148 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Something about Golden rod. 



C. E. Watts. 



I have received a copy <>f tlic AricuL- 

 TUiusT and road your article on ,iiolden-rod. 

 Beini;- wed atqiiain ed with this plant, 

 •which I call a very valuable one to the 

 beekeeper, I thoui;ht I would venture to 

 write you a few lines about it which I hope 

 will be of some interest to you and per- 

 haps others also, for I tiiiid?; it would pay 

 to plant it in any place where it does not 

 now grow as it will thrive in any soil and 

 location I think, tnit it yields more honey 

 in a iliy season than in a very wet one, 

 thoniih it grows well on wet land. If it 

 were not for this plant I do not think it 

 would pay t ) keep bees about here, as they 

 get more honey from it than from any 

 other flower. In tiie season of 1886 I had 

 one colony that increased to six and gave 

 me over a hundred pounds of honey, most 

 all coml), and all of them had plenty of 

 stores for winter. Wiien golden -rod be- 

 gan to bloom the second week in August, 

 tlie bees had only honey enough in the 

 hives to carry on brood-rearing, or rather, 

 tliey were consuming more every day than 

 they gathered, as they always do for 

 abonttwo weeks at that time. 



Perhaps I had taken twenty-five lbs. 

 before but the rest was all gathered after 

 golden-rod blossomed ; the weather was 

 fine and how they did bring in the honey! 

 Liist fall was very wet and the poorest 

 season for honey ever known here, and we 

 had to feed for winter. Now you can see 

 how valuable to us this plant is as bees 

 gather their winter stores and usually some 

 surplus from it The honey is very heavy 

 and of good flavor; many about here pre- 

 fer it to any oilier. I sold it for 25 cents 

 per lb. It was so iieavy it could hardly be 

 thrown out with the extractor and weighed 

 12 lbs. to the gallon. 



There are eigiit species of this plant 

 liere that I know of and perhaps more. 

 Tlie kind you have illustrated is, I think, 

 the one that blossoms here first and is 

 visited by bees but little. The next kind 

 that opens is the one that is the most val- 

 uable, and I think an acre of this will 

 yield more honey than an acre of clover 

 in this localiiy. I have counted twelve 

 bees at work on a single head of golden- 

 rod at once. There are lour or five kinds 

 which are valuatile but all are visited by 

 the bees to some extent. Golden-rod 

 grows all right from the seed and spreads 

 rapidly on any land that lies idle. As to 

 wliether it would pay to gather the seed, I 

 will say that I could save enough i)Ut don't 

 know what it would be worth to gather 

 a pound of it. 



If you want to know anytliing nu)re 

 about this plant I should be glad to help 

 you any way I can. Hees wintered l)adly 

 in this part of the state; more tiian three- 

 fourths died. Some have lost all. I lost 

 thirteen out of twenty -one in cellar. 



Ji Kinney, N. H. 



^.tibcrtiscmcnts- 



IDEA, r. IB IRS ' XjIST. 



MAINE. 

 E BLeighton, Falmoutli, siipiilies and breed- 

 er of c-lioiiru llHiiaii and (Jariiiohm (iiieeiis. 

 NEW YOlUv. 

 J. Van Deusen & Sons, Sprout Brook Mon. 

 Co., Hat Ijuttoui comb I'oiiiidation, wlioleaale and 

 retail. 



ILLINOIS. 

 F. A. Snell, Milledsevihe. Carroll Co., Italian 

 bt'es, beehives, sei-tion.s, ex(;nictors, veils, smok- 

 ers, comb founilation, etc. 



MICHIGAN. 

 A. J. Cook, Lansing, Pub. Cook's Manual, or 

 Bee-lvecper's Guide. 



OHIO. 

 D. A. McCord, Oxford, I'.utler Co., Bees, 

 queens and |)t)ultiy. 



C F. Muth, !)7U-978 Central Ave., Cincinnati, 

 supiilies. 



INDIANA. 

 H. G. Frame, Nortli Manchester. Bees, 

 Queens. 



Tlie iieculiar process l>y wliicli we nialcc 



ONE PIECE SECTIONS 



.Secures tlie most satisfactory results. Tlie ac- 

 curacy of workmansliip and the very low pcr- 

 centaiic of loss by 



BREAKAGE IN FOLDING 



make them the wonder of all who use them. 

 Send for prices and estinuUes on larjie lots. 



Address, 

 3-SS Umo. 



BERLIN FUUIT BOX CO., 

 Jievlin Ilvighis, Ohio. 



