54 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



practical importance. There are, however, some early spring 

 flowers giving honey which is useful in stimulating brood-rearing 

 in the hives, without which there is no hope of any surplus. We 

 will first name some of these plants. 



The practical bee-keeper knows that his hopes of obtaining 

 honey all depend upon his having his hives full of bees when the 

 "flow" comes. Brood is produced in quantity only when some 

 honey can be obtained from flowers then in bloom. Hence the 

 importance to the apiarist of the early blooming flowers. 



The willows of several species, and the silver and red maples, 

 blossom in March and April, depending upon the season. They 

 yield both honey and pollen, and whenever the days are warm 

 enough the bees constantly visit them. If one is about his apiary 

 on warm days in March and April, he will notice the bees coming 

 in with pollen even at times when no flowers have been observed. 

 At such times they doubtless have found blossoms on some warm 

 bank and are making good use of them. The poplar trees also 

 bloom in April, a little later than the willows. Reference is here 

 had to the true aspen poplars, not the tulip poplar. The dande- 

 lion and strawberry blossoms are much visited by bees. Later, 

 about the first of May, we have the sugar maple and the blossoms 

 of the fruit trees the peach, cherry, plum, apple, pear, quince, 

 etc. These all yield honey and pollen. During some warm and 

 early springs, in very strong colonies, honey may possibly be 

 stored which has been gathered from the fruit blossoms, but, as 

 our seasons average, the honey from our fruit trees goes altogether 

 to stimulate brood-rearing. The locust trees (both the honey and 

 the black locust) blossom after the fruit trees and before the white 

 clover. Surplus is seldom stored from these blossoms, though 

 they are good honey producers. Their honey goes to produce 

 more brood or to feed the colony until the clover comes. We 

 next consider plants which produce surplus honey. These for the 

 Atlantic States are few in number. 



Of the plants which produce surplus honey the white clover is 

 first named. TMs plant grows spontaneously throughout the 

 whole region. In the well-cultivated sections it is almost the only 

 honey-producing plant left on which the apiarist can any longer 

 depend. It begins to blossom in June and continues on into July. 

 The honey from this plant is the whitest and finest produced. It 

 is entirely free from any peculiar or offensive taste or odor, and is 

 a general favorite. 



In the more northern States the red raspberry commences to 

 blossom a little later than the white clover. This is a valuable 

 honey plant of which bee-keepers in the South are deprived. This 

 honey is considered by many to be fully equal to that of the 

 white clover. In July the basswood blossoms. This tree yields 



