2m 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



EEE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY. 



A CHAPTER ON BOTANY FOE BEE-KEEPERS. BY PROF. 

 W. J. BEAL, AGRICCXTUBAL COLLEGE, LANSING, MICH. 



^np AM frequently asked to identify or give names to 



certain plants upon which some person has seen bees 

 ^^;it work. This does not usually occupy much of my 

 lim e, ef.pecially if the specimens are well put up, as most 

 of ihera are known at sight or after a few moment's exam- 

 ination. 



But, the thought occurs to me, of what benefit can it be 

 to the person sending the plant to know whether it is 

 Aster machrophylhis. Aster prenanthoides, or Aster 

 (jrandiflorzis ; whether it is Soli dago petiolar is, Solida- 

 ijo Canadensis, or Soidaf/o Slissovriensis f My exam- 

 ples are some which are included in the list lately leceiv- 

 ed. Of isters, we have in the Northern States 41 species, 

 iiesides perhaps forty to one hiuidred more which much 

 resemble them, to a person unaccustomed to Botany. 

 ( )f Solidago or Golden rods, we have .37 species and some 

 others much resembling them. Scarcely one of these has 

 ;\ separate or distinct common name. Asters lock too 

 nearly alike to be distinguished from each other by any 

 one but an expert. The same is true of Golden rods aiid 

 of a vast number of other bee plants. If told once, the 

 name of a species, peojjle cannot be trusted, in many 

 cases, to gather seeds or point out the plant. They will 

 !iet the species and even the genera "all mixed up." 

 Kven the botanist gets some of them mixed occasionally. 

 Dur country is renowned for the abundance and variety 

 of her Asters and Golden rotls in September till the hard 

 frosts appear. These are found in open or unwooded 

 regions, in swamps, along streams, and on the prairies. 

 The fact is, there are nearly a hundred times as great a 

 variety of flowers which furnish bees with food, as most 

 people imagine. On checknig oft for a noted bee-keeper 

 who wanted to make a list of bee plants, he seemed much 

 surprised at the great number, and said he only wanted 

 the best of them. Which are the best ? The forty one 

 asters are all good. In one locality, certain species 

 abound in great numbers ; in other places some disappear 

 and others lake their jilaces. To be sure, there are some 

 asters and other plants affording good honey or pollen, 

 which rarely exist in large luimbers. The same is true of 

 L'olden rods and of many other plants. I suppose a plant 

 is desirable if it exist in quantity large enough to ofTord 

 much food during a long period, or if it alTord food at a 

 certain time when most other flowers are scarce. 



1 have made the action or behavior of insects on flowers 

 a study for years. Some flowers are only visited in the 

 morning or forenoon, as the dandelion ; others in after- 

 noons, others at all times of day when not raining. I teH 

 no news by saying that basswood and raspberries afford 

 good honey, while tulij) tree ard lobelia afford honey 

 which is unpleasant or unwholesome to some persons. 



The Rannncniaciae, Crowfoot family, afford us 30 

 species or more upoii which bees work; some of them open 

 very early in spring. The Cruciferac or mustard family, 

 about 70 species ; malvaceae or mellon family, over 20 

 .species; Gerrtn/accrte or geranium familv 1.3 ; Anacard.- 

 iaceae or sumachs, six ; Tilaceae or vine family, 7 ; Hap- 

 ■indaceae or maples etc., 11; Leguminosae or Pulse 

 family, 110 or more natives, besides some exotics ; Rosa- 

 (Cae or rose family, 83 and several exotics ; Snrifrag- 

 oceae or Saxifrage family, about 30 ; Caprifoliaceae, Hon- 

 eysuckles etc., about 30 ; Comxwsitne, Sunflowers, asters 

 etc., perhaps 325, besides many in cultivation ; Lobelia- 

 ceae. Lobelia family, 13 ; Ccivipanulaceae, Bellflowers, 7 ; 

 Ericaceae, heath family, CO; scro/)Ai(?ariacert>, fig worts, 

 alx>ut 60 ; Verbenaceee. verbenas, 10 ; Lahiateee, mints, 

 many of much value, 7S ; Hurrai/incea, Borage family 2S ; 



Asclcpiadaceae, milkweed family, 25 ; Polygonacene, 

 Buckwheat family, 38 ; Liliaceae, lily family, 50. Besides 

 these there are many where there is only one or two or a 

 few in a small order, perhaps not far from 570. Then 

 probably there are a hundred or more about which I am 

 uncertain. If I have added correctly, I give above, about 

 1775 species from which bees get more or less honey or 

 pollen. These grow east of tlie Mississippi river and 

 north of Kentucky in the United States. Some, like the 

 grasses and pines, have no showy or fragrant flowers and 

 afford little or no honey. As a general rule, those plants 

 which produce odorous or showy flowers afford honey and 

 will be visited by honey bees unless the flower is of a 

 shape which makes it impossible for the bee to reach the 

 food. 



It would be a great source of pleasure, and in some 

 cases perhaps of profit also, foi- every bee-keeper to be a 

 good botanist In fact, every person should study botany 

 more less, as any one can if he only tries and perseveres. 

 The culture it gives, the enjoyment, the discipline, all 

 place botany in a high position as a science. 



HONEY DEW. 



^f" SAID in my last communication, the absence of 

 _f|[ all wild and cultivatid flowers during this year, 

 1876, was very like the year 1865, but owing to the 

 atmospheric constitution favoring the development 

 of this "myth,*' Honey Dew had caused this to be re- 

 markable as a bountiful honey season. We have re- 

 moved honey boxes until tired out and now all the 

 boxes are full on the colonies. Some hives have 

 c )mb a foot long attached to under part of the trian - 

 gle, well flUed with as nice honey as any in bo-xes ; 

 the bees having been driven in by cold weather. One 

 large box hive, empty, sitting in contact with a full 

 colony on either side, was filled with honey nearly as 

 white as the driven snow, and abandoned upon the 

 ai)proacli of cold weather. It contained over 4000 cu- 

 bic inches of honey. 



Why do I call this Honey Dew a myth ? Because as 

 yet, no satisfactory explanation of its production has 

 I'een given. We are all conjecturing and each man 

 has his theory. Langstroth and others attribute it to 

 Aphides. I have seen cotton fields covered with it. 

 In riding through prairie grass at early dawn, 1 have 

 been stuck all over with it and my horse made so dis- 

 agreeable that ablution of myself and horse was nec- 

 essary before proceeding. I know apiarnes bordering 

 on these floral praires, often of the old fashioned gum 

 hive or barrels, kegs or any other rude hollow mate- 

 rial, during a Honey Dew season to yield vast quanti- 

 ties of as pure nice honey as ever was taken from box 

 or frame. There among grass and flowers was em- 

 phatically the land that flowed with milk and honey. 

 The Honey Dew mystery has not been solved. 



Dry weather is sine qua non to production of Honey 

 Dew. J^verv observer will testify to this fact. It will 

 continue as long as the dry weather lasts and cease 

 with the first he .vy fall of rain. No man ever saw 

 Honey Dew to any extent during a wet season. 

 Whatever produces the Honey Dew of this region of 

 country renders our apiarians rich and prosperous in 

 such seasons— they are poor without it, ior all the 

 honey bearing blossoms furnish more the pabulum of 

 bee life than they do of pure honey in wet seasons. 



I hope some enlightened contributor of Gleanings' 

 will give this Honey Dew subject his attsntion and 

 communicate whatever he may discover, to the world 

 of science and thcreljy give an impetus to investiga- 

 ting the efl'ects of vegetable respiration and chemical 

 afllnities in floral regions. I am free to confess my 

 entire ignorance of the true causes resulting in the 

 compound called Honey Dew. That the aphis and 

 some other insects distil a kind of nectar, 1 know to 

 be the fact; but the idea that it can spread a mantle 

 of honey over vast acres of country, both prairie and 

 wilderness in one night, and for a succession of nights 

 lasting weeks and months, is simply absurd. Honey 

 Dew in our present condition of knowledge aijpears 

 as a result of sometliing— we do not know what that 

 something is. Geo. B. Pi;teus. 



Council Bend, Ark., Oct. -inth, "TG. 



