October, 1909. 



American l^ee Journal 



tree." It received the latter name in 

 the Golden State, where it was intro- 

 duced by early argonauts from Chili, 

 because its fruit, or seed vessels, re- 

 sembled pepper-berries. The finest 

 specimens of these trees are found in 



is rich in nectar there seems to be no 

 doubt, but as the bees use all that is 

 gathered for bee-provender, I have 

 never been able to find any stored as 

 surplus, though I have heard of quan- 

 tities so collected in the southern coun- 



Brazilian pepper-tree. It is said to be 

 a finer growing tree than our much- 

 liked .S". molle. 



The Buckeye as a Nectar-Yielder 



Here is a tree that needs no botanical 

 name to give it a suitable introduction, 

 and the good people who hail from 

 Ohio cannot lay full claim to it, be- 

 cause, I believe, it is about as common 

 in other States of the Union as it ever 

 was in the " Buckeye State." Of the 

 tree and its flower I shall not attempt 

 to write anything, for I suppose every 

 body is acquainted with it. But for 

 the benefit of the several bee-editors 

 who claim the aforesaid " Buckeye 

 State " as their birthplace, I am 

 thoughtfully (sic) presenting a picture 

 of the tree as it is found growing dur- 

 ing summer upon our hillsides. It is a 

 nectar-yielding flower, though some- 

 times, I believe, the honey is consider- 

 ably "off flavor," yet not sufficiently so 

 to make it unmarketable. 



Flowers. 



Pepper-Tree. 



Seed-Berries. 



warm places, though the finest single 

 tree I ever saw was at Martinez, on 

 Suisun Bay, some 30 miles northeast of 

 Oakland. In and about the latter city 

 there are some fine trees. 



San Jose, nearly -50 miles south of 

 here, is filled with beautiful specimens 

 of pepper-trees — they are grown on 

 lawn, in garden, and upon the sidewalk. 

 For the latter place they are hardly 

 suitable, as it is hard to get them out of 

 the habit of producing low growing 

 and very crooked branches. From a 

 distance the tree is easily mistaken for 

 a weeping-willow, as the young 

 branches and long leaves are of a 

 drooping nature. The tree has never 

 been planted for commercial use, not 

 even for fuel, though it makes a fair 

 fire-wood. 1 never heard of it being 

 used in the arts. The wood contains 

 much gum, and it is possible that some 

 use might be found for the gum that 

 could be obtained from the leaves and 

 timber. 



I understand that owing to the trees 

 in the southern portion of the State 

 being infested with scale insects injuri- 

 ous to orange and fruit trees, this tree 

 has fallen into disfavor — that it has 

 been turned over to the executioner, and 

 whole cities full of them have been cut 

 down. This may be only an exaggera- 

 tion. In this portion of the State I 

 have not found it infested with any ob- 

 noxious insect. 



To the apiarist the pepper-tree is of 

 inestimable value. While- it begins to 

 bloom in some places, and some years, 

 as early as April, still its real season 

 of infloresence is not until August and 

 September, and even as late as Octo- 

 ber. At this season there is usually 

 a dearth of other flowers, so the pep- 

 per-tree is a boon to the bees. That it 



ties. This honey is said to be rather 

 " peppery " in flavor. And so it is well 

 the trees bloom in the fall when the 

 bees have finished storing in the su- 

 pers. 



The flowers of this tree are very 

 small, and of a sickly green or yellow- 

 ish color. The " pepper-berries " are 

 beautiful in appearance when they as- 



A Fraud on the Honey-Bee 



A friend in the East who knows that 

 I am somewhat interested in bees and 

 honey, sent me a clipping from Leslie's 

 Weekly. I find that the article my at- 

 tention was directed to is a letter from 

 a correspondent who professes to live 

 in a town in far-off Texas, and attempts 

 to call the editor's attention in what he 

 tries to make out to be a very learned 

 discourse on how the bee can make 

 bad honey. 



This writer might befuddle the un- 

 wary and make them believe that bees 

 should be banished from the land by 

 boards of health, but to the wise this 

 "learned" writer appears to be a con- 

 summate knave, to put it in the way he 

 deserves to be handled ; the cloak of 



Buckeye as a Honev-Producer. 



sume a purplish red color when ripen- 

 ing in November and December. In 

 the photograph I have endeavored to 

 show the flowers, fruit and a leaf. 



Another variety yet rather common 

 in these parts is S. tirebi'nl/ii/olins, or 



his master, the corn-syrup trust, does 

 not disguise the ass's ears. No where 

 does the " assinassity " of this long- 

 eared biped appear more glaringly than 

 when he calls the worker-bee out of 

 her gender. Of course, the corn-syrup 



