72 



BEE FORAGE. 



If excellence in the bee is the chief factor in successful honey produc- 

 ing, next in logical order is abundant, persistent, and cheap bee-pastur- 

 age. Abundant pasturage is the amount necessary to satisfy the re- 

 quirements of the number of colonies kept within a given area. Persist- 

 ent pasturage is that which contemplates a variety of perennial honey 

 bearing flora of hardy constitution and rugged habits whose terms of 

 blooming follow each other in succession continuously from early spring 

 to late fall, thus lengthening out the season in which bees may gather 

 surplus honey. Cheap bee-pasturage may be such as is furnished from 

 natural sources produced in forests or by self-propagating plants grow- 

 ing in waste places or upon lands of little value and requiring little or 

 no labor. Or cheap bee-pasturage may be secured by cultivating fruits 

 and field crops, the blossoms of which are valuable for honey bearing. 



As the forests of the country disappear and the waste lands are being 

 reclaimed, as the necessity for other honey-producing resources is felt, as 

 the industry assumes more importance and as the influence of competi- 

 tion is more sharply felt, great interest is shown in the subject of bee- 

 pasturage. The number of days in each year in which bees can gather 

 and store surplus honey will not average, except in exceptionally fa- 

 vored localities, above thirty or thirty-five days; the remaining time and 

 energies of the bees being employed in gathering sufficient for the sus- 

 tenance of the colony, and enforced idleness or non-productiveness. En- 

 forced idleness, and the consequent waste of time, stores, and energies 

 sometimes result from a failure of the flowers to secrete nectar, even 

 though honey-bearing flowers are blooming in abundance, but usually 

 the reason why the time is so short in which bees are able to store sur- 

 plus honey is the lack of abundant pasturage. 1 have not had the time 

 or the means to devote to bee-forage that the importance of the subject 

 demands, but I have made a beginning in this department of experi- 

 mental work which I hope to continue. Among all the trees and shrubs 

 which are cultivated generally throughout the United States by fruit- 

 growers, the raspberry is commonly conceded to possess more value to 

 bee-keepers than any other. A quarter of a mile from this station a 

 market gardener has 4 acres of raspberries. These bushes continued 

 to bloom for ten days, and during that time, with the exception of two or 

 three rainy days, a continuous procession of bees could be observed go- 

 ing and returning to and from the apiary, and a fine showing of honey 

 was made in the hives and the honey was of superior quality. 



On account of the superior quality of its nectar, the ease with which 

 the plant is propagated, its adaptation to all kinds of soil and its value 

 as a forage plant for grazing, white clover has, until of late years, stood 

 without a rival in the estimation of honey-producers. About twenty 

 years ago Alsike or Swedish clover was introduced into this country, 



