38 
House & Carden 
HONEY WEATHER 
Not Even the Bees’ Harvest Is Inde¬ 
pendent of the Weather—Some of 
the Conditions which Affect 
the Honey Crop 
BENJAMIN W. DOUGLASS 
A frame of brood comb 
with the adult bees 
creeping over it. Every 
available brood cell 
should be occupied 
when the honey flow 
starts 
When the hive is open¬ 
ed the sections, supers, 
etc., should be removed 
carefully. Rough han¬ 
dling may result in in¬ 
jury to the bees or 
comb 
I F I should say that frost 
or other adverse weather 
conditions had ruined the 
honey crop, ray statement 
would at once produce a 
sheaf of editorial protests 
from Maine to Muncie. The 
public has grown accus¬ 
tomed to having the fruit 
crop killed every winter, but 
it would doubtless be a new 
idea to think of the honey 
crop being ruined in a simi¬ 
lar way. Nevertheless the 
weather plays an extremely 
important part in the pro¬ 
duction of a crop of honey, 
and its influence on the 
yield may and often does 
date back to the previous 
year. 
The season of 1917 was 
in many respects a most try¬ 
ing one for the bee keeper 
as it was for many other 
producers 
lines. 
m 
agricultural 
White Clover Nectar 
There are loca¬ 
tions both good 
and bad for an 
apiary. Here is 
a good one, in a 
sheltered, sunny 
spot in an or¬ 
chard with a 
southern expos¬ 
ure 
In the first place the great 
bulk of the honey crop of 
the eastern and central 
States is secured from the 
bloom of the white clover. White clover honey 
is the standard of excellence among bee keepers, 
and a failure of the honey crop can nearly 
always be traced to a failure of the white clover 
or to peculiar weather during the time when 
this plant was in bloom. 
I he bloom of the white clover secretes a 
tremendous amount of nectar (which is gath¬ 
ered by the bees and forms the basis from 
which honey is produced), but this nectar is 
formed only during warm weather. The nights 
in particular must be warm, for it is supposed 
that most of the nectar secreting process goes 
on during the night, as many plant functions 
are more active in the dark than in the light. 
During cool weather and particularly during 
cool nights, not much nectar is produced, and 
as a result the bees fall short of their expected 
harvest. 1 hat was the situation in many 
places last season, and bee keepers generally 
reported a very short crop of white clover 
honey. In spite of the fact that the clover 
bloomed heavily in most clover sections, it did 
not yield on account of the adverse weather. 
White clover is a bi-en- 
nial; that is, it grows from 
the seed one year and 
blooms the next. If the sea¬ 
son this year is such as to 
interfere with the establish¬ 
ment of plenty of strong 
plants, it is plain that the 
bloom next year will be 
short and as a result little 
honey will be produced. The 
fact of the matter is, how¬ 
ever, that in most places 
1917 was a very favorable 
year for the growth of the 
young white clover plants 
and so, granted warm 
weather this month, the 
honey should be abundant. 
Basswood and Others 
During the past season 
the basswood yielded heavi¬ 
ly in some sections and not 
at all in others, and I have 
not yet found any one with 
a satisfactory explanation. 
It is probable, however, that 
in the sections of scant yield 
the result was produced by 
the same thing that caused 
the general shortage of 
white clover honey; namely, 
cool nights. Basswood is like other plants in 
that the nectar is secreted during the night— 
and only on warm nights. Also, basswood is 
like some of our fruit trees in that it does not 
bloom every year. It may bloom in one section 
this season and in another section next year, 
and for that reason is not a constant source 
of supply for the bees. In some sections of 
the North, where there is still a large number 
of basswood trees the yield of basswood honey 
amounts to practically nothing because of the 
cold, late springs. 
Along the river banks from southern Indi¬ 
ana southward we find a trailing vine of the 
milkweed family which produces much honey 
in favorable years. In wet seasons, marked 
bv successive floods, this plant is hindered in 
its growth and as a result that source of sup¬ 
ply is cut off from the bees. In this we have 
only another effect of weather on the honev 
crop. 
One of the last honey producing plants to 
bloom is the wild aster, and it is not often 
that unfavorable weather conditions will lessen 
Bees derive 
honey from a 
wide variety of 
flowers. The wild 
aster is one of 
the most depend¬ 
able of these, 
since weather 
conditions affect 
it little 
