THE EXPERIMENT STATION. 153 



Horticultural Society, page 200, an illustrated article on the insect. The 

 remedy there recommended — feeding all apples on affected trees to swine, 

 cattle or sheep, in early fall before the fruit fall to the ground, or at least 

 before the insects leave the fruit — has been tried repeatedly in our State and 

 with marked success. 



This year I have received plums and late cherries from northern Michigan 

 attacked by this same insect. So far as I know, this insect^has not been 

 previously reported as infesting either of these fruits. 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE APIARY. 



According to the plans adopted two years ago, the experiments in the 

 Apiary are along four lines: Testing honey plants to determine whether 

 any will pay for planting and growing exclusively for honey; breeding bees 

 by crossing in hopes to secure a superior race ; analyzing various kinds of 

 honey to ascertain if any test for honey is possible and can be relied upon ; 

 and various points in manipulation, etc., which will come out with the year. 



HONEY PLANTS. 



The plants experimented with for the past season were Eocky Mountain 

 bee plant (Cleome integrifolia), Chapman honey plant, Echinops sphero- 

 cephalus, a mint, a species of Melissa, and Japanese buckwheat. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN" BEE PLANT. 



In growing this plant in small plats, as I have for years, I have previously 

 learned that it does not germinate when sowed in the spring. Indeed the 

 point has been raised against this plant that it is reluctant to start. From 

 my experiments in small plats, I had not thought this an objection when the 

 plants were sowed in the fall. Last autumn I sowed eight acres with this seed, 

 obtained fresh from Colorado. A portion of the seed was sown early, the 

 remainder quite late. All was dragged after sowing. The soil was very light 

 sand, and had been cropped continuously for some years. Thus it was very 

 weedy, and early in the spring I dragged the whole ground once over. None 

 of the seed came well. That sowed latest came much the best. I am now 

 of the opinion that the dragging both in the fall and spring were unfavora- 

 ble to the welfare of the plants, as it was observed that about stumps, where 

 balks or places not dragged occurred, the seed came much better. This 

 seems the more reasonable, as in nature the seed is dropped early in the fall 

 and is not at all covered. The plants in places came up well, but for the 

 most part they were very scattering. The first blossoms opened June 13 ; 

 June 24 the flowers were fully out. The bloom continued all through 

 August. There were a few scattering blossoms even till frost came, the 

 middle of September. Very likely there might have been more of these late 

 blossoms had there been any rain. The bees worked on the flowers more or 

 less all the season. At some times they fairly swarmed on the plants. There 

 was a wood-lot between the apiary, and the plants. Often the hum or roar 

 of the bees was so loud in this wood-lot that persons walking through it 

 were led to look for a bee tree. 



