorn, hollyhock, mallow {.Ualva), 

 Indian hemp, whorled milkweed (_ /.«/<•- 

 /■/a.s- verlkillala), redberry elder, Can- 

 ada goldenrod, fleabane, rosin weed, 

 bachelor button, cucumber, box elder, 

 tulip trees, honeysuckle, mignonette, 

 wild senna, flax, borage, hedge nettle, 

 pennyroyal, snowberry, purple cone 

 flower, tickseed and wild cucumber. 



The following are mentioned for pol- 

 len alone: Charlock, sweet alyssuni, 

 stinkweed, mountain mint, elm, hack- 

 berry, walnut, Cottonwood, oak, hick- 

 ory, poppy. 



Red clover is mentioned as irregular 

 in its yield, owing to the length of its 

 corolla. The Italian bees are credited 

 as working best upon it. Alfalfa is not 



a reliable honey plant in either of these 

 States. Linden is irregular in its yield. 

 The different persicarias seem to be 

 confused under the name of hearts- 

 ease, which is not accepted by botan- 

 ists. Several of the genus polygonum 

 are reported as equally good honey 

 producers. 



The pollen-producing qualities were 

 overlooked by several of the writers. 

 Otherwise there would be a still better 

 appreciation of this function. It is 

 noticeable that only a few plants are 

 regarded as not furnishing pollen to 

 bees. 



It would be interesting to ascertain 

 what the verdict would be if this matter 

 was submitted to a greater number of 

 men. 



Houey in Dentistry 



In Egypt, 3427 years B. C, the " Papy- 

 rus Ebers " gave for toothache a pre- 

 scription composed of equal parts of 

 the fruit of the doom-palm, green lead 

 and honey. 



Rhazes, an Arabian physician, ad- 

 vised filling carious teeth with a 

 cement composed of mastic and honey. 



Attempted Leg'i.slation 



In the House of Representatives of 

 Idaho, a bill was introduced against 

 bees as follows : 



"No person, firm, association or 

 c )rporation shall locate or maintain 

 any hive or colony of bees within lOO 

 yards of the property of any person, 

 firm, association or corporation with- 

 out first obtaining written consent of 

 such property owner. 



" Any p-rson or firm, corporation or 

 association violating the provisions of 

 this act shall be deemed guilty of mis- 

 demeanor." 



The member introducing this bill is 

 not aware of the court decisions long 

 ago passed against such legislation. 

 On June 22, I88it, the Supreme Court of 

 Arkansas decided that: 



"Neither the keeping, owning or 

 rearing of bees is in itself a nuisance. 

 Bees may become a nuisance in a city, 

 but whether they are so or not is a 

 question to be judicially determined in 

 each case." 



Honorable George W. York, the 

 former editor of the American Bee 

 Journal, is a member of the Legisla- 

 ture of Idaho, and he helped see to it 

 that this law was not put upon the 

 statutes of Idaho. l>en though the 

 law were void, it might have been the 

 cause of unpleasant and expensive 

 litigation. 



Kinds or Queen-Cells 



ICxamine the combs in a bee-hive, 

 and they will be found consisting 



