i6 



dence to show that bees have gathered and stored nectar in the 

 supers at a distance of over five miles. This is very rare. 

 Hovi^ever, a distance of three miles is quite a common range of 

 flight when the conditions are favorable. The sources from 

 which bees obtain nectar in this State are of interest to all bee- 

 keepers. In most localities, especially where many colonies are 

 kept, the need of early blooming nectar-secreting flowers is of 

 great importance. Most of the forest trees furnish either pol- 

 len or nectar and sometimes bo*h. Some years, the weather 

 is so unreasonable that the forest bloom is largely lost. Pussy- 

 willow is one of the most dependable soyrces. It rarely fails 

 to furnish both p>ollen and nectar at a time when most needed 

 to start brood rearing in earnest, and in favorable years, strong 

 colonies often store some willow honey in the supers. Poplar 

 is the first to bloom as a rule and the pussywillow a close second. 

 There is often quite a space from this to fruit bloom especially 

 the years in which the forest bloom is either very light or a 

 failure. 



Oherry, plum, apple and pear, in yeais when the weather is 

 favorable, give the bees the much needed stores of pollen and 

 honey to keep up brood rearing and, with the aid of different 

 spring blooming wild flowers, carry the bees to clover bloom. 



Among the plants, the dandelion is of great value. While a 

 fickle plant, and depending greatly on weather conditions as to 

 the amount of nectar secured, it never fails to bloom and fur- 

 nish pollen so much needed at this season of the year, and at 

 least some nectar. In favorable years, strong colonies will 

 often fill every available space in the brood frames and a super 

 besides. In some states the dandelion is counted of little use 

 as a honey yielding plant, but for Maine it is valuable. Straw- 

 berries furnish pollen but proba:bly very little nectar. Wild 

 raspberry is one of the plants to give a surplus in the northern 

 part of the State. White clover begins blooming about the same 

 time, while alsike also blooms before the raspberry has gone by. 

 Alsike clover is the main source of the surplus flow in Aroos- 

 took county where almost every farmer sows two or more 

 pounds of alsike seed per acre in seeding down. Two to five 

 pounds per acre in favorable soils, and it thrives in most soils, 



