1870.] 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



113 



I am now preparing to sow a large field with 

 buckwlieat, exclusively for my bees, though 

 some writers in different papers state that the 

 bees do not get any honey from this plant. 

 Whether it is a honey-producing plant or not, 

 the bees seem to visit it as regularly when in 

 bloom, as if there was something about it they 

 are very fond of. Perhaps I can throw some 

 light on this subject. Last fall I had three hives 

 of bees, that came late, while nearly all the other 

 flowers were exhausted, and buckwheat was 

 their only resource for supplies for winter. They 

 worked like white-heads, as long as the blos- 

 soms lasted ; and after that went through the 

 winter safely, though they were weak the follow- 

 ing spring. 



I will now give my opinion on ventilation, for 

 the benefit of Mr. A. Green. My mode is as fol- 

 lows : I leave the summer entrance open, and 

 also upward ventilation all winter. I have always, 

 heretofore, wintered my bees in the open air. If 

 Mr. Green uses hives with movable caps, he can 

 close the summer entrance and take off the sur- 

 plus honey-boxes, substitute straw or fine shav- 

 ings in their stead, and replace the cap as before. 

 This is the best way that I have yet tried. I in- 

 tend this for winter. In summer I give them 

 all the ventilation needed — that is, I leave all 

 the ventilators open. 



I have drawn out this article longer than I in- 

 tended, and close with greeting to all bee-keep- 

 ing friends. 



T.H. Woody. 



Pleasant Valley, Mo., June 18, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Juuraal.] 



Honey -producing Plants. 



Mk. Editor : — Not having much to do, at 

 present, I thought I would give your readers an 

 account of my oliservation and trial of the differ- 

 ent kinds of honey-plants around us here. It 

 may be of some service to new beginners, as I 

 have tried all kinds I could hear of and procure, 

 that were reputed valuable for producing honey. 



Among the best are Alsike clover, Melilot 

 clover. White Dutch clover. Borage, and Buck- 

 wheat. These, with us, just fill out the season 

 from June to October. 



The plants named in the following list, I do 

 not consider of any account here, for honey, 

 viz. : White Mustard, Black Mustard, Rape, 

 Chickory, Mignonette, Lucerne Clover, and the 

 Rocky Mountain Plant. Kale did not come into 

 blossom, and I cannot speak of its value as a 

 honey-yielding plant. 



R. Miller. 



Eochelle, 111, 



Some of the plants named as of no value 

 for bees, are highly praised, in other locali- 

 ties. — Ed. 



I once met with an individual whose breath, 

 shortly after he was stung, had the same odor 

 with the venom of the enraged insect. — L. L. 

 Langstrotli. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Eocky Mountain Bee Plant. 



(POLAJflSIA PURrUREA.) 



Mr. Editor : — About the middle of August, 

 by invitation of Mr. Alfred Green, of Ames- 

 bury, a friend and myself visited his place to 

 see the bees work on the Rocky Mountain bee 

 plant. We arrived there about eight o'clock in 

 the morning, and found the plants swarming 

 with bees ; one, two, and in some cases three 

 bees upon the same flower. 



Mr. Green informed us that they were still 

 at work on it, the day before, at seven o'clock 

 in the evening. It was amusing to see them 

 gather pollen from it while on the wing, the 

 stamens extending so lar out that they could 

 not reach them after alighting on the flower. 



The plant was growing on a rather light soil, 

 not highly manured, and stood from two to 

 three feet high, branching out in all directions. 

 Planted in the spring, it comes into blossom 

 soon after the white clover disappears, and con- 

 tinues until killed by the frost. If planted in 

 the fall, as Mr. G. says it can be, it would blos- 

 som much earlier. I think this is the best 

 plant to cultivate for bees, as it fills a vacancy, 

 (in this locality) between the white clover and 

 the fall flower. 



Alsike clover I have raised, commencing in 

 1860 ; and find that, on my soil, bees prefer it 

 to white clover. But as it begins and ends blos- 

 soming at tlie same time with white clover, it is 

 not of so much value for bees, as it would be if 

 it came a montli or so later. 



As the seed of the Rocky Mountain bee plant 

 is valuable for poultry, and probably for swine 

 and other farm stock, when made into meal, it 

 would perhaps pay to raise it for the seed alone. 



Calvin Rogers. 



West Newbury, Mass., Sept. 12, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Silk Weed or Milk Weed. 



Well, Mr. Editor, I saw in the Bee Journal for 

 July something concerning the injuriousness of 

 the silk weed or milk weecl. After reading the 

 article it struck me that there was some of this 

 weed in the vicinity of my apiary, and next day 

 set about to search for it. On going out west, 

 on the low ground on the prairie, I found ten 

 flowering stems of this weed, and seven of the ten 

 had bees fastened on them. Some of these bees 

 were dead, and some still living, though they 

 could not leave the flowei's, being fastened in 

 them by their hind legs. The bees seemed to 

 have been gathering honey. 



Last Monday, as I was going to a neighbor's, I 

 saw one of these flowers, three quarters of a 

 mile from my home. I stopped to see if I could 

 find any bees on it, and found an Italian just 

 alive. I am glad there are not many of this spe- 

 cies of plants in this neighborhood. 



R. Miller. 



Eochelle, Ills. 



