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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



THE MILKWEED OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 



BY W. J. SHEPPARD 



One of the best nectar-yielding wild flow- 

 ers of British Columbia is milkwort, or, as 

 it is locally termed, milkweed, on account 

 of the milklike sap exuded when a portion 

 of the plant is broken or injured. It is 

 not an Asclepias, however, but belongs to 

 I he periwinkle family, its botanical name 

 being Apocynum hypericifoUum, so called 

 owing to the similarity of foliage to the 

 hypericum, or los? of Sharon. 



The foliage is similar to that cf the Rose of Sharon. 



It grows from a foot and a half to two 

 feet six inches high, and bears umbels of 

 small bell-shaped flowers, white tinged with 

 pink, which have a strong but fragrant per- 

 fume. It commences to bloom about the 



It bears umbels of small, bell-sh.Tped flowers. 



end of June, and stays in flower for sever- 

 al weeks, being continually visited by the 

 bees. It is a i^erennial, and grows luxuri- 

 antly over nearly all this section of the 

 province. 



It seeds freely, the thin lianging pods 

 when fully grown being about three inches 

 long in clusters, reminding one somewhat 

 of miniature dwarf beans. The pods when 

 ripe burst and set free the w^hite-bearded 

 seeds similarly to the fireweed, which is also 

 very abundant here. The honey is light in 

 color, with a pleasant flavor, reminding one 

 of the aroma of the flowers. 



Nelson, B. C. 



SUNDRY APHORISMS 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



Don't have any weak colonies. Avoid 

 them or eliminate them. The first is the 

 better and the cheaper way. 



So now it is aster honey which is to 

 receive the blame for killing the bees in 

 winter. Guess again. In this locality bees 

 winter well on aster honey, but may die on 

 sugar-syrup stores. That is not a fable. 

 What is the answer? Worn-out bees. 

 " Handling " a lot of sugar syrup or a lot 

 of thin nectar late in the season ("late" 

 means when clusters are contracting) puts 



too much labor on the bees, and " ages " 

 them, and that late, particularly with old 

 queens, there are no youngsteis coming 

 along to take their place. The solution here 

 is young queens put in about August 20. 

 Mr. Crane, please take notice. 



If you must keep bees among the fruit- 

 growers, do not put your hives in the or- 

 chards, but only near them — say horse-dis- 

 tance off. There are some two-legged horses 

 which work in orchards who also object to 

 bees at close quarters. 



