July 5, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



421 



consumed by the bees from day to day are, in any one sec- 

 tion of the country, limited to a very small number, and 

 usually not more than one, or at most two, of these plants 

 are in blossom at one time. There are, however, a good 

 many flowers that yield some honey, yet are for various 

 reasons not visited by honey-bees, among which we may 

 name the honey-suckle (visited, however, sometimes for the 

 pollen), and plants of the buttercup family. In some cases 

 the honey-bees can not reach the honey, in others it is prob- 

 ably not palatable to them. 



It is also true that there is a great difference in the 

 amount of honey produced in different years by the same 

 species of plants. Sometimes there seems to be almost no 

 honey at all in white clover, while at other times honey is 

 in the blo.ssoms for a few days, and then it suddenly disap- 

 pears, or, in other seasons, there is honey so long as blos- 

 soms of clover are to be found. The secretion of honey 

 does not depend upon the season being moist, for usually 

 the honey-'" flow " is greatest in dry seasons. There does 

 seem to be some connection between the amount of honey 

 produced and the character of the soil upon which the 

 plants grow. Thus, clover growing on clayey ground 

 seems to yield more honey than that growing on hillsides 

 where there is but little clay. The same is true of other 

 plants. Often there is honey in one district and none in 

 another not far distant. 



The plants which j'ield " surplus " honey in ordinary 

 seasons are the red and black raspberries, the white clover, 

 the basswood, and the buckwheat. Some other plants may 

 yield small additional quantities, but are hardly of practi- 

 cal importance. There are, however, some early spring 

 flowers giving honey which is useful in stimulating brood- 

 rearing in the hives, without which there is no hope of any 

 surplus. We will first name some of these plants. 



The practical beekeeper knows that his hopes of ob- 

 taining honey all depend upon having his hives full of bees 

 when the " flow " comes. Brood is produced in quantity 

 only when some honey can be obtained from flowers then 

 in bloom. Hence, the importance to the apiarist of the 

 early-blooming flowers. 



The willows of several species, and the silver and red 

 maples, blossom in March and April, depending upon the 

 season. They yield both honey and pollen, and whenever 

 the days are warm enough the bees constantly visit them. 

 If one is about his apiary on warm days in March and 

 April, he will notice the bees coming in with pollen even at 

 times when no flowers have been observed. At such times 

 they have doubtless found blossoms on some warm bank, 

 and are making good use of them. The poplar trees also 

 bloom in April, a little later than the willows. Reference 

 is here had to the true aspen poplars, not the tulip poplar. 

 The dandelion and strawberry blossoms are much visited 

 by bees. Later, about the first of Maj', we have the sugar- 

 maple and the blossoms of the fruit-trees — the peach, cherry, 

 plum, apple, pear, quince, and strawberries, etc. These all 

 yield honey and pollen, but, as our seasons average, the 

 honey from our fruit-trees goes altogether to stimulate 

 brood-rearing. The locust trees (both the honey and the 

 black locust) blossom after the fruit-trees and before the 

 white clover. Surplus is seldom stored from these blos- 

 soms, tho they are good honey-producers. Their honey 

 goes to produce more brood, or to feed the colony until the 

 clover comes. 



We next consider plants which produce surplus honey. 

 These for the Atlantic States are few in number. 



Of the plants which produce surplus honey the white 

 clover is first named. This plant grows spontaneously 

 thruout the whole region. In the well cultivated sections it 

 is almost the only honey-producing plant left on which the 

 apiarist can any longer depend. It begins to blossom in 

 June, and continues on into July. The honey from this 

 plant is the whitest and finest produced. It is entirely free 

 from any peculiar or offensive taste or odor, and is a gen- 

 eral favorite. 



In the more northern States the red raspberry com- 

 mences to blossom a little later than the white clover. This 

 is a valuable honey-plant of which bee-keepers in the South 

 are deprived. This honey is considered by many to be fully 

 equal to that of the white clover. In July the basswood 

 blossoms. This tree yields a great amount of honey, but 

 unfortunately there are no longer many trees to furnish 

 blossoms and nectar. This honey is darker than that from 

 clover, and has also a peculiar odor, which is unpleasant to 

 many persons. 



The last plant of value as a honey-producer is buck- 

 wheat, which begins to blossom in August, and continues 

 until frost. The honey from buckwheat is dark, and has a 



taste of its own which is not offensive. The honey is very 

 rich, and a taste for it is speedily acquired. The cultiva- 

 tion of this plant is becoming, year by year, more restricted, 

 and is now confined to the newer and more mountainous 

 sections. 



Those regions where the land is all under cultivation 

 have only the white clover to depend upon for honey, unless 

 there are a few basswood trees along the streams, while in 

 the mountainous areas will be found clover, basswood, rasp- 

 berries and buckwheat. It takes but a moment, then, to de- 

 cide where one could best hope to succeed in bee-keeping. 



We place among the plants which produce a small or 

 variable amount of honey the mint and figwort families ; 

 also the asters and goldenrods. Of the first families, the 

 mints, we have the hoarhound, the sage, bergamot, the 

 catnip, and the motherwort, all producing considerable 

 honey. Of this group the most remarkable is the mother- 

 wort (Leonurus cardiaca), which is constantly visited by 

 bees while it is in blossom. The supply of honey is limited 

 only by the number of plants, which at present in most 

 places is small. It has been suggested that this plant be 

 cultivated for the honey it yields. It is now a rather un- 

 sightly weed. 



The figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) is an excellent honey- 

 plant. It has a square stem, and exteriorly a good deal re- 

 sembles the mints. It is a worthless weed except for its 

 honey-producing flowers. It is not very abundant. The 

 wild mustard, the teasel, the boneset, the wild sunflowers, 

 the Spanish-needles and the snapdragons, as also the smart- 

 weeds produce some honey, tho in most places the total is of 

 little value. In Michigan Prof. A. J. Cook holds the golden- 

 rods in high esteem as honey-producers. In Pennsylvania 

 the writer can not find that they are of any value at all. On 

 newly cleared land the sumac springs up, and it is held by 

 some to be a valuable source of honey, and that considerable 

 amounts are some years collected from it. 



The tulip poplar, popularly called "poplar," also pro- 

 duces honey in its beautiful large blossoms, but the tree is 

 too scarce to be of much value to the bee-keeper. The blos- 

 soms of the blackberry, like their near relatives, the rasp- 

 berries, are honey-producers. The milkweeds are also 

 secreters of honey. Curiously, the pollen of these plants 

 often sticks to the feet of the bees and disables them so 

 much that they perish. 



Prof. Cook says that at times the blossoms of the In- 

 dian corn yield both honey and pollen to the bees, but we 

 think to no great extent. We have never observed the bees 

 working on these blossoms. 



The laurel (Kalmia) yields honey which is poisonous. 

 Generally the bees do not work on these blossoms, but in 

 some localities they do, and we frequently read of persons 

 poisoned by honey which probably comes from this plant. 

 It is thought that the poisoning of the Greek soldiers under 

 Xenophon, was by honey from this family of plants, in this 

 case from rhododendrons. 



The plant-lice (aphides) which infest many plants 

 secrete a sweetish fluid of which bees, ants and other in- 

 sects are very fond. In season when real nectar is scarce, 

 or altogether lacking, bees will collect and store this mate- 

 rial, which is generally known as honey-dew or manna. 

 There is, however, another variety of honey-dew which 

 seems to be secreted by the leaves of plants, and is gath- 

 ered by the bees. The material is hardly fit for human 

 food, nor is it for bees either, and it is doubtless a principal 

 cause of winter loss of colonies, for it produces in the bees 

 a diarrhea from which they perish if the winter is one of 

 continuous cold, so that they can not take an occasional 

 cleansing flight. Cider, juices of grapes, and all other 

 sweet fluids are collected and stored by bees in seasons of 

 scarcity. The general bad effects of ail these are the same 

 as of the honey-dew — they' produce intestinal disorders 

 from which the bees die. 



The profitable cultivation of plants, otherwise useless, 

 for honey alone, has never yet been demonstrated, and the 

 low price of sugar will probably preclude any such efforts 

 in the near future. Honey will remain a luxury, and as 

 such will be produced in favorable locations — that is, on 

 poor soil, where the honey-plants grow naturally, and 

 where the land can be utilized for nothing else. However, 

 in the planting of shade trees it would be well to plant 

 those which will produce honey as well as shade. 



The effort is made by practical bee-keepers to find some 

 plant, like the buckwheat, which may make a useful crop, 

 and at the same time produce honey. Many think alsike 

 clover will do this. Prof. Cook thus speaks of it : " Alsike 

 or Swedish clover (Trifolium hybridum) seems to resemble 



