90 
BASSWOOD 
Basswood in full bloom. 
It is a variable source of honey, but it 
is seldom that it fails entirely to yield 
nectar. In eastern New York, late In 
the spring, a drop in temperature sufficient 
to freeze ice has been known to kill all 
the flower buds in low ground, and greatly 
injure those on the hills. Even when the 
trees are laden with flowers if the weather 
is cold, cloudy, and windy, no surplus will 
be obtained. Hot clear weather and a 
humid atmosphere are the conditions most 
favorable for the active secretion of nec¬ 
tar. Small drops may then be seen spark¬ 
ling in the bloom, and a bee may at times 
obtain a load from a single blossom. Dur¬ 
ing a favorable season, when the atmo¬ 
sphere and temperature were both propi¬ 
tious, nine tons of basswood honey have 
been obtained as surplus at Delanson, N. 
Y. The best yield of honey at Medina, 
Ohio, ever secured from a single hive was 
from basswood bloom, the quantity being 
43 pounds in three days. The best ever- 
recorded from clover was 14 pounds in 
one day. At Orchard, Iowa, a yield of 
600 pounds of basswood honey from a 
single colony in 30 days was once secured, 
an average of 20 pounds per day. A col¬ 
ony at Borodino, N. Y., stored 302 pounds 
in ten days, and an average of about 55 
pounds per colony has been obtained for 
30 years. The length of the honey flow 
from basswood may vary from five to 
twenty-five days; while the date of bloom¬ 
ing is influenced by locality, altitude, and 
temperature. From 10 to 15 days may in¬ 
tervene between the opening of the flowers 
in a cold season and a hot one. In localities 
where basswood grows both in the valleys 
and on high hills the bees will have, a much 
longer time to gather the nectar, since the 
trees in the lowlands will bloom earlier 
than those at a greater height. 
Basswood honey is white and has a 
strong aromatic or mint-like flavor, and it 
is easy to tell when the blossoms are out by 
the odor about the hives. The taste of the 
honey also indicates to the beekeeper the 
very day the bees begin to work on the 
flowers. The honey, if extracted before it 
is sealed over, has so strong and distinctive 
a flavor as to be disagreeable to some per¬ 
sons. The smell and taste have been likened 
to that of turpentine or camphor—very 
disagreeable when just gathered; but Avhen 
sealed over and fully ripened in the hive 
almost every one considers it delicious. A 
pure basswood extracted honey, on account 
of its strong flavor, should be blended- with 
some honey of milder flavor, as for exam¬ 
ple, that of mountain sage. 
The illustration shows the appearance of 
basswood flowers and leaves. The clusters 
of from five to fifteen flowers are drooping, 
