l
,`  y 30 Kentucky Station Circular No. 35 i p
bees have been robbed closely, or the early season has been
A ‘ especially unfavorable, the colonies may need all they gather
j i in the fall. If they have enough stores of their own from spring
I ‘ and summer gathering, very good honey for the market may be
L gathered after the first of September; Most of the plants men-
l tioned below are common in Kentucky. The names of important
l species are printed in italics. The periods of blooming range
somewhat with the season, and in some cases the same plant is
  repeated in two groups because of this range. i
E GROUP 1.—MARCH AND APRIL
l
  The plants of Group 1 are much more important than we E
S are likely to think. They furnish pollen in quantities when the  
`   bees first leave the hives in the spring. This food is necessary  
  · for brood rearing and an abundance of it is always a good omen l
  t for a successful season. The soft and red maples are the first  
il in bloom, sometimes beginning in the middle of February. The
  elms furnish quan·tities of pollen from about the middle of March
i _ to the middle of April, Pussy willows are in bloom in the latter
§ part of March, when the bees go wild over the catkins. None T
  of our early pollen-producing flowers seem to be liked so well.
L If the combs are examined during these months they are likely
  to show numbers of cells packed with pollen, whitish, yellow and
  bright red, as if there was disposition to deposit the pollen of
  each flower species by itself. The plants of this period are the p
  following: i
  Soft maple, red maple, elms, willows, sugar maple, peach,
  Japanese plums, strawberry, pear, iiawthoriis, blackberry, red- {
  bud, dandelion, Carolina poplar, many wild flowers.
¤a
  GROUP 2.-MAY AND JUNE
tr .
` _ The spring surplus is gathered from flowers blooming dur- i
_  ing May and June, generally, most of it from black locust, white ,,
`  clover, yellow sweet clover, basswood, or from sourwood.
  Apple, plum, pear, cherry, wild black cherry, blackberry, l
`  raspberry, l1awthorns, strawberry, tulip poplar, willows, elder, l
to A Q