134 BEEKEEPING 



been known to store over twenty pounds 

 of honey in one day from bass wood bloom. 

 Mr. G. M. Doolittle, a pioneer in scien- 

 tific beekeeping in the United States and 

 a man who has contributed much to our 

 knowledge of the honey-bee, states that he 

 has never known the basswood to fail 

 to yield a good supply of honey. The 

 flow, according to him, lasts from three 

 to nearly thirty days. Unlike white 

 clover the yield from basswood is not lia- 

 ble to be interrupted by rains. The flow- 

 ers of this tree are pendant and hard 

 dashing rains do not remove the secreted 

 nectar at the base of the petals. Like all 

 other flowers, however, it yields most nec- 

 tar during periods of warm nights. 



Mr. Doolittle 's observations cover a 

 long period of years — a period during 

 which the basswood was a far more com- 

 mon forest tree than it is at present. Orig- 

 inally it was one of the fine timber trees 

 of our American woods, but because of 

 the value of its timber, it was eagerly 



