March Honey Plants. 343 



DESCRIPTION, WITH PRACTICAL REMARKS. 



As this subject of bee pasturage is of such prime import- 

 ance, and as the interest in the subject is so great and wide- 

 spread, I feel that details with illustrations will be more 

 than warranted. 



We have abundant experience to show that forty or fiftj- 

 colonies of bees, take the seasons as they average, are all 

 that a single place will sustain to the greatest advantage. 

 Then how significant the fact, that when the season is the 

 best, full three times that number of colonies will find 

 ample resources to keep all employed. So this subject of 

 artificial pasturage becomes one well worthy close study 

 and observation. The subject, too, is a very important one 

 in reference to the location of the apiary. 



It is well to remember in this connection, that while bees 

 do sometimes go from five' to seven miles for nectar, two 

 or three miles should be regarded as the limit of profitable 

 gathering. That is, apiaries of from fifty to one hundred 

 or more colonies, should not be nearer than four or five 

 miles of each other. 



MARCH PLAISTTS. 



In Florida the orange gives early bloom, and the thou- 

 sands of trees in that land, not only of flowers but of 

 honey, will have no small influence in building up the col- 

 onies for the grand harvest of mangrove and palmetto soon 

 to follow. 



The gall-berry of the South commences to bloom even 

 in February, and yields abundant nectar. In Florida this 

 shrub gives the main supply of honey during the swarm- 

 ing season. 



APRIL PLANTS. 



As we have already seen, the apiarist does not secure 

 the best results, even in the early spring, unless the bees 

 are encouraged by the increase of their stores of pollen and 

 honey; hence, in case we do not practice stimulative feed- 

 ing — and many will not — it becomes very desirable to have 

 some early bloom. Happily, in all sections of the United 

 States our desires are not in vain. 



