IIONEY-I'LANTS 



281 



HYBRIDS. 



Wliitc Siig-c [K.iin iiKt i)iili)--<Ui<li!J-'\, • iililoriii.i. 



Whitewood, wliich see [LiriodaulnDi ti(H))ifn-a]. 



Wild buckwheat [PoJ in/on iiwl; produces a lisht- 

 coloied honey. 



Wild cheiiy [Pntiuix I'l niisylrani<(t], north. 



Wild rose [III s i CdiDUna, Iticida, blanda, caiihiih 

 tug ma]. 



Wild semia [C«.stfux (■hanKBcrMa']. 



Wild suiitiower [HilianflniKl, — species. 



Willow [S'llirl. All species form an important 

 (■las~, coming- as they do early in tiie season, and 

 yielding: hoth honey and pollen. 



WiLLOWHEiui, which see [EpUDhium amgustifoV 

 nail] , northern parts of the United States anc Canada. 



\Vistari:i [WUhtiin cliinennis]. 



^'ellow-wood [Viiyilia ;?(/ea]. Virginia. One of 

 the tinest native ornamental trees. 



HONEY VINEGAR. See A^ineg.v it. 



HORSniraiVrT ( Monar- 

 da fistiUosa ). This plant was 

 lirst brouglit to notice several 

 years ago, and at that time the 

 seeds were sold quite exten- 

 sively as a honey-bearing plant. 

 It was dropped and almost for- 

 gotten, until reports of large 

 crops of honey, said to be from 

 this source alone, began to 

 come in. It first attracted at- 

 tention on the alluvial low 

 lands l:>ordering on the Missis- 

 sippi lliver; afterward, won- 

 derful reports came of it, from 

 different parts of Texas— one 

 man reporting as high as 700 

 lbs. gathered by a single colony 

 in a single season. The bees 

 that did this wonderful feat 

 were Cyprians, or, at least, 

 were crossed with Cyprian 

 blood. 



Ilorsemint in Texas begins 

 to bloom in May or June, and 

 the honey is of good color and 

 body, and fair flavor. It is a 

 little strong, and on that ac- 

 count has been compared with 

 Northern basswood. It is one 

 of the very best honey-plants 

 of Texas. One peculiarity of 

 the flower is that it has very deep corolhi- 

 tubes— even deeper than those of red clover 

 so that bees with long tongues are a desid- 

 eratum in Texas as well as in red-clover 

 regions of the North. 



HOUSE- APIARY. See AriARY. 



HUA JILL A. ( Zygia brevifolia, Sargent ) . 

 This is a very important lioney-plant, or 

 tree, rather, in Texas, for the dry arid por 

 tions where there is little or no irrigation, 

 and where nothing, in fact, grows except 

 mesquite, catclaw, sige-brush, and other 



desert plants. Ihe Jact lli;it it docs not 

 depend on irrigation, and needs only a 

 scanty amount of rain early in tiie season, 

 makes it most valuable to the bee-keeper 

 in those re;Tions where it grows and yields 

 large (luantities of beautiful water-white 

 honey. Indeed, it is the ttnest produced in 

 Texas, and is so nearly water wiiite ;is to be 

 almo-t as clear as jnire water. It is at its 

 very best in the region of Uvalde, I'exas. 



The leaves look like a small delicate fern, 

 and jiartake soj ewli;it of the niiture of the 

 sensitive j'lant, for when touched they im- 

 mediatclv close. The view of le;if is life size. 



nUAJILI.A. 



j HVBRIDS. Strictly speaking, there is 

 I no suf'h tiling as a true hybrid in bee cul- 

 ! ture, because the term applies only to a 

 j cross between different species. We obtain 

 ! many crosses lietween races of bees. As 

 I these were early called hyljiids in bee-litera- 

 ture, the term lias been peimunent. Every- 

 body who has had Italians very long prob- 

 ably knows what hybrids are, especially 

 if they have kept bees when the honey 

 crop was suddenly cut short during a very 

 severe drouth in the fall of the year. The 

 term hybrid has been api)lied to bees that 



