278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Membership dues to the association are 

 $1.50, which includes the Review. We cor- 

 dially invite all beekeepers to join the Na- 

 tional Beekeepers' Association. Members 

 are eligible, whether their state association 

 is affiliated or not. We hope the beekeep- 



ers will show their confidence in the officers 

 elected, and aid ns in building a national 

 that will be a source of pride and a credit 

 to one of the greatest beekeeping countries 

 in the world, America. 

 East Lansing-, Mich. 



SOURCES OF HONEY IN THE OZARK MOUNTAINS 



BY OTIS A. GRIFFITH 



Beekeepers here in the mountains are 

 looking foi-ward to 1916, as the prospects 

 are excellent for the main honey-producing 

 plants, white clover and sweet clover. 



We are looking forward to the time when 

 white sweet clover will take the place of all 

 other hay crops. Besides being the best for 

 honey, it is a soil-builder, and also the best 

 for hay and silage. On many old wornout 



It furnishes early pollen for the bees. Red 

 cedar and red elms of the botto.iLs tome 

 next. By March 30 we have glade moss, 

 buckeye, sarvis bush, maples, pawi:)aw, dog- 

 wood, and redbud. These furnish some 

 honey. By this time there is a wealth of 

 bloom of all kinds. The south slope fur- 

 nishes an abundance of wild buckwheat, 

 which begins blooming in May. After this 



Cutting' the first crop of buckwheat on the " Heights," a part of the Ozark Mountains, near Verona, Mo. 



clay fields it is grown successfully. I have 

 scattered many pounds of seed along the 

 roadside. Five years ago I offered to give 

 sweet-clover seed away, but today I have no 

 trouble in getting rid of it at the market 

 price. 



Altho this locality here is nearly level it 

 is in reality the liighest point in the Ozark 

 Mountains. The valley and the hills are 

 covered with a natural growth of all kinds 

 of timber, and there are many wild flowers 

 blossoming thruout the season, which fur- 

 nish either honey or pollen. The mountain 

 elm blooms first of all, about February 20, 



comes the white doe, a natural honey-plant. 

 It is snow-white, grows about two feet tall, 

 and has a white flower in a compact form. 

 When a bee alights on one of these flowers 

 it apparently does not leave i;ntil it is ready 

 to start back to the hive with a load. The 

 flowers last about thirty days, and the honey 

 is water-white. 



We have also what is called the fox-grape 

 and the bluevine. While the blooming pe- 

 riod of these vines is short, the yield of 

 honey is good. The fox-grape grows along 

 the streams and on every bluff. In some 

 places it is impossible to walk, because of 



