26 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



cedes the clover flow often being 

 mixed, through the first superful so 

 as to lower the grade of the whole 

 first super unless the beekeeper is 

 very careful to so plan the surplus 

 room tha,t this darker honey goes 

 into the brood nest instead of the 

 surplus apartment. The bees seem 

 to prefer the clover rather than 

 the poplar and desert the latter 

 when the clover gets to yielding 

 well. 



White clover (Trifolium repens) 

 furnishes much of the early surplus 

 honey in some parts of the state 

 but the greatest clover yields if 

 not the greatest yields from any 

 source come from alsike clover 

 (Trifolium hybridum) of which 

 there are. it is estimated, in the 

 state at present. approximately 

 25.000 acres and thousands of these 

 acres are untouched by honey bees 

 and from which could be gathered 

 tons of honey which in quality will 

 compare favorably with honey pro- 

 duced anywhere. 



Since New Jersey has such a large 

 acreage of low lying land on which 

 iilfalfa, cannot be successfully grown 

 and on which alsike flourishes 

 there is no prospect that this acre- 

 age will be reproduced but rather it 

 is expected that it will increase with 

 the increased dairying interests as 

 alsike makes a hay particularly 

 liked by dairymen. 



One hundred pounds of extracted 

 alsike is considered a fair average 

 crop but with good management and 

 good bees this should be consider- 

 ably increased. 



The next honey plant of import- 

 ance is Clethra Alnafolia known 

 locally as Sweet Pepper bush, Au- 

 gust flower, soap, arrow wood, etc. 

 This is a woody shrub growing 

 from two to eight feet in height 

 and is found from the central part 

 of the state sou.thward to the cape, 

 flourishing in and about the cedar 

 swamps and produces a light honey 

 of pleasing slightly aromatic flavor 

 and yields of 125 sections per col- 

 ony are reported from this source. 

 This comes into bloom about the 

 last of July and lasts four or five 

 weeks. 



Some surplus is gathered from 

 sumac in the upper part of the 

 state in July. 



The western part of the upper 

 half of the state produces good 



crops of buckwheat honey and is 

 the more reliable locality since 

 there are two distinct surplus honey 

 flows and should one fail there is 

 a chance for a paying crop from the 

 other. 



1'he last but not necessarily the 

 least honey resource of New Jersey 

 is the aster (Aster ericoides) and 

 bushy goldenrcd (Solidago Lanceo- 

 lata). The aster is the more impor- 

 tant of the two and the eastern 

 half of the northern part of the 

 state is the more favored part for 

 this crop. Three 32 section supers 

 to the colony has been reported 

 from this source after September 

 tenth. 



Taking all things into considera- 

 tion we believe that New Jersey 

 honey resources offer a splendid in- 

 ducement for the commercial bee- 

 keeper and this is confirmed by the 

 experiences of the very few who 

 have gone into the business to any 

 extent. As an example of what can 

 be done by a progressive beekeeper 

 in New Jersey, in 1912 a beekeep- 

 er running about 25 colonies in 

 eight yards for both comb and ex- 

 tracted honey harvested nearly ten 

 tons and disposed of it so as to 

 clear $2000. Another the past season 

 from 4 6 colonies spring count took 

 6,8 00 pounds of white honey and 

 increased to 9 6 colonies. These 

 cases show that New Jersey honey 

 resources are good needing only the 

 practical beekeeper to get the pro- 

 fitable results. 



It may seem absurd to speak of 

 migratory beekeeping in so small a 

 state as New Jersey but we believe 

 it can be profitably followed by lo- 

 cating in an alsike clover district 

 for the clover flow ending about 

 July tenth, then moving thirty miles 

 to the cedar swamp section in 

 time to catch the clethra flow, 

 again moving sixty-five miles to 

 the aster district about September 

 fifth, moving back to the clover 

 district thirty-five miles for winter- 

 ing. This would give the three dis- 

 tinct surplus flows and would 

 prove profitable to one who can 

 handle such a proposition. 



Don't fail to read the wonder- 

 ful clubbing rates on another page 

 of this number. 



Read our Clubbing rates. 



