80 



SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



men I have changed my mind about 

 that. I think they are both right. 



Mr. Moe: Have some of these gen- 

 tlemen been tested for color blindness? 

 <Laughter.) 



Mr. Rea: In our locality I am quite 

 positive we get almost every fall quite 

 ■a heavy ffow of golden rod honey. I 

 ■spend hours out in the field observing 

 these things. I know the bees work 

 very heavily upon it, and at that time 

 the buckwheat flow is just about over, 

 or possibly all over before it commences 

 blooming; and we found a very 

 heavy flow especially this fall of very 

 clear, white honey, it was almost like 

 water. I went out in the field and 

 could find no aster or any other flower 

 of sufficient abundance to create a 

 place of that kind and the bees were 

 just swarming on the golden rod, and 

 they worked on it until almost dark. 



Mr. Miller: I am from the same dis- 

 trict as Mr. Rea. We get about three 

 flows in four years in our section. Our 

 honey is nearly water white from the 

 golden rod. We observed these things 

 carefully and our honey comes from 

 the high kind of golden rod. We have 

 a low kind that blooms early, but the 

 bees never visit it, to my knowledge. 

 But when the high kind comes on we 

 get lots of golden rod honey as a gen- 

 eral thing. I am quite sure the golden 

 rod honey is produced from the high 

 kind, and I am quite sure that the 

 honey we get there is nearly as white 

 as clover. We have a purple aster and 

 we never got any honey that we are 

 positive to know how it looks, because 

 we get so little from it, and we can't 

 depend much on it at all. 



Mr. Hershisher: How do you re- 

 gard the quality? 



Mr. Miller: We regard it as very 

 fine honey. Unless it is handled and 

 sold before the winter comes on it be- 

 gins to weaken, unless we are very 

 careful. It crystallizes very quickly — 

 in fact, in a few days. 



Prof. Surface: As a practical deter- 

 mination of this subject, and of the 

 discussion of the yield from flowers 

 according to the species, I would like 

 to say I believe it would be a good 

 plan if we would send specimens of the 

 plants to some botanist and let him 

 name them. I believe this Association 

 should have a botanist appointed who 

 would be willing to name plants for us 

 and give the specific name. I believe 

 it is evident from the remarks here 

 that one species of the same genius 

 may be a honey producing plant and 



another a non-honey yielder. I am 

 well convinced in this region the gol- 

 den rod I have seen has not produced 

 in the past few years. The southern 

 golden rod in my opinion is not a 

 honey producer. If we had the plants 

 and the positive assurance that sam- 

 ples of the honey could be sent with 

 them we could make an interesting 

 exhibit for our next annual meeting. 



I Avould move that we take steps 

 toward making a collection in prepa- 

 ration for that. I believe Dr. Phillips 

 should take hold of that, or, if not, 

 I would be able to co-operate from 

 my own office, as I have in my own 

 office Mr. Hertzhog. If Dr. Phillips 

 could see his way clear to do this I 

 believe that should be the headquar- 

 ters of all such movements. 



Mr. Moe: I would second the mo- 

 tion that the president, with Prof. Sur- 

 face, be given the privilege to appoint 

 or select this botanist. 



The President: The motion is with 

 regard to the matter of selecting va- 

 rieties of golden rod and other plants, 

 too, I suppose, with a view towards 

 making an effort in the direction of 

 determining the different varieties that 

 yield honey and those that do not. 



Mr. York: I believe this is a wise 

 thing to do. It seems to me it ought 

 to be referred to the Board of Direc- 

 tors, as there seems to be some ex- 

 pense connected with it. This is a 

 very interesting matter to me, because, 

 as the publisher of one of the bee pa- 

 pers, I received a great many plants in 

 my office for naming. A man sends in 

 two or three plants and numbers them, 

 and I send them to a botanist and he 

 replies that No. 1 is white clover, No. 2 

 aster. No. 3 golden rod. When that is 

 published no other reader knows any- 

 thing about it. I think it is waste 

 space to name plants in bee papers. 



I would suggest further that this 

 botanist or someone make drawings 

 and have them printed in the Annual 

 Report and then if any one of the 

 members has something like that in 

 his own locality he will know what it 

 is. 



The President: A photograph would 

 answer. 



Mr. Klinger: Is there any one who 

 knows about how many honey produc- 

 ing plants there are? 



The President: There are upwards 

 of eighty of golden rod alone. 



Mr. Klinger: If all the honey pro- 

 dufiing plants were classified and 



