Milkweed 
599 
Also called sandvine, angle-pod from the 
angled fruit, blue vine from the. bluish 
color of the flowers, dry weather vine since 
it secretes nectar most freely in dry weath¬ 
er, and shoestring vine. A twining herba¬ 
ceous vine with a tough stem which may 
attain a length of 40 feet. The oval heart- 
shaped leaves resemble those of the morn¬ 
ing glory or sweet potato. The small blu¬ 
ish white’flowers are in numerous axillary 
clusters, and resemble the flowers of the 
milkweed. The pollen grains are in waxy 
masses. The pods are very lai'ge, thick, 
tapering to a point; the seeds bear a tuft 
of long silky hairs, and are carried for 
miles by the wind. 
Climbing milkweed, or blue vine, is 
widely distributed over the central and 
Gulf States from Iowa to eastern Texas, 
eastward to the Appalachian Ranges. As 
a honey plant it is important chiefly in 
southwestern Indiana and in central Mis¬ 
souri. It grows luxuriantly on the rich al¬ 
luvial soils of the river bottomlands, but 
does not thrive equally well on upland or 
thin clay soils. Commercially it is most 
valuable to the beekeeper in extreme south¬ 
west Indiana, along the lower portions of 
the Ohio, Wabash, and White Rivers. In 
this region it is the main source of sur¬ 
plus. At Bloomfield on the West Fork of 
the White River blue vine is reported to 
be spreading each year. As it is a peren¬ 
nial it dies down in the fall, but comes up 
again in the spring. In the wet season of 
1915 the bees neglected the bloom entirely 
and no honey was secured. It yields well 
only in dry seasons. In Daviess County, 
also on the White River, there are thou¬ 
sands of acres of riverbottom corn fields 
which give an unlimited pasturage of blue 
vine. Early in the season it is held in 
check by the cultivator. But as soon as 
cultivation stops blue vine climbs the corn¬ 
stalks, twining around the spindles, and 
reaching across from one row to another. 
It begins to bloom during the latter part 
of July and by August 15 the honey flow 
is at its best. The plant is killed by the 
first frost. Sixty to eighty pounds of 
honey per colony are not unfrequently ob¬ 
tained. A hive on scales recorded a daily 
gain of 4 pounds for 15 consecutive days. 
The honey is nearly white, or has a slight 
pinkish tinge, and an aromatic flavor. The 
flowers have a pleasing fragrance, which is 
very noticeable in the evening; and, when 
the sections of honey are removed, this de¬ 
lightful fragrance is at once apparent. It 
does not granulate readily even in cold 
weather. 
Climbing milkweed should prove a good 
honey plant along the Ohio River in south¬ 
ern Illinois. At Brunswick, Missouri, at 
the junction of the Grand River with the 
Missouri River, climbing milkweed is very 
abundant, and in a cornfield of 1,200 acres 
there was not a stalk on which there was 
not a vine. It blooms from July to about 
September 10 and in dry seasons yields 
well. The honey is described as having the 
color of Colorado alfalfa and a fine flavor. 
MOTH MILLER. —In the old box-hive 
days and the early days of the movable 
frame, the bee moth or wax worm was re¬ 
garded as the most serious enemy with 
which the bees had to deal. Many of the 
beekeepers of those times were driven out 
of the business because their bees were 
cleaned out by the pest. So serious was it 
regarded that numerous moth-traps and 
moth-proof hives were invented. These 
were worse than useless, as they had all 
kinds of “retreats,” cracks, and crevices 
for the very purpose of trapping moths. 
Instead of catching them they made the 
finest kind of breeding places for the pest. 
In this day and age the modern bee¬ 
keeper regards the bee moth as more of a 
joke than a pest. In fact, it is almost a 
disgrace for one to allow it to get a start 
among his colonies or among the combs. It 
has been practically eliminated from all 
modern apiculture, and it is only occasion¬ 
ally that it gets in its work among good 
combs; and when it does, the owner is or 
should be ashamed of his own careless¬ 
ness. 
The bee moth does not exist as a real bee- 
enemy anywhere in the United States ex¬ 
cept in some of the southern States where 
black bees are kept in box hives exactly as 
they were in the days of our forefathers 
(see Enemies of Bees). They are just as 
ignorant of modern principles; and so to¬ 
day the bee moths, or, rather, the larvae of 
the wax worm, eliminate all except the very 
strong colonies. See Box Hives. 
There are two species of wax moth—the 
