AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13 



CONDUCTED BY 



Greenville, Texas. 



The Honey-Plants of Northern Texas, 

 and How to Utilize Them. 



jRead at the late Texas State Convention 

 BY DR. WM. K. HOWARD. 



(Continued from page 813.) 

 Flaxweed {biglovia virgata, D. C.) 

 blooms about the first of August, con- 

 tinuing until frost, but is not visited by 

 the bees until later, when other and bet- 

 ter flowers are scarce ; the honey is bit- 

 ter and pungent. 



We have another plant of the genus 

 solidago, or a closely allied genus, which 

 I have never taken tidie to determine 

 satisfactorily, which blooms in August, 

 and furnishes an inexhaustible quantity 

 of honey until frost. There are hun- 

 dreds of acres of this plant in this coun- 

 try, common in old, vacant fields and 

 waste-places, etc. With a favorable fall 

 bees will get very sick from it. The 

 honey is so pungent and fiery that no 

 one can eat it; even the smallest portion 

 of it will create a burning sensation in 

 the mouth, throat and stomach. I have 

 seen persons who have eaten not more 

 than a few ounces, and it caused such 

 distress that vomiting followed by vio- 

 lent purging, lasting several hours, was 

 the sequel ; persons who could eat pure 

 honey with impunity, and were fond of 

 it, too. Such is the character of this 

 honey that most persons have supposed 

 it to come from pepperwood {A.spinosa), 

 the taste of which is very much like 

 prickly-ash (xanthoxyhum) . The honey 

 is of fine appearance, being as trans- 

 parent as water, but of medium consis- 

 tency, and slow to granulate. 



It will remain liquid from six to ten 

 months, and may be readily extracted 

 from the combs after twelve months. I 

 know of no method by which the pun- 

 gency may be removed ; I have tried 

 boiling to no purpose. I made some ex- 



periments during the years 1880, 1881 

 and 1882, testing the abundance of this 

 flow. I extracted all of the available 

 honey in my yards during the last week 

 in July in 1880 and 1881. I removed 

 all the combs containing sealed honey, 

 supplying comb foundation in order to 

 get a greater number of combs, to be 

 utilized during the rush and honey-flow 

 for the following seasons ; in 1881, 

 each strong colony filled from 8 to 10 

 frames with this honey during the sea- 

 son ; this honey -vaas used in securing 

 strong colonies early in the following 

 seasons. My bees wintered well on this 

 honey. 



I will mention one more plant which 

 deserves especial attention, and is easily 

 grown, I refer to sweet melilot, or sweet 

 clover ; it is not a clover nor in any way 

 related, but is commonly called by that 

 name. You are all so well acquainted 

 with this plant that it is unnecessary to 

 describe it. When we have suitable sea- 

 sons this plant yields an abundance of 

 honey, and is most frequented by the 

 bees in the afternoon. The honey is 

 first-class in quality, having a peculiar 

 aromatic flavor, which is very delicious. 

 I once had my entire horsemint crop 

 flavored with this honey. 



There are many other plants of minor 

 importance which time forbids mention- 

 ing. My yards were run for extracted 

 honey, except one yard of black bees 

 consisting of 20 or 30 colonies which 

 was devoted to the production of comb 

 honey exclusively. 



My method of obtaining strong colo- 

 nies early in the spring for the ratan- 

 vine yield, was to encourage early breed- 

 ing by feeding liquid honey, or furnish- 

 ing honey in the combs near the brood- 

 nest in good worker-comb, so that as 

 fast as the honey was consumed, the 

 combs were filled with brood ; by this 

 method I have had my colonies all 

 strong by the time the flow came on. 



The most diflBcult problem was to pre- 

 vent swarming. A good plan is to go 

 over the yard about the time the honey- 

 flow begins in good earnest, and remove 

 all the queen-cells, place all sealed brood 

 away from the center of the hive, and 

 give plenty of room for the queen, by in- 

 serting empty worker-combs, which may 

 be utilized for brood. If this is done in 

 the afternoon it will afford the queen a 

 better opportunity to utilize the space. 

 The workers will fill every comb with 

 honey as fast as the brood hatches. In 

 a few days go over the yard and remove 

 all combs containing sealed brood, as 

 well as those containing honey, and 

 place in the upper story, leaving the 



