210 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to bloom early in July and continue in bloom for a month or more. I 

 regret to say that it will not self -seed, and must be planted annually. 

 This is expensive, and it is doubtful if it will pay. It is to be said, however, 

 that Melissa, in common with the other mints, seems to attract the bees at 

 all times of bloom, whatever the season. So I am of the opinion that if 

 any plant will pay, exclusively as a honey plant, it will be some mint. 

 Many of these are perennial. As the three acres of Melissa last season was 

 singing with bees all through the time of blossoming, and as our bees 

 swarmed in early August, a thing unprecedented in Michigan, it gives 

 reason to hope that with a large average we might secure a honey crop 

 each year despite the season. 



Thus I believe our experiments indicate that special planting for honey 

 alone is of doubtful practicability; that Echinops and Cleome, at least, are 

 not the plants for such special planting, if it is ever to be a success, and 

 that while Melissa, or bee balm, is not profitable, as it is an annual, it is 

 possible that the perennial mints are the plants, if any such there be, that 

 will pay us to grow exclusively as honey plants. 



Unless Cleome will seed itself, it is not the plant even for wayside 

 planting. I think we must look to some of the persistent mints, or, more 

 probably, to some plant valuable for other jjurposes, even to plant on the 

 roadside and in waste places. 



I hope next to try Melilot, or sweet clover, not so much to find whether 

 it is a valuable honey plant, as we know that now, but rather, to find if this 

 luxuriant and vigorous clover may not have other important uses, possi- 

 bly for silage. I shall also hope to plant small beds of promising mints 

 in hope of hints of some plant that will pay just for nectar and nothing 

 else. 



POTATOES. 

 By E. Davenport. Bulletin No. 60, Farm Department. 



Fifty-five varieties of potato were grown by the farm department in 

 1889 upon the sandy loam in the experimental field. The soil was in good 

 condition, but the dry season to some extent shortened the crop. 



Thirty-seven varieties were grown in quantity and were thoroughly 

 tested by eight of the families upon the grounds. The remaining sorts 

 were grown in small quantities and will be further tested the coming 

 season. 



The testing continued from November to March. Color, grain, mealiness 

 and flavor of the potatoes, both baked and boiled, were considered in the 

 markings, which were upon the scale of 10. In no case was the name of 

 the potato known to the tester, and the table fairly represents the opinion 

 of eight different families upon the sorts tested as designated to them by 

 numbers and not by names. The apparent differences in taste and prefer- 

 ence are often striking, as will be seen by study of the table both horizon- 

 tally and vertically. It contains 114 tests — an average of over three for 

 each variety. 



