March and April Plants. 259 



times that number of colonies will find ample resources to 

 keep all employed. So this subject of artificial pasturage be- 

 comes one well worthy close study and observation. The 

 subject, too, is a very important one in reference to the loca- 

 tion 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 PLANTS.- 



In Florida the orange gives early bloom, and the thousands 

 of trees in that land, not only of flowers but of honey, will 

 have no small influence in building up the colonies 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 swarming 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 en- 

 couraged by the increase of their stores of pollen and honey ; 

 hence, in case we do not practice stimulative feeding — and 

 many will not — it becomes very desirable to have some early 

 bloom. Happily, in all sections of the United States our de- 

 sires are not in vain. 



Early in spring there are many scattering wild flowers, as 

 skunk cabbage, Sftnploearpns fcetichis, which supplies abund- 

 ant pollen and some honey ; the blood-root, Sangidnaria Can- 

 adensis, liver-leaf, Sepatiea acutUoba, and various others of 

 the crow-foot family, as also many species of cress, which be- 

 long to the mustard family, and the gay dandelion, Taraxa- 

 cum dens-leonis, which keeps on blooming for weeks, etc. , all 

 of which are valuable and important. 



The maples (Fig. 125), which are all valuable honey plants, 

 also contribute to the early stores. Especially valuable are 

 the silver maples, Acer dasyca/rpum, the red or soft maples, 

 Acer ruhrum, and the box elder or ash-leaf maple, Negundo 

 aceroides, as they bloom so very early, long before the leaves 



