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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 6, 1905 



Dodder or Love-Vine— Other Honey-Plants 



I!Y PROF. A. J. COOK 



I HAVE an interesting letter from Mr. B. S. Taylor, now 

 of Riverside Co., Calif., but formerly of Michigan. Mr. 

 Taylor has 400 colonies of bees, and has made quite a suc- 

 cess in apicultiire since coming to this State. He now calls 

 attention to the fact that gold-thread, or dodder, is destroying 

 much of the wild buckwheat — Erioginum fasciculatum, which 

 is one of our much-prized honey plants of Southern Califor- 

 nia. I have noticed ever since I came to this section that this 

 dodder was seriously menacing the very lite and existence of 

 our wild buckwheat, yet I think that it will take many years 

 before it exterminates the plant, if it ever is able to do so. 



This dodder is a plant of many names. It is known as 

 dodder all over the country ; as gold-thread here in Califor- 

 nia, and we often near it referred to as love-vine. These last 

 names are quite appropriate, as it is thread-like in appear- 

 ance, and it is golden-yellow in color. It twines about its 

 victims in a very close, loving way, and though with no loving 

 thought such would be suggested by its close embrace. It is 

 known to science as Cuscuta Californica, and there are three 

 other species (one C. subinclusa, which is very common), 

 which are found in this county. 



This dodder is a very interesting plant for three reasons : 

 It is a parasite, which accounts for its color, as all plants that 

 have not the green which comes from chlorophyl must depend 

 upon other plants or organisms for their nutriment, and so 

 sponge their living. This is the habit of dodder, and thus it 

 is that Mr. Taylor rightly brings his plaint against this plant 

 murderer. 



This plant also interests us as it victimizes some of our 

 best and most prized plants, notably alfalfa, which suffers 

 greatly from its attack. Indeed, I know of no enemy that the 

 alfalfa-grower more dreads. It is, on the whole, a worse 

 enemy of this incomparable forage-plant than is the ubiqui- 

 tous gopher or the destroying wire-worm. 



The third peculiarity that attracts interest to this love- 

 vine, is its life history, which is surely unique, and which may 

 be truly "made to point a moral and to adorn a tale." Its 

 tiny seed drops like other seeds to the earth, takes root after 

 the manner of all proper seeds, and springs up with no peculiar 

 feature except its exceptional color, which, in itself, is a 

 threat and a promise of evil. It now stretches up its golden 

 strands, entwines the luckless herb or shrub that promises 

 companionship, and now loses connection with the earth, and 

 draws all of its nourishment from the host that not only holds 

 it up, but gives it its entire support. This is how the buck- 

 wheat suffers, and why Mr. Taylor is disturbed as he sees one 

 of our best honey-plants sacrificed to support this grasping 

 parasite. 



In most of our works on botany, this plant is included in 

 the morning-glory family — the convolvulaceie. Some of our 

 recent authorities put it in a separate family — cuscutace;e. 



We may describe dodder briefly as follows : Annual, leaf- 

 less, parasitic herbs, with string-like twining golden stems 

 that are entirely destitute of the green that comes of the pres- 

 ence of chlorophyl. Tlie flowers are very small ; in the pres- 

 ent species hardly more than a lino (1-12 of an inch) long, and 

 are borne in clusters on the side of the slender stems. The 

 calyx and the corolla are of the same color, the latter being 

 deeply five-cleft. The corolla-lobes are slightly longer than 

 the carapanulate tube. There are five stamens inserted on 

 the corolla-tube, but the scale-like appendages usually in- 

 serted below the stamens are absent in this species. The 

 ovary is globular and two-celled, with two seeds in each cell. 

 The seeds are small, irregularly rounded, and, as we see from 

 the above, are very numerous. 



As stated above, this plant is a great alfalfacide, and the 

 form and size of the seed make it possible to avoid it. The 

 alfalfa seed is crescent shaped, and not a little larger than is 

 the dodder seed. Every one interested in growing alfalfa 

 should possess himself of a good hand lens, and learn to detect 

 the presence of dodder seed in case it is present with the 

 alfalfa seed that he plans to use. In case he finds the intruder 

 present, he must take great pains to screen it out. From the 

 smaller size of the sei-d this only requires a little pains, and 

 with the free use of tlie lens may be done very perfectly. 



The method or eradication in the alfalfa meadow is not 

 difficult of application, and will succeed with a fair trial. We 

 have only to put straw over the patch, which, from the bright 

 color of the gold-thread, is easily seen, and then burn. This 

 better be done as soon as the dodder is discovered, and thus 

 seed will not be formed. As the dodder is rootless we will 

 destroy it all in this ori;mation of its host. If all would prac- 

 tice this method, and exercise care to screen all seed that con- 



tains the dodder seed, this pest might soon be banished from 

 the alfalfa fields, and large amounts saved to the growers of 

 this incomparable forage-plant. 



In answer to Mr. Taylor regarding this pest in the bush, 

 where it runs riot among the buckwheat. I can only suggest 

 this same fire-and-torch method. It it will pay to take this 

 pains we could soon very materially lessen the evil, and so 

 keep this valuable honey-plant. It might pay well to do this, 

 and surely it will be well to give the matter earnest considera- 

 tion, as I have noticed, as Mr. Taylor has, the rapid increase 

 of this pest along the roadsides about Claremont. 



HONEY AND THE WEATHER. 



We have been having very exceptionally cold, wet, foggy 

 weather for this region. A few days ago we had a few very 

 warm days, and the way the honey came in was most encour- 

 aging to the bee-keeper. Now for days it has been so cold 

 that we were more comfortable with a daily fire, and the fogs 

 were very pronounced each day. It was so cold that the bees 

 ventured out but little, and, of course, the amount of honey 

 gathered was very light. Now we are having it warmer 

 again, and the bees are at work at a more lively pace, and we 

 may expect a good harvest as the abundance of bloom is phe- 

 nomenal. The black sage is now in full bloom, and white sage 

 is just opening. 



CALIFORNIA HONEY-PLANTS. 



I have been noticing the bees at work the past few days, 

 and marvel at the richness of our bee-forage. The peppers, 

 both staminate and pistillate trees, are humming all the day 

 through with the bees as they crowd the bloom with their 

 presence. There are many mints that share with the sages 

 the friendly, appreciative visits of the bees. The abundant 

 horehound is now in full bloom, and I notice that it, as well as 

 the black sage and the abundant salvias, is crowded all the 

 day long with the honey-gatherers. Phacelia tanacetifolia, 

 with several other species of the same genus, is swarming 

 with the nectar-lovers. Several species of gilias are now in 

 full bloom, one of which — Gilia capitata — has great heads of 

 flowers, and bears beautiful blue pollen. I was greatly in- 

 terested the first year I came here to see the novel sight of 

 bees heavily laden with this blue pollen, and was not con- 

 tent till I had hunted out its source. I find that several of 

 the gilias bear this, and I am glad to state that all of these 

 gilias are good honey-plants. 



BARREN FRUIT-TREES. 



J. C, of Geneva, N. Y., asks my opinion why his pear- 

 trees do not set any fruit. He adds that they blossom full, 

 but fail to set almost entirely. I will soon give a full paper 

 on this subject, but will only say that in such cases lack of 

 pollenation is usually the explanation. With pears, espe- 

 cially, and there are so many other fruits of which this is 

 equally true, oross-pollenation is often imperative to the pro- 

 duction of a crop. It is always wise in setting orchards to 

 mix varieties. Even granting it is better to grow just one 

 kind of fruit, there should be a sparing admixture of other 

 varieties, at least one tree in eight, if not in four. Care, too, 

 should be exercised that the varieties blossom at the same 

 time. It is true, however, that this cross-pollenation is not 

 always necessary. The Bartlett pear is often entirely sterile 

 to its own pollen, yet I have known rare cases where it was 

 wholly a success under such circumstances. Probably season 

 and climate have much to do with this. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif., May 29. 



# 



A Few Apiarian Notes and Comments 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE 



HOW do you pronounce s-t-i-n-g-y ?" asked Prof . Comstock. 

 The smart boy nearest the foot of the class stood up and 

 said, " It depends a great deal whether the word is ap- 

 plied to a man or a bee." 



"Go to the head, young fellow." 



WHERE TO KEEP COMB HONEY. 



To keep comb honey perfectly the temperature should 

 never go below 70 degrees F. From 80 to 95 degrees is what 

 should be aimed at during the daytime, and the room in which 

 it is kept should be dry and airy, if possible. A dark room 

 keeps the capping to the combs of a lighter color. Keeping 

 honey in a warm room makes the body of it thicker and 

 heavier. When thus kept, if there are any unsealed cells, the 

 honey will become so thick in them that it will not run out, 

 even if the combs are turned down on their sides. If the room 



