The honey bee: a manual of instruction in apiculture

Chapter VI: =bee Pasturage.=

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Bees obtain their food from such a variety of sources that there are few localities in our country where a small apiary could not be made to yield a surplus above its own needs. Even in the center of our larger cities bees placed on the roofs of stores and dwellings have often furnished quite a surplus gathered from the gardens of the city and its environs. Again, in regions where the soil is too light, rocky, or wet to admit of profitable cultivation, it is often the case that honey-producing plants abound; indeed, waste land is frequently far more profitable for the honey-producer than fields that have been brought under cultivation, especially when the latter are mainly devoted to grain or potato raising, for insignificant weeds in field or swamp often yield honey abundantly, and among the best yielders are certain forest trees, whose blossoms, by reason of their distance from the ground and in some instances their small size, escape notice. Showy flowers made double by the gardener's skill, such as roses, dahlias, chrysanthemums, etc., have rarely any attraction for our honey bees. Moreover, the small number of these ornamental plants usually found in any one locality renders the honey yield, even in case they are abundant secreters of nectar, so slight that they are of little value. The novice who is seeking to determine the honey resources of his locality should therefore not be led into error by these. He should compare the flora of his locality with reliable lists of honey-producing plants, and, if possible, consult some practical bee-master familiar with his surroundings. And all information on this score should be fully accepted only after careful verification, as it is very easy for anyone to be deceived regarding the sources of given honey yields--plants which produce abundantly one season not always yielding the next, or those that produce honey freely in one portion of the country not yielding anything in another. Soil and climate, the variations of successive seasons, and all other conditions affecting plant growth--conditions which even the most skillful scientific agriculturists admit are exceedingly difficult to understand, and in many respects, as yet unexplainable--influence the amount and quality of nectar secreted by a given plant.

The danger of overstocking is largely imaginary, yet in establishing a large apiary it is of course essential to look to the natural resources of the location, and especially to decide only upon a place where two or more of the leading honey-producing plants are present in great numbers. In the North, willows, alder, maples, dandelion, fruit blossoms, tulip tree (frequently called whitewood), locust, clovers (white, alsike, crimson, and mammoth red), with alfalfa and melilot, chestnut, linden or basswood, Indian corn, buckwheat, fireweed, willow-herb, knotweeds, mints, cleome, golden-rods, Spanish needle, and asters may be cited as the chief sources of pollen and honey; and of these the tulip tree, locust, white clover, alfalfa, melilot, linden, and buckwheat furnish most of the surplus honey. The fruit blossoms, with the exception of raspberry, come so early that a small proportion only of the colonies are sufficiently strong to store surplus, and of course this statement applies with still more force to plants which blossom before apple, pear, cherry, etc. Some of the clovers, mustard, rape, cultivated teasel, chestnut, barberry, sumac coral berry, pleurisy root, fireweed, borage, mints, willow-herb, Spanish needles, cleome, etc., though yielding well, are only found abundantly over certain areas, and do not therefore supply any considerable portion of the honey that appears on the market, though when any of them are plentiful in a certain locality the bee keeper located there will find in nearly all cases that the surplus honey is greatly increased thereby.

In the middle section of our country, from Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina westward, most of the sources named above are present, although the maples (particularly hard maple) furnish less, and fruit bloom, the clovers, linden, and buckwheat are not as great yielders as in the North. Sourwood or sorrel tree, mountain laurels, sour gum or tupelo, huckleberry, cowpea, magnolia, and persimmon make up in part for these, the sourwood being especially important, while in some localities certain species of asters yield very abundantly. The tulip tree (known commonly as poplar) is a greater yielder than in the North, while in the western portion of the middle section the Rocky Mountain bee plant or cleome and more extensive areas of alfalfa and melilot are very important sources.

In the more southern States fruit bloom is far from being as great a source of honey as in the North, though with the extension of orange groves in Florida and Louisiana an increased production of very fine honey maybe looked for in those States. The titi, magnolia, palmetto, and black mangrove yield well in some parts, and sour gum (tupelo or pepperidge), cotton, and pennyroyal are sources not to be overlooked. In Texas horsemint and mesquite, the latter also extending farther West, furnish fine yields, while many mountain localities of southern California are clothed with white and black sages--wonderful honey producers. In certain localities there the orange and other fruit orchards, and also wild buckwheat, give the bees excellent pasturage for a portion of the year.

Certain small homopterous insects, such as plant-lice, bark-lice, mealy-wings, and some leaf-hoppers, which congregate on the leaves or bark of various plants and trees, notably pines, oaks, and beeches, and suck their juices, secrete a sweet liquid, which is often taken up by bees as it falls on the surrounding vegetation. This secretion, commonly known as honeydew, or plant-louse honey, is usually of an inferior qua lit y, though that from pine-tree aphides is sometimes fairly good. Most of it granulates very soon after having been gathered, sometimes even before the cells have been sealed.

Under peculiar conditions of the atmosphere sweet exudations, also known as honeydew, drop from the leaves of certain plants and are eagerly taken up by the bees. This substance is sometimes very abundant and of excellent quality. It should not, however, be confounded with the secretions of extra-floral glands such as are possessed by the cowpea, horse bean, partridge pea, and vetches. These seem to be natural productions for the purpose of attracting insects to the plants, while the former is apparently an accidental exudation through the plant pores, brought about very likely by some sudden change of temperature. Both are, however, merely the saccharine juices of the plant, and when refined by the bees may become excellent honey.

CULTIVATION OF HONEY PLANTS.

In all localities there will probably be found intervals during the working season when bees will find very little or even nothing gather, unless supplied by cultivation. When possible it is ah best to till in such intervals with some honey-producing plant which at the same time furnishes some other product--fruit, grain, forage, green manure, or timber. The attempt to cultivate any plant for its honey alone has not thus far been found profitable, in practice, however promising it may seem theoretically. Catnip (_Nepeta cataria_), motherwort (_Leonurus cardiaca_), globe thistle (_Echinops sphærocephalus_), figwort (_Scrophularia nodosa_), bee balm (_Melissa officinalis_), borage (_Borago officinalis_), Rocky Mountain cleome (_Cleome serrulata_), melilot or sweet clover (_Melilotus alba_), and linden (_Tilia americana_) have all been recommended repeatedly and tried here and there somewhat extensively. But thus far the hope of securing a sufficient increase in the crop of honey to pay for the cultivation of these plants has in all cases had to be abandoned. With the appreciation in value of agricultural lands the prospects for the profitable cultivation of any crop for honey alone are still further removed. Yet the writer is fully convinced that in the future, especially in the older portions of our country, eminent success in bee raising will require much more attention to the furnishing of artificial pasturage for the bees, a close study, in fact, of the bee flora of one's locality, and a systematic effort to supply the deficiencies by sowing self-propagating honey plants, and such as may be cultivated with profit for other reasons besides their honey yield.

Among those plants which have just been mentioned as having been cultivated at various times for their honey alone, the linden for shade and ornament as well as for timber, catnip for sale as an herb or to secure its seed, and melilot for forage or green manuring are the only ones which, under present conditions, might in some cases be profitably cultivated. There may be introduced with advantage, however, all such honey-producing plants as, with one sowing or planting, will readily propagate themselves and without cultivation extend their area along roadsides and over waste lands, always excepting of course such as may become troublesome weeds. For this purpose most of the plants referred to above are available, and many others which like these are adapted to one portion or another of our country might be added, as, for example, pleurisy root or butterfly weed (_Asclepias tuberosa_), Indian currant or coral berry (_Symphoricarpos symphoricarpos_), viper's bugloss (_Echium vulgare_), lady's thumb (_Polygonum persicaria_), horsemint (_Monarda citriodora_), willow-herb (_Epilobium angustifolium_), etc., but of course it can not be expected that they will thrive and thoroughly establish themselves without further attention, except in such localities as present very favorable conditions for their growth. Furthermore, there is always the risk that a plant which yields honey abundantly in one part of the country may not do so in another region, even though it grows well, so that it is necessary in most cases, especially with wild plants, to test them anew before extensive introduction, no matter how well established their reputation as honey producers may be elsewhere.

Among plants of economic value in other directions fruit trees and shrubs are to be counted as of much importance to bees. The apple and the cherry yield well, the others less, though the gooseberry, were it more plentiful, would be of considerable value. Strawberry blossoms are, in general, visited sparingly and yield only a small amount, but the raspberry, coming later, when the colonies are stronger, is a most important source, greatly liked by the bees, and furnishing as fine a quality of honey as is known. Ten acres in raspberries will furnish pasturage for three weeks to 75 or 100 colonies of bees. Mustard for seed, and rape for pasture and seed, may be made to furnish much to the bees in early spring. Buckwheat honey is dark and strong, but is relished by some, and when well ripened is good winter food for bees, so that whenever this plant can be made to blossom at a time when the bees find nothing better and a crop of grain can also be harvested from it, a plentiful supply should by all means be sown: the clovers, white, alsike, crimson, and mammoth or medium red may be sown for pasturage, hay, forage, for purposes of green manuring, or for seed, and honey of fine quality obtained if a sufficient number of blossoms are allowed to appear.

Alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_), a most important honey producer as well as perennial forage crop, can be grown over a much greater area of the United States than has heretofore been generally supposed. Sainfoin (_Onobrychis sativa_) and serradella (_Ornithopus sativus_), both most excellent honey plants, have not received the attention they merit either North or South. Japan clover (_Lespedeza striata_) is grown profitably in the South, and more even might be expected from the introduction of sulla clover (_Hedysarum coronarium_) there, the latter a great honey producer. Chicory, even on poor soil, is a good honey and pollen plant. Northern bee keepers should try the dwarf (quick-growing) varieties of cowpeas (_Vigna sinensis_) extensively grown in the South for forage and green manuring. Vetches are of recognized value for the same purposes, especially the Russian hairy vetch (_Vicia villosa_). Sacaline (_Polygonum sachalinense_) and flat peas (_Lathyrus sylvestris_) are visited by bees, and in certain situations may be found of value otherwise. Peppermint (_Mentha piperita_) yields well in July and August. Parsnips (_Pastinaca sativa_) when grown for seed are assiduously visited by bees for honey during June. July, and August. Gorse or furze (_Ulex europæus_) for forage may prove valuable in some localities here, as it is highly esteemed in some parts of Europe. Its odorous yellow blossoms, much frequented by bees, appear in May. Filbert bushes (_Corylus avellana_) will grow in many portions of our country, yielding, besides nuts, an abundance of early pollen, even in February or March. The carob tree (_Ceratonia siliqua_) succeeds in the Southwest, yielding a crop of economic value, besides a harvest in late summer for bees. It is also a fine ornamental tree. There are no finer shade or ornamental trees for the lawn or roadside than lindens (basswoods) and horse-chestnuts. To these chestnut, locust, sourwood, and tulip trees may be added. The timber of all is useful; and since they are great honey yielders their propagation near the apiary is very desirable.

Bees range ordinarily within 2 or 3 miles in all directions from their homes, but sometimes go farther. Pasturage to be especially valuable, however, should be within 2 miles, and less than a mile distant to the main source is quite preferable. The advantage is probably not so much in the saving of time in going back and forth, for bees fly with great rapidity, but because when sudden storms arise, especially those accompanied by high winds, the heavily laden bees are more likely to reach home safely and the hive will not be decimated of its gathering force.

BEES AS CROSS-FERTILIZERS.

Allusion has already been made in this bulletin to the importance of bees in the complete cross fertilization of fruit blossoms and to the fact that certain varieties of pears have been found to be completely self-sterile, requiring, therefore, pollen from other varieties before they can develop perfect seeds and fruits. It is interesting to study the ways in which cross fertilization of plants is secured through the visits of insects. The part that bees perform in the development and perpetuation of numerous ornamental and economic plants is thereby clearly shown. Space will only permit the introduction here of one or two examples. The willow-herb, which is an abundant secreter of nectar and thus attracts bees freely, illustrates one feature in pollination by bees. A young blossom of this plant (fig. 44, A) shows the stamens maturing and shedding their pollen, while the pistil remains curved downward and with closed stigmas. In the older flower (fig. 44, B), the stamens having shed their pollen and begun to wither, the pistil has straightened up and exposed its stigmatic surfaces for the reception of the pollen which a bee chancing to come from a younger blossom is likely to bring. Self-pollination is thus positively prevented and cross fertilization is insured.

In the mountain laurel the anthers are held securely by little pockets in the corolla, so that as the flower opens the stamens are found bent over (fig. 50, B) ready to be liberated (fig. 50, C) by the visit of a bee. When the stamen flies up the pollen is discharged from the anther and dusted on the underside of the bee. The latter as it alights on the next flower naturally touches the stigma first and rubs off some of the pollen it has brought from the last flower visited. It then proceeds to secure the nectar of the flower on which it has just alighted, and in doing this liberates the stamens of this flower and gets dusted again with pollen, which it carries to the next flower.

The cross section of an imperfectly developed apple shown herewith (fig. 51, B) illustrates the importance of complete fertilization of fruit blossoms. The seed vessel at u shows only an abortive seed, and the side of the fruit nearest this point is also correspondingly undeveloped. This is owing to imperfect or complete lack of fertilization of this carpel, five distinct fertilizations being necessary to produce a perfect fruit. Bees being, during the period of fruit blossoms, the most abundant insects that might effect the necessary distribution of the pollen of these flowers, the importance is at once seen of having an apiary in or near the orchard. Continued rainy or cold weather may keep the bees confined to their hives much of the time during fruit bloom, hence it is advisable to have them near at hand and in numbers proportionate to the size of the orchards, so that even a few hours of sunshine will assure their making a thorough distribution of the pollen. In the absence of accurate experiments regarding the number of colonies of bees required to insure proper fertilization in the orchard, and also in view of the fact that surrounding conditions vary greatly, it is difficult to say exactly how many colonies are positively necessary for a given number of trees. However, four or five well-populated hives for every hundred large apple trees will doubtless suffice, even though no other hive bees are within a mile of the orchard. The bees of a neighbor's apiary are often quite sufficient for the orchardist's purpose, the benefit resulting from their labors being, therefore, mutual, though the orchardist doubtless derives in this case greater advantage from them than does their owner himself. Escaped swarms lodged in forest trees in the vicinity of the orchard are sometimes sufficiently numerous to perform the work well. The great value of bees as cross fertilizers makes their destruction a serious injury to the interests of the fruit grower. Therefore spraying with arsenicals during fruit bloom should never be practiced. The injurious insects can be reached quite as well before and after the blooming period.