CHAPTER V 

 SOURCES OF NECTAR 



In taking up bee-keeping as a business, it is a matter of the 

 utmost importance to select a location where suitable plants are 

 available during as long a season as possible. The greater the 

 variety of honey-producing plants the better. There is no single 

 plant that can be depended upon to produce nectar in sufficient 

 quantities every year. The ideal location is one where there is 

 an abundance of willow, maple, dandelion, and fruit bloom early 

 in spring, followed by white clover and sweet clover in abund- 

 ance. This in turn should be supplemented with such plants as 

 heartsease, sunflowers, golden rod, and asters for late forage. 



There are many things to be considered in choosing a location, 

 that will not be apparent at first glance. For instance, some 

 plant may be present in quantity that is ordinarily considered 

 as a profitable source of nectar, yet which for some unknown 

 reason seldom yields in a particular locality. Alfalfa is a 

 valuable plant for the apiarist under the conditions of the irri- 

 gated regions of the West, yet seldom secretes sufficient nectar to 

 attract the bees in the moist sections east of the IMissouri River. 

 Buckwheat is rated as an important honey plant in Xew York, 

 but is of little value in most Iowa localities. When the bulletin, 

 ''Bee-keeping in Iowa," which was published as Xo. 11 of the 

 extension department of Iowa State College of Agriculture, was 

 in preparation, correspondence with representative bee-keepers 

 in all parts of that State brought only one report of buckwheat as 

 a profitable source of nectar. Bee-keepers, reading of the wonder- 

 ful crops of honey stored from buckwheat in some eastern States, 

 might easily be misled into expecting similar results from this 

 plant wherever a sufficient acreage was present. 



Just what factors influence the secretion of nectar still remain 

 to be determined. It is a well-known fact that some plants secrete 

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