THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



265 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey-Plants for Bees, 



J. H. ANDEE. 



The honey-piodiicing plants here in 

 a good season are so various that they 

 furnish honey the entire season ; con- 

 sequently, when I first began to read 

 the Bee Journal, it seemed strange 

 to me to see mention of a honey- 

 drouth in some localities in mid- sum- 

 mer. 



The first to furnish food for the bees 

 here are the common creek willow, 

 alder, skunk cabbage, and poplar, all 

 of which blossom at about the same 

 time. Next is soft maple, then trail- 

 ing arbutus, which I think furnishes 

 the first honey, and although it is not 

 very plentiful, and its tiny blossoms 

 can secrete but little honey, its extra 

 good quality, and closeness to the 

 ground enables bees to work upon it 

 in windy weather; and according to 

 its size, etc., it is a valuable plant. 

 Dandelion comes next. Last season 

 it furnished food for the bees for over 

 one month continuously. I do not 

 see how it could very well be spared. 

 White clover is next and in a good 

 season it lasts from May 20 until late 

 in October, but if a drouth comes in 

 the last of May, and the season con- 

 tinues dry, it secretes but little honey. 

 The wild" red-raspberry then blooms 

 and is far the best of all honey-plants 

 known. It never fails to secrete hon- 

 ey wherever we have plants, but as 

 yet none are cultivated here, and our 

 main dependence is upon the forest 

 fires to start a new crop of plants. 

 There is sometimes a scarcity, but 

 never a complete failure of this plant. 

 I believe that if cultivated plants 

 furnish the same amount of honey 

 accordingly as wild ones, it would pay 

 to plant >4 of an acre for each 10 col- 

 onies of bees, even if it did not fruit 

 at all. 



Honey-locust secretes well, but only 

 a few trees are grown. Red clover, 

 (the large variety), sometimes fur- 

 nishes an abundance, but it is only 

 once in a great many years that the 

 bees can reach it to gather any amount. 

 The season must be a continuously 

 wet one to make it of any profit. The 

 year 1S65 was a season of plentiful 

 showers,, so much so that few plants 

 furnished any honey except white and 

 red clover and buckwheat, and yet it 

 was a first-class honey season. The 

 latter is somewhat uncertain ; it 

 seems to do best if there is scarcely 

 any rain, or just a few slight showers, 

 while in blossom with heavy dews. 

 Old field balsam, or moonlight, as it 

 is sometimes called, is one of our best 

 fall pollen plants. Fireweed is one of 

 our late honey-plants. Some seasons 

 1 have known surplus stored from it 

 nearly through October. Another 

 plant called Indian pink, (I suppose 

 that is only a local name), sometimes 

 late and sometimes early, is a plant 

 that secretes much honey. I believe 

 that bees will go farther to work upon 

 this plant than any other plant known 

 here. I cannot speak positively in 

 regard to the quality of honey gath- 

 ered from it, but from the very offen- 



sive odor of the plant I would not care 

 to take that kind of honey as a choice. 

 Sumac honey I do not fancy either, 

 at least that which is gathered here, 

 but as it blossoms just about the right 

 time for young swarms of bees to get 

 pollen with which to rear brood, 

 and in great plenty at a time of the 

 season when other sources are scarce, 

 it is a great help in that particular. 

 In addition we have corn, heart's- 

 ease, goldenrod and dozens of others 

 of minor importance. 



In regard to the nearness that 

 apiaries may be to each other with 

 profit, I would say that in all of my 

 bee-hunting experience I have never 

 caught bees at work on the flowers 

 but little if any over 1 mile from the 

 colony. As this is the only way to 

 get anything like facts in regard to 

 the matter, it would seem safe to 

 locate apiaries within 2}^ miles of 

 each other. Bees that are forced to 

 go a distance of 2 miles for honey will 

 be of very little profit to their owners 

 as it takes so much time to go and 

 come, and they are more apt to be 

 caught in heavy showers, during 

 which, and if towards evening the 

 weather turns cold, many die on the 

 way, thus keeping the colony thinly 

 populated in spite of brood-rearing. 

 I have timed bees many a time when 

 working on syrup, and it takes them 

 from 10 to lo minutes to make a trip 

 of half a mile ; add to this 5 minutes 

 more when working on the flowers, 

 and 20 more for a distance of 5 miles, 

 (for no heavily laden bee can fly 2 

 miles without stopping to rest on the 

 way), and it is self-evident that not 

 much surplus will be stored if the bees 

 have to go a distance of 2 miles for 

 honey. I have known of hundreds of 

 bee-trees being found and not one in 

 twenty were " lined" % of a mile. In 

 all of my experience I have only once 

 " lined" bees a distance of a mile. 



Lockwood,? N. Y. 



OUR CLUBBING LIST. 



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Convention Notices. 



t3^ 'I'ho annuiU meeting of tlie Northern Ohio 

 Bee-Keepers' Aswoclitllon win be held in the New 

 Town HhII at Wellington. O.. on Knday. April :iO, 

 IHHfi. All Hre Invited to come and help make the 

 meeting both pleasant and prulltable. A special 

 invitation is e-xtended to the ladies. 'I'he ofQcers 

 of the Association will be elected at tbis meeting. 

 H. R. BOAUDMAN, Sec. 



tW The ne.\t meeting of the Linwood Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will be held in Gondii's Hall 

 at Rock Elm, Wis., on Saturday, May 1. IHsfi, at 1 

 p.m. All interested in bee-keepinK are cordially 

 invited to attend and make this a protitable meet- 

 ing. B. J. 'ruo.MPSON, Sec. , 



The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its next meeting at 

 Mt. Sterling, Ills., on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, Oct. 19 and 20, 1886. 



J. M. Hastbaugh, Sec. 



ty a cordial invitation Is extended to all to 

 attend the Hth annual meeting of the Texas State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, to be lield at Judge W. 

 H. Andrews' bee- farm, at McKinney. Tex., on May 

 5 and )i. 1.S.S6. Indications for a grand meeting 

 prow brighter every day. and every effort will be 

 made to render this meeting the best and largest 

 ever held in the State. No hotel bills to pay. 



B. F. CARBOLL, Sec. 



t^" The next annual meeting of the Western 

 N. Y. and Northern Pa. Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will he held at Randolph, N. Y . on May 4, 1886. 

 A. D. JACOBS. See. 



8^^" The DesMoinea Co. Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion win meet at the Court House in Burlington, 

 Iowa, on Tuesday, Apr. U7, ihhh. at lo a.m. Any 

 articles sent to the President, Mr.Geo. Bischoff, at 

 Burlington, for exhibition, will be well cared for 

 and returned or sold, as the sender may direct. A 

 cordial invitation is e.xtended to all interested in 

 bee-keeping. John Nau, Sec. 



jy The semi-annual meeting of the Western 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will beheld in Pythian 

 Hall, N. W Corner of Main and llth Sts.. (entrance 

 on 1 1th St.), at Kansas City, Mo., on Apr. 29 and 

 30, 18SG. The Cable Line can be taken from the 

 Union Depot for 9th and Main Sts. The following 

 essays will be read: "The Honey Market," by 

 Clemons, Cloon & Co. : " Bee-Keeping in Iowa," by 

 E. Kretchmer ; " Best method of handling bees 

 for comb honey," by A. A. Baldwin; "Missouri 

 Bee-Keeping," by J. D. Pearce ; "Does bee-keep- 

 ing pay as a pursuit ?" by Jos. Nysewander ; and 

 " Invertible Frames and Hives," by J. M. Shuck. 

 P Baldwin, Sec. 



ty" The next meeting of the Cortland Union 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will be held at Cortland, 

 N. Y., onMay 11, 1886, at 10 a.m. 



D. F. SHATTDCK, Sec. 



B^~ The next annual meeting of the Michigan 

 State Bee- Keepers' Association will be held in 

 Ypsilanti, Mich., on Dec. 1 and -1, 1886. 



H. D. CUTTING, S«C. 



^~ The Central Michigan Bee-Keepers* Associ- 

 ation will meet on Mav 18,1886, with Capital Grange 

 at their Hall in North Lansing, Mich., to holds 

 sessions, viz : Forenoon, afternoon and evening. 

 All interested in bee-culture are invited to attend 

 and bring articles of the apiary for exhibition. For 

 any special information address the Secretary, 

 E. W. Wood, N. Lansing, Mich. 



\Vlien Reneivlng your subscription 

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 JouBNAL. It is now 80 cheap that no one 

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 a Binder for the Bee Journal to any one 

 sending us four subscriptions— with $4.00— 

 direct to this office. It will pay any one to 

 devote a few hours, to get subscribers. 



Kendall's Horse Book.— No book can 

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