594 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Fig. 1. — An apiary in Michigan where the yield of milliweed honey last year was 95 pounds per colony. 



try to eradicate them. But I am very sure 

 that in this section of the country the plants 

 are yearly becoming more plentiful. Quite 

 a few of my neighbors are frank to make 

 the claim that milkweeds add to the fertility 

 of the soil. 



Agriculturists are following the lumber- 

 men so closely that in many sections the 

 wild red raspberry is becoming a thing of 

 the past. The milkweed now thrives in many 

 parts of northern Michigan to the extent 

 that beekeepers are securing some very fine 

 crops of milkweed honey. It begins to blos- 

 som about 20 days later than clover or rasp- 

 berry. When the atmospheric conditions 

 are favorable milkweed yields much nectar. 

 I have had colonies carry an average of 11 

 pounds per day for ten successive days. A 



populous colony will sometimes carry from 

 milkweed bloom 13 to 17 pounds in a single 

 day. 



The quality of the honey is excellent. I 

 believe there is no better honey than well- 

 ripened milkweed. The color is almost 

 water-white. It is of good body and flavor. 

 Because of its heavy body it is necessary to 

 warm the combs before extracting. 



Fig. 1 shows an apiary- that I have had 

 the care of for the past three years, and 

 which belongs to Mrs. Tom Russel, Antrim 

 Co., Mich. In this yard we get only milk- 

 weed honey. The 1913 crop was 95 pounds 

 per colony, spring count. 



Fig. 2 sliows the milkweed in blossom. 



Rapid City, Mich. 



NATURAL VS. ARTIFICIAL RIPENING OF HONEY 



BY I. HOPKINS 



I hope, Mr. Editor, you will allow me, 

 before finally closing the discussion on this 

 subject, to reply briefly to your editorial in 

 your issue for Oct. 15, 1913, p. 703. I shall 

 then be quite satisfied to remain silent until 

 you deem it advantageous to open the sub- 

 ject again. 



When noticing the discussion on the ri- 



pening of honey which recently appeared in 

 The Australasian Beekeeper, you say, " We 

 desire to point out in passing that at least 

 one of tlie writers is laboring under a mis- 

 apprehension when he believes that the bees 

 do nothing to the nectar of the flowers ex- 

 cept to evaporate the excess of moisture — in 

 other words, that the ripening process is 



