Alfalfa

Alfalfa is also the source of large quantities of white honey from the mountain regions of the West. In the lower altitudes of the Southwest, the honey from alfalfa is darker in color and more highly flavored. It yields nectar freely on rich soils with abundant moisture at the roots and a dry atmosphere. In some seasons alfalfa is reported as yielding in the East but it is not dependable in humid climates. In seasons where a wet spring is followed by dry, warm weather the nectar often flows freely for a time until the soil becomes dry.

Buckwheat

Most of the buckwheat honey is produced in the region of the Great Lakes in Ontario, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Buckwheat does best on sandy or light soils and seldom yields on clay or heavy soil. Buckwheat yields a very dark honey of pronounced flavor which is popular with many. It is so different from the mild-flavored light honey from the clovers that it seldom appeals to the same people.

Orange

Although the bees gather honey from a large variety of fruit blossoms, only the orange is a major source of surplus honey. While some honey comes from it in Texas and Arizona, the bulk of orange honey is harvested in California and Florida where it is one of the principal sources of surplus. Orange honey is light in color and of marked but pleasing flavor, and is usually much in demand.

Aster

There are more than 125 species of aster found in this country. Most of them are attractive to the bees. There is a large area in the Southeast, including portions of Kentucky, where asters provide a larger share of the crop than any other plant. There are few localities where bees do not get something from asters. Pure aster honey is often of light color and good quality.

Sweet Clover

In the early days of beekeeping sweet clover was known as the """ "bee plant" or "honey plant" For many years the beekeepers tried to spread this plant as pasture for their bees while the farmers sought to stamp it out as an undesirable weed. It was not until the last fifty years that sweet clover was given a place on the farms as a soil builder. Sweet clover is a midseason source of nectar. The honey is light in color, many times being water white, and of a very mild flavor. It may be listed as the nation s main source of surplus honey.

Most markets pay a premium for white honey of mild flavor such as comes from sweet clover and alfalfa. The large acreage of these legumes offers bee pasture of such extent as to make available this high quality honey in carlots in the principal markets.

There are few other plants sufficiently common to support the large apiaries now commonly operated by commercial honey producers. Outfits operating 1000 or more colonies are now common in the states where these plants are widely grown.

Alsike Clover

Alsike was brought to this country about 1839 and was met with widespread acceptance. The beekeepers were largely responsible for its spread although the farmers quickly saw the value of this clover and adopted it. Alsike is grown principally in the dairy regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and to a less extent throughout the northeastern states and eastern Canada. Alsike clover honey is similar to that from white Dutch clover.

Dandelion

The lowly dandelion is almost nationwide in its distribution and is a good source of both nectar and pollen. It blooms early, before most colonies are strong enough to harvest a crop or it might prove to be a good surplus honey plant.

White Dutch Clover

Fifty years ago the white clover was the principal source of white honey. It grows over a wide expanse of country from the Missouri River to the Atlantic Coast and southward. Much honey still goes to market from white clover but it no longer holds first place since the sweet clovers and alfalfa have been planted over such a wide area. Honey from white clover is slightly darker in color but of mild and pleasing flavor. Alsike clover yields well in neighborhoods where dairying is important or where it is grown for seed. The quality of the honey is similar to white clover. Neither yield as dependably as in former years before soil fertility had been reduced.

Minor Sources Of Surplus

It would require more space than is available here to describe the long list of plants from which surplus honey comes in limited areas. In the Southwest the mesquite yields a light amber honey of good flavor. In the region from south Texas to southeastern California mesquite is important to the beekeeper in desert areas.

In the Southeast the sourwood tree yields a honey which is so popular in the region from which it comes that little goes to outside markets. Heavy yields are reported from the Caro-linas and western Tennessee. The tree is found from West Virginia to Georgia and west to Arkansas but the big crops are seldom reported outside a limited area.

In Florida heavy yields come from tupelo along the Appa-lachicola River, from black mangrove along the east coast and from the palmettos in the interior.

California boasts of her orange honey which is famous far beyond her borders. Sage also yields heavy crops. Surplus is reported from a variety of sources including blue curls, eucalyptus, manzanita, lima beans, incense cedar and several others.

Washington and Oregon report surplus from cabbage and turnip grown for seed, fireweed, peppermint, black locust, snow-berry, vetch, and several others along with honey from alfalfa and the clovers.

Since there are so many plants which are important locally, it will be to the reader's advantage to ascertain whether a bulletin on honey plants of his state may be available from his college of agriculture. "American Honey Plants, " by Frank C. Pellett, is the title of a volume of more than 400 large pages devoted to a discussion of honey plants for all America.

Honeydew

At times when nectar is unavailable the bees gather a sweet which is excreted by aphids feeding on the leaves of forest trees. This honey dew is usually of poor quality and of little value. It is bad for the bees when left in the hives for winter stores where winter weather is too severe to permit the bees frequent flight. At times when aphids are abundant they eject honeydew in such quantity as to cover leaves on lower branches with the sticky substance. The bees gather this material and seal it in their combs the same as honey. When mixed with good honey it spoils the quality of the whole output.

Bitter Honey

Fortunately, the areas where unpalatable honey is harvested are relatively small. In the Ozark region of Arkansas and Missouri and eastward in Kentucky and Tennessee the bitterweed yields an abundance of bright sparkling honey which is as bitter as quinine. It is important that the beekeeper remove such honey from the hives before the harvest of good honey. It can be fed back to the bees for winter stores after the other is taken from the hives.