380 



November, 1915. 



the height to which the wild blue let- 

 tuce, l.acluca Jloridayia, grows. It is 

 common in the woodland borders, in 

 rich soil, from Pennsylvania to Iowa 

 and south to Florida and Te.xas. The 

 plant produces hundreds of blue flow- 

 ers in late summer and early fall. 

 Although it is of no special importance 

 as a honey plant, the bees visit it fre- 

 quently and apparently get some nec- 

 tar from its blossoms. In the South it 

 is reported as blooming in May and 

 June. The writer does not recall hav- 

 ing seen it in bloom in Iowa earlier 

 than August, while it blooms into Sep- 

 tember. There are a considerable 

 number of species of wild lettuce, some 



American ^ee -Journal 



others, and locality records are impor- 

 tant. This plant resembles the wild 

 morning-glory in habit of growth and 

 in general appearance, except in 

 flower, as will be seen by the photo- 

 graph. It is a bad weed, common along 

 highways and in grain fields from New 

 England and Ontario, west to the 

 Pacific coast, and south to Mexico. It 

 was probably introduced from Europe. 



RAGWEED. 



Figure 55 shows the blossom and 

 leaf of the great ragweed. Ambrosia 

 trijida, often called horseweed. This 

 is a very common roadside weed, 

 growing to a height of 10 or 12 feet. It 

 is common in Quebec and Ontario, 

 west to Manitoba. In the United States 

 it occurs from New England west to 

 Colorado and south to the gulf. It is 

 also found in Cuba and Mexico. It is 

 especially common in the rich lands of 

 the Mississippi valley from Minnesota 

 to Texas. 



The ragweed does not produce nec- 

 tar, but furnishes large quantities of 

 pollen in late summer and fall. There 

 is also a smaller species, called Roman 

 wormwood, A. artcmisiifoUa, or bitter- 

 weed. Bees do not work upon this. 



WILU PARSNIP. 



The wild parsnip, Paslinaca sativa 

 (Fig. 56), introduced from Europe, has 

 spread over a wide area from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific coast. It is 

 common along railroads and highways 

 everywhere. The small yellow flowers 

 which are borne in clusters like an 

 open umbrella, are attractive to a large 



FIG. 54. -BINDWEED 



of which, like the prickly lettuce, be- 

 come very troublesome weeds. The 

 writer has not observed the bees work- 

 ing to any extent on any except the 

 blue fall lettuce above described. 



BLACK BINDWEED. 



The black bindweed or wild buck- 

 wheat, Pohgoxum con-'olfulus (Fig. 54), 

 is only given here because the writer 

 has received samples with reports that 

 the bees were working on it. Per- 

 sonally the writer does not recall ever 

 having seen a bee on this plant, nor 

 can he find it recorded as a honey 

 plant. However, it is a relative of the 

 heartsease which is one of the best 

 honey producers, and it is quite possi- 

 ble that in some localities it may be of 

 some value. The readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal will confer a favor by 

 writing to the author and telling him 

 of their observations along this line. 

 Some plants that yield nectar freely in 

 some IpQ^ljties are of no value at all in 



FIG. 56.-WILD PARSNIP 



variety of insects. The nectar, appar- 

 ently, is never very abundant, hence it 

 is not an important source of honey, 

 although the plant is sometimes very 

 plentiful. 



BURDOCK. 



The burdock, ./rcZ/wm lappa (Fig. 57), 

 is a coarse, disagreeable weed intro- 

 duced from Europe and Asia. It is now 

 common over much of the United 

 States. The burrs fasten themselves to 

 the clothing as well as to passing ani- 

 mals, and in this manner the seeds are 

 spread. It is a biennial, common in 

 barn lots and waste places. 



The burdock is another one of the 

 many plants on which the bees work 

 to some extent, that never count for 

 very much in the total production of 

 the hive. The sources of surplus are 

 comparatively few in number, but there 

 are hundreds of plants from which the 

 bees get a taste of honey or pollen. 

 The presence or absence of these 

 minor plants makes great difference in 

 the value of a locality for honey pro- 

 duction. If there are enough of them 

 to keep the bees busy, and sustain the 

 colony between the flows when the 

 good yields come, the bees are in the 

 best possible condition to take advan- 

 tage of the opportunity. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 

 Copyright: 1915, by Frank C, Pellett. 



FIG. 55.-RAGWEED 



European Foulbrood 



BY H. L. ADAMS. 



■ WAS much interested in the discus- 

 sion of European foulbrood in the 

 " Editorial Comments " for Septem- 

 ber. I wish to call attention to some 

 experiences of mine, during the past 

 five years, which would seem to dis- 

 prove the assumption that the disease 

 is caused by the queen or carried on 

 the feet of bees, or that used combs 



