THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



M3 



THEBEE-KEEPERS ELDORADO. 



Milkweed and Crimson Clover as Honev- 

 I'ianls. Bees .is Fertilizers. 



Cr..\RK A. MONTAGUE. 



■jy T the suggestion of the Editor I will 

 -f^ tr}- to tell the readers of the Review 

 something of the honey resources of this 

 immediate part of northern Michigan. 



We have most of the common early 

 liloomers; the willows, maples, etc., a fair 

 supply of black locust, and as large and 

 varied a supply of fruit bloom as can l)e 

 found. 



The red raspberry and locust usually 

 give us a small amount of surplus. The 

 others mentioned assist in building up 

 the colony. 



The first sure source of surplus is crim- 

 son clover; which fills the blank between 

 fruit bloom and the other clovers and 

 milkweed. It is worth to us all the other 

 clovers combined. Last season, from 

 this one source, the stronger colonies each 

 filled a super holding 8 L frames. This 

 was Ixrfore any of the other clovers were 

 in bloom. 



Then comes our standby, the milkweed, 

 which has failed but once in the 19 years 

 since I commenced to keep bees. I get 

 from 75 to 150 lbs. per colony from milk- 

 weed alone. I feel sure that putting the 

 average yield from this source at 100 lbs. 

 l)er colony, spring count, is a verj' mod- 

 erate estimate. 



We get considerable honey from bass- 

 wooil; though it is a more or less complete 

 failure about three years out of five. 

 Most of the large basswoods have been 

 cut and sawed into lumber. There is 

 plenty of the secon<l growth; and I think 

 most of the honey comes from that. 



We get more or less fall honey; which 

 is dark and not so gf^jd for winter stores: 

 it is mostly golden rod and buckwheat. 



In the Review for lebruary^the^editor 

 comments favorably on iJadant's opinion 

 that one must keep from 300 to 500 col- 

 onies to t>e sure of a living from bee-keep- 



ing. But, Mr. I'/litor, did you stop to 

 think that location is almost everything? 

 Here, we need make no allowance for a 

 failure of the honey crop; as such a thing 

 as a complete failure is unknown. The 

 smallest yield I ever had was 50 lbs.; the 

 largest yif) lbs., per colony. I have never 

 had any large yields from individual col- 

 onies; although I have increased one col- 

 ony to seven and taken 700 lbs. from the 

 lot. My average for '96, '97, and '98, were 

 150 lbs., 129 lbs. and 131 lbs., respectively. 



There seems to be much mi.sinforma- 

 tion regarrling milkweed honey. Even 

 Dr. Miller, American Bee Journal, page 

 791, for 1898, is under the impression 

 that the color is amber; whereas it is near- 

 ly as light as basswood. We think it the 

 best honey we have although some pre- 

 fer the stronger flavors of basswood or 

 buckwheat. 



I wish to touch upon one other sub- 

 ject; the value of the honey bee to the 

 fruit grower. In doing so I am compell- 

 ed to take issue with most of those con- 

 sidered authorities on this subject. The 

 following I take from the "Parm Jour- 

 nal." 



This quotation from Press Bulletin No. 

 8, of Kansas Experiment Station, shows 

 the effect of bees on fruit: "'If bees are kept 

 from fruit blossoms by netting or other 

 artificial means, the amount of fruit set is 

 little or none. It not infrequently hap- 

 pens that inclement %veather prevents or 

 hinders the flying of bees dunng the per- 

 iod when flowers are receptive. A fruit 

 tree, half of which was subjected to a con- 

 tinued spray of water during the flower- 

 ing y>eriod, produced no fruit upon the 

 sprayed portion, but an abundance upon 

 the other. A failure due to the above 

 mentioned cause can not well be prevent- 

 ed, but may be modified by having bees 

 near at hand to utilize the short favorable 

 periods which do occur. 



An insufficient supply of bees will 

 hinder the setting of fruit. While other 

 insects /«ai' take part in the carrying of 

 pollen, the fruit raiser must rely chiefly 

 upon honey bees. Hxperience shows that 

 though hungry bees may fly two or three 

 miles, hives should 1^ within half a mile 

 of the orchard or small fruit patch. 



I have underlined the word bees in sev- 

 eral places. To make common sense it 



