BEE KEEPING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 95 



Wild clematis, July 25 to September 1. Cultivated variety ( Clematis panieulata) 

 blooms early in September, but I doubt if it secretes honey; it is sparingly 

 visited for pollen. 



Thoroughwort, ceases about 1st of September. 

 About the 1st of April we get soft maple, willow, skunk cabbage, alder and 



some elms, and cultivated plants, such as crocuses, etc., which, I suspect, 



supply more pollen than nectar. 



CAPE COD REGION. 

 (Furnished by Mr. Allen Latham, Norwich, Conn. & ) 



Dandelion, in May. 



Huckleberry, in late May. 



Blackberry, in late May. 



White clover, in June and July. 



Common locust (in Truro), June. 



Sumac (Rhus copallina) (occasionally), in July. 



White alder (Glethra alnifolia), July to August. 



Fireweed (Erechtites hieracifolia) , August to September. 



Cut-leafed water hoarhound (Lyoopus americanus) , August to September. 



Burr-marigold, August to September. 



Pink knotweed, August to September. 



Various golden-rods, August to September, especially Bolidago sempervirens, a 



gigantic variety of golden-rod which thrives in the sand along the beach. 

 Various asters, like those which are common all over New England, September 



to October. 

 Cranberry, flourishes and blooms for a long period. This may yield nectar. 

 Strawberry, grows wild by the acre and the children and women carry bushels 



upon bushels of these berries home every June. Possibly in that region this 



plant yields nectar. 

 The beach plum is an old settler and is found all about the Cape whitening all 



the beach and dunes with its blooms in May. Whether the bees get any honey 



from that bloom I do not know. 

 Wild cherry, both the black or "rum" and the "choke," grow in abundance. 



As these yield practically nothing inland, I judge they furnish the bees no 



nectar there. 



Listed in the order of their importance to the bee keeper : 



1. Huckleberry. — Without this one could not be sure of a crop of honey 

 oftener than every other year, and possibly not one year in three. 



2-3. Hoarhound and fireweed.— Probably the hoarhound should rank ahead of 

 fireweed. 



4. Fall flowers, golden-rod and asters especially. 



The fall flowers will always furnish a crop if the weather permits the bees 

 to gather it, but too often the weather is foggy or high winds blow, or else it is 



a A good account of bee keeping in this region is found in the following 

 paper : Miller, Arthur C. 1906. A Unique System. How an Ingenious School 

 Teacher Harvests Crops of Honey from a Desert. American Bee Keeper, 

 Vol. XVI, pp. 206-210, October. Illustrated. 



& Mr. Latham specifies that the data relate to the "plants known to yield 

 honey near Provineetown," the extreme end of Cape Cod. about 50 miles direct 

 by sea from Boston and 25 miles from Plymouth. 



c It is possible that blackberry is very important. I do not know its honey, 

 and the flavor may be lost in the honey from huckleberry bloom. 



