November, 1915. 



379 



American IB^e Journal 



with all of the honey plants in his 

 vicinity. I think he should be an up- 

 to-date botanist on the flora of his 

 region. 



I feel sure that most of the beekeep- 

 ers know more about plants of their 

 vicinity than the average layman in the 

 community. The beekeeper should 

 know, for instance, the method of dis- 

 tinguishing most of the families of 

 flowering plants in the State. Here, I 

 may ask a few questions. How many 

 of you know that buckbrush {Sympliori- 

 carpos orbiculatus) and snowberry {S. 

 occidoilalis') are related to the Tatarian 

 honeysuckle {/.anicera latarica), one of 

 the splendid early blooming honey 

 plants ? How many know that the 

 hoary vervain {Verbena stricta) is re- 

 lated to the cultivated verbena {Ver- 

 bena aublelia) .' Now the latter is not 

 a good honey plant though the former 

 is. How many know that the Oleaster 

 or Russian olive {Kleagnus anffiisti- 

 fo/ia), a splendid honey plant, is re- 

 lated to the buffalo berry {S/iep/ierdia 

 canadensis) ? How many know that 

 our willows {Salix) are related to the 

 Cottonwood and poplars.'' You know, 

 of course, that the silver maple {Acer 

 sacc/iarinum) is related to the hard 

 maple (.(. nig-rum), both species good 

 honey plants. You recognize also a 

 likeness to the bo.x elder, of no use as a 

 honey plant, although it furnishes some 

 pollen. 



Do you recognize that the prairie 

 rose {A'osa pratinco/a), agrimony (■Ig'- 

 rimonia cufatoria) and black cap rasp- 

 berry {Kubus occidentalis) are related 

 and belong to the rose family, Rosa- 

 ceae, like the wild crab {Pyrus ioensis), 

 the cultivated apple (Pyrus mahts), the 

 American plum (Pruniis americana) 

 and cherry {J'runus cerasits) ? 



The beekeeper should make a com- 

 parative study of these plants from the 

 standpoint of relationship. There are 

 certain points in the external resem- 

 blances of plants the beekeeper can be- 

 come familiar with very readily. Take, 

 for instance, the square stem of the 

 mint family with the two-lipped cor- 

 olla. The majority of such plants be- 

 long to the family Labiatae. When the 

 flowers are borne in heads like the 

 sunflowers and dandelions they belong 

 to the Composite or sunflower family. 

 When the flowers are borne in umbels 

 like the carrot and parsnip they belong 

 to parsnip family of Umbelliferae. When 

 the flowers have four green sepals and 

 four petals arranged in a cross they be- 

 long to the mustard family the Cruci- 

 ferae, and so I might go on. There are 

 certain external and striking charac- 

 ters which will enable any one to read- 

 ily place a plant. 



We come now to consider another 

 side of the subject, one which cer- 

 tainly concerns the beekeeper. I refer 

 to physiological botany. There are two 

 phases of the subject— one deals with 

 the function of the plant; how the 

 plant elaborates its food; how the 

 plant stores its food; how the plant 

 conducts its food ; how the plant 

 secretes nectar, and why. Then there 

 is the subject of ecology. This I con- 

 sider of utmost importance. Ecology 

 has to do with the environment of 

 plants. How the growth is influenced 

 by climate and soil. The relation of 

 plants to pollination. Every beekeeper 

 should make a study of relationship of 



insects to the pollination of plants. I 

 think this is not only of fundamental 

 importance to the horticulturist and 

 agriculturist, but to the beekeeper 



Beekeepers should always keep in 

 mind that bees of all kinds are of great 

 value to the horticulturist. Without 

 bees the horticulturist would get small 

 returns in the way of fruit. Omit the 

 bees and the apple crop would be cut 

 very short, and for this reason I be- 

 lieve every fruit grower should keep 

 bees as a side line. 



Now, every farmer knows his clover 

 seed crop will be cut short unless he 

 has some bees. Bees are essential then 

 for the farmer and horticulturist. There 

 are many other most interesting ques- 

 tions concerning the pollination of 

 plants. 



The marvelous adaptation between 

 insects and flowers and the structure 

 of flowers adapted to some insects has 

 engaged the attention of such men as 

 Darwin, Hermann Mueller, Delpino, 

 Trelease and Roberts. A beekeeper 

 might well spend much time in study- 

 ing these plant relations. 



I would also add courses dealing 

 with fungi and bacteria. The latter 

 work is now made a part of a separate 

 course. The beekeeper should have 

 not only a general knowledge of bac- 

 teriology, but more especially the bee 

 diseases which are playing such havoc 

 with the beekeepers in all sections of 

 the country. The splendid work done 

 by Dr. Phillips is along this line. The 



proper relationship of bacteria to other 

 plants should be understood, and for 

 this reason I believe a study of the 

 lower forms of plants is important. 

 There are some diseases produced by 

 fungi, and these should, of course, be 

 studied. 



May I add the best education is none 

 too good for the beekeeper, and in 

 conclusion allow me to thank you for 

 the privilege of addressing you on this 

 subject and the splendid facilities I 

 have had here in viewing the great es- 

 tablishment of the Dadants. It should 

 be an inspiration to us all. 



No. 11.— The Honey-Producing 

 Plants 



BY FRANK C. PELLETT. 

 {Photographs bv the author.) 



THERE are a number of noxious 

 weeds that furnish honey or pol- 

 len. These plants because of their 

 nature should never be encouraged by 

 the beekeeper even though their value 

 for nectar secretion could be greatly 

 multiplied. However, they are often so 

 persistent that they remain in spite of 

 constant efforts looking toward their 

 extermination. In this number we will 

 consider a few of the less important 

 ones. 



WILD LETTUCE. 



Figure 53 will give a good idea of 



FIG. 53.-WILD BLUE LETTUCE 



