343 STATE BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. 



grape clusters, ^Yllicl^ iu no iiistauce Avere mutilated. I liave thus been led to 

 doubt if bees ever attack sound grapes, though quick to improve the opportuni- 

 ties which the oriole's beak and the stronger javrs of wa>3ps olfer them. Still, 

 Prof. Riley feels sure that bees are sometimes thus guilty, and Mr, Bid well tells 

 me he has frequently seeu bees rend souud grapes, Avhich they did with their 

 feet. Yet, if this is the case, it is certainly of rare occurrence, and is more 

 than compensated by the great aid AYhich the bees afford the fruit-grower in the 

 great work of cross-fertilizatiou, which is imperatively necessary to his success, 

 as has been so well shown by Dr. Gray and Mr. Chas. Darwin. It is true that 

 cross-fertilization of the floAvers, which can only be accomplished by insects, and 

 early iu the season by the honey-bee, is often, if not always necessary to a full 

 yield of fruit and vegetables. Even then, if Jlr. BidAvell and Prof. Eiley are 

 right, and the bee does, rarely — for surely this is very rare, if CA'er — destroy 

 grapes, still they are, beyond any possible question, invaluable aids to the 

 pomologist. 



But the principal source of honey is still from the floAvers. 



VATIAT AEE THE VALUABLE HOXET PLANTS? 



In the northeastern part of our country the chief reliance for May is the fruit- 

 blossoms, Avillows, and sugar maple. In June white clover yields largely of the 

 most delicious honey, both as to appearance and flavor. In July the incompar- 

 able bass-wood makes both bees and apiarist jubilant. In August buckAvheat 

 offers its tribute, AA'hich we welcome, though it be dark, and pungent in flavor, 

 while Avith us in Michigan, August and September give us a profusion of bloom 

 Avhich yields to no other in the richness of its capacity to secrete honey, and is 

 not cut off till the autumn frosts, — usually about Sept. 15. Thousands of acres 

 of golden rod, boueset, asters, and other autumn flowers of our ncAV northern 

 counties, as yet have blushed unseen, with fragrance Avasted. This unoccupied 

 territory, unsurpassed in its capability for fruit production, coA'cred witli grand 

 forests of maple and bass-Avood, and spread Avith the richest of autumn Ijloom, 

 offers opportunities to the practical apiarist rarely equalled except in the Pacific 

 States, and not ca'Cu there, AA'hen other privileges are considered. In these 

 localities two or three hundred pounds to the colony is no surprise to the api- 

 arist, Avhile even four or five hundred are not isolated cases. 



In the following table Avill be found a list of valuable honey plants. Those 

 in the first column arc lierbaceous or pereiniial, the herbaceous being enclosed 

 in a parentliesis tlius : () Avhile those in the second are shrubs or trees, the 

 names of shrubs being enclosed in a parenthesis. Tlie date of commencement 

 of bloom is, of course, not invariable. The one appended is about average for 

 Central Michigan. Tiiose plants whose names appear in small cajntals yield 

 very superior honey. • Those Avith a line beneath are useful for other purposes 

 than honey secretion. Those Avith a '•" are natiA'C or very common in Michigan. 

 Those Avritten in the plural refer to more than one species, Avhile those followed 

 by a f are very numerous in species. Of course I liaA'c not named all, as that 

 Avould include some liundreds which haA'C been observed at the college, taking 

 nearly all of the two great orders Composite and llosacijB. I haA'e only aimed 

 to give the most important, omitting many foreign plants of notoriety, as I have 

 liad no personal knowledge of them . 



