wild cherry, sugar maple, and red maple. Wind-pollinated trees, as oaks, beech, elm, hickory, and buttonwood are also common. Cornels, Viburnums, huckleberries, buttonbush, willows, Kalmia, and Rhododendron, with many annual and perennial herbaceous plants, unite to make this the most varied flora of the state.
But, although an ideal agricultural region, this section is only fairly well adapted to beekeeping, as much of the land is devoted to the cultivation of the cereals and truck crops. The large number of colonies of bees is to be attributed partly to the dense population, which is equal to that of the whole western half of the state. In Lehigh County the apiaries are small, a few of the larger ranging from 20 to 40 colonies. A fair surplus is obtained once in two or three years from the clovers, buckwheat, goldenrods, and asters. Most of the beekeepers are farmers who have only one or two colonies in the back yards. The apiaries in Montgomery County are also small, and are maintained for a home supply of honey. In the suburbs of Philadelphia, while small beeyards are very numerous, there are several apiaries which range from 60 to 100 colonies. In a good year 60 pounds of extracted honey per colony are often obtained, but the crop is uncertain. At Media, in Delaware County, there are three apiaries which together contain 240 colonies. The crop fails about once in four years. The honey plants are fruit bloom, black locust, white clover, and alsike clover. Near the Delaware River there is no spring or early summer honey flow, but there is a good fall flow from bur marigold, which yields an excellent honey. Bees are sometimes moved to this locality to take advantage of this late flow. Reports of the average surplus in this county vary from 40 to 125 pounds. The only other honey plants are the clovers, goldenrods, and asters.
In Lancaster County, “where almost every foot of land is under cultivation,” dairy farming is one of the principal industries, and there is a large amount of alsike clover, which is the chief dependence of the beekeeper. The fall flowers are not sufficiently abundant to yield a surplus. Within a radius of ten miles of the city of Lancaster there are four apiaries which number about 150 colonies each, while the number of small yards probably exceeds one hundred. The profit in this county is hardly sufficient to warrant following beekeeping as a sole vocation; and the region, moreover, is fully stocked. At Wrightsville, York County, there is an apiary of over 50 colonies; but more than three-fourths of a crop is seldom obtained. Near Waynesboro, in Franklin County, there is an apiary of 20 and another of 40 colonies. In a good year nearly 50 pounds of section honey may be secured. There are many yards in which kegs and boxes are used for hives.
The Central, or Appalachian Province, has a uniform width of 50 miles, and consists of parallel mountainous ridges, between which lie deep and often fertile valleys. To the north of the Susquehanna River there are extensive anthracite coal-fields, large open tracts, forests, numerous lakes and bogs, and mountain ridges and slopes well wooded. There are a number of small apiaries scattered through the mountains, and a few of larger size. Wayne County, in the northeast corner, contains many bees. The honey plants are willows, maples, dandelion, wild raspberry, white clover, alsike clover, milkweed, basswood, goldenrod, and aster. Pike County is almost destitute of beekeepers, but a few small yards are kept by farmers. Lackawanna County, in the heart of the mountains, the seat of a great coal-mining industry, is also a poor location. Most of the surplus comes from alsike clover and buckwheat, and beekeeping is pursued chiefly as a side line. Schuylkill is another mountainous county which has few bees. In the strict meaning of the term, there are no commercial apiaries. At Ringtown the yards average about 15 colonies, and the beekeepers are satisfied with 20 pounds per colony. Bee pasturage is scant, and bees often do not store enough for their winter needs. The outlook would be very discouraging if alsike clover were not largely replacing red