890 
WILLOW-HERB 
yield a surplus in several counties. It is 
a dark-amber, bitter honey. 
Among the willows introduced from 
Europe, and cultivated, are the osier wil¬ 
low (S. viminalis) ; the Kilmarnock willow 
(/S', caprea ) ; the white willow (S. alba), of 
which there is a variety with yellow twigs 
called viellina, and the weeping willow (S. 
babylonica). 
A honey flow from the willows at Boro¬ 
dino, N. Y., was described by G. M. Doo¬ 
little as follows: 
We have three kinds of willows—the gold¬ 
en, the white, and the weeping willow, 
which are of much value as honey-produc¬ 
ers in the order named. When these willows 
are in bloom, and the weather warm, the 
bees rush out of their hives at early dawn, 
and work on the flowers all day long as 
eagerly as they do on clover or basswood. 
The blossoms often se,crete nectar so pro¬ 
fusely that it can be seen glistening in the 
morning by holding the blossoms between 
you and the sun, while the trees resound 
with that dull busy hum from morning till 
night, so often heard when bees are getting 
honey. As this is the very first honey of 
the season, I consider it of the greatest 
value to the bees, for brood is now crowded 
forward with great “vim,” giving us the 
bees which work on white clover, while the 
honey often very greatly helps the depleted 
stores of the hive. 
From the few trees along a small creek 
near here, my bees frequently make a gain 
of from six to ten pounds of honey while 
the willows are in bloom, and one season 
they made a gain of fifteen pounds. This 
spring some of my best colonies gained 
eight pounds from willow, while on apple 
bloom they did not get more than a living 
from apple orchards white with bloom all 
about. The honey from the willow is quite 
similar to that from the apple bloom, 
and has a nice aromatic flavor. As the 
willows give the first pollen, and also the 
first honey each season, it will be seen what 
a great help they are to all who have them 
in profusion near their bees. The only draw¬ 
back is the weather often being unfavorable, 
for I do not think that more than one year 
in three gives good weather all thru the 
time willows are in blossom. As it is often 
too cold, rainy, cloudy, or windy for the 
bees to get to the trees at this season of the 
year, honey and pollen from this source are 
not at all certain. 
WILLOW-HERB (Epilobium angustifo- 
lium) .—Fireweed. Indian pink. Rose bay. 
A perennial herb, 2 to 8 feet tall, with long 
lance-shaped leaves, and handsome red- 
purple flowers in long spike-like racemes. 
After forest and brush fires it springs up 
in great abundance, and flourishes for 
about three years, when other plants crowd 
it out. Wild raspberry, another good hon¬ 
ey plant is one of the first plants to replace 
it, and goldenrod, asters, Canada thistle, 
and various shrubs also soon spring up and 
occupy the land. But the length of time 
fireweed offers a good location for beekeep¬ 
ing varies greatly in different parts of the 
continent. Near Maniwaki in the Gatineau 
Valley, about 100 miles north of Ottawa, 
the location had become practically worth¬ 
less for honey production six years after 
a fire had swept over the land; but 200 
miles north of Ottawa, halfway between 
the city of Quebec and Lake St. John, 
there was still a large amount of fireweed 
in bloom 15 years after a forest fire. While 
in the upper part of the Lower Peninsula 
and also in the Upper Peninsula, Michi¬ 
gan, fireweed is a reliable honey plant, yet 
in Tuscola County, according to Hutchin¬ 
son, farther southward, altho very common 
it never yielded a pound of honey. On 
the Canadian Pacific Railway in British 
Columbia there are localities in the Rocky 
Mountains where fireweed blooms year 
after year and shows no signs of diminish¬ 
ing. 
Eireweed is adapted to a greater variety 
of soils than either alsike clover or white 
clover. Moist ground and a cool tempera¬ 
ture are favorable to its growth; but drain¬ 
age is necessary; and, if the soil is swampy, 
both growth and secretion are poor. While 
fireweed thrives best in clay soils and par¬ 
ticularly in soils rich in humus, as in the 
decaying remains of fallen trees, it will 
grow well northward for a time in rather 
sandy soils or on rocky ground after a 
fire. 
DISTRIBUTION OF WILLOW-HERB. 
Willow-herb is widely distributed in the 
northern part of Europe, Asia, and North 
America. In eastern North America it ex¬ 
tends from Labrador southward along the 
Appalachian Chain to North Carolina. It 
is abundant in New England, and in north¬ 
ern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 
A few years ago there were thousands of 
acres of this plant in northern Michigan 
without bees to gather its sweetness. A 
large part of northern Michigan (the 
