132 



April, 1915, 



I American ^e Joarnal 



honey flow. There is a very marked 

 difference. There is no reason why the 

 honey cannot be extracted warm with 

 our system. When it comes to the 

 quantity of honey extracted, we have 

 extracted on an average 1000 pounds 

 an hour, keeping it up for a day. I feel 

 very sure that is quite outside of the 

 range of the leaf hive. 



In regard to wintering bees in houses 

 above ground, as suggested by Mr. 

 Spuhler, a good many of us think that 

 about the worst place for a colony of 

 bees to winter. I have seen several 

 such structures, and in no one case did 

 the bees winter well in them. Where 

 neighbors are close, and the area at 

 the command of the beekeeper is very 

 limited, and not many c olonies kept, 

 the " house apiary " may be an impor- 

 tant help to overcome difficulties. 



Brantford, Canada. 



[Location, climate, circumstances of 

 different kinds constitute the reasons 

 for differences of opinions on the sub- 

 ject. Wintering bees in the shelter of 

 a bee house has not proven injurious 

 in our case. On the contrary, the bees 

 wintered best for us in a bee house. 

 But in every other particular, our ex- 

 perience tallies with that of brother 

 Holtermann. We will be glad to hear 

 from others upon this subject. — Edi- 

 tor.] 



No. 4.— The Honey-Producing 

 Plants 



BY FRANK C. PELLETT. 

 [Photosraths by the author.) 



THE mint family of plants i-i a very 

 large one, with square stems and 

 opposite leaves. Most of the mints 

 are aromatic, and many are used in 

 medicine or cookery. Among the bet- 

 ter known mints may be mentioned : 

 lavender, spearmint, peppermint, pen- 

 nyroyal, rosemary, germander, horse- 

 mint, horehound, savory, sage and 

 many others. There are several well- 

 know bee-plants among the mints, two 

 of which will be here considered. 

 The rest will wait until such time as 

 we are able to secure satisfactory pic- 

 tures, as the chief object of this series 

 is to enable the reader to recognize 

 the plants under consideration. 



Catnip, or catmint (Xefela cuturni), 

 was introduced from l'3urope, and cul- 

 tivated in herb gardens. It is thus an 

 escaped introduction and has become 

 very widely naturalized in the United 

 States. Although it is generally con- 

 sidered a weed, it is usually to be found 

 only in the vicinity of buildings and 

 gardens, and seldom spreads into the 

 fields to any extent. Almost all of us 

 remember the popularity of catnip tea 

 among the grandmothers of an earlier 

 generation. The plant is a perennial 

 growing from 2 to :i feet high, with 

 flowers in clusters, the more conspic- 

 uous ones being in a terminal spike. 

 The blooming season is rather long, 

 and the bees visit it very freely. Ap- 

 parently the plant yields much nectar, 

 although it is seldom present in suffi- 

 cient quantity to test its real value as a 



Fig. 17.— Catnip 



honey producer. If it had sufficient 

 value for other purposes to justify its 

 cultivation, it would probably be an 

 important source of nectar. 



HORSEMINT. 



There are several different species of 

 horsemint {A/onarda), known also as 

 bee-balm and wild bergamot. Some of 

 the species are represented in nearly 

 all sections from New England to 

 Texas. The photograph shows .V. /istu- 

 /osa, the wild bergamot of the North. 

 The corolla is so deep that, as a rule, 

 the bees do not seem to reach the nec- 



tar. In some cases it is reported as 

 yielding freely. Whether the corollas 

 are puncturtd by other insects and the 

 bees are thus able to reach the nectar, 

 or whether the plant secretes so freely 

 as to fill the cup up to the point where 

 the bees are able to reach it, the writer 

 will not attempt to say. 



The horsemint of the South is said 

 to be one of the best honey-plants, and 

 is especially valuable in Texas where 

 large yields are occasionally reported 

 from this source alone. It is also re- 

 ported as common in the southern 

 States east of Texas, though less is 

 heard of the honey production in other 

 sections. 



The honey is said to be of good color 

 and body, but strong, although of fair 

 flavor. 



The horsemints are widely distri- 

 buted, and where sufficiently plentiful 

 are regarded as valuable honey-plants. 



KIGWORT OR SIMPSON HONEY-PLANT. 



Simpson honey-plant, or figwort 

 {Scrophularia mari/andica), is another 

 very widely distributed plant. It is 

 common in the woods from Maine to 

 the Rocky mountains and south to the 

 gulf. It is also said to occur on the 

 Pacific coast. The same or a similar 

 plant occurs in Europe and Asia. 



It is a tall growing plant from 3 to 

 6 feet high with numerous small 

 branches. The stem is four angled 

 with rather long pointed leaves. The 

 flowers are very numerous and quite 

 small, as will be seen by the picture. It 

 blooms in late summer, and is freely 

 visited by the bees. 



HEARTSEASE {Polygonum). 



We now come to another large 

 family with a variety of names. In 

 some localities one name will apply 

 while in another the plant will be 

 known by an entirely different one. 

 Smartweed, knotweed, doorweed, per- 

 sicaria, lady's thumb, water pepper, 

 heartsease, and several other names 



HG. i8— WILD BKKi.AMU I OR HORSliMlNl 



