AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 65 



fornia. The best known is the common century plant (Agave americana), 

 an introduced species, cultivated for ornament. This is a conspicuous 

 hgure of ornamental planting in southern California. 



In Mexico some species of agaves furnish fibre, while others are the 

 source of pulque and mescal, intoxicating drinks much used in the country 

 below the Rio Grande. 



The plants do not bloom until they are several years old. The flower 

 stalks grow very rapidly and reach a height of 25 or 30 feet within a few 

 weeks' time. When in bloom thej^ secrete nectar in abundance, and the 

 bees swarm over them in great numbers. As will be seen by the illustra- 

 tion, the flower stalks support innumerable blossoms, so that a single 

 plant will yield a considerable amount of honey. The fact that the plants 

 are nowhere abundant in this country, together with the long period which 

 must elapse before they bloom, makes it improbable that they will ever be 

 of much importance to American beekeepers. 



CEPHALANTHUS, see Button Bush. 

 CHAMISE, see Greasewood. 



CHAPMAN HONEY PLANT (Echinops sphoerocephalus). 



The Chapman honey plant was introduced from France about 1885. 

 The bee journals of 1886 and 1887 devote a large amount of space to a dis- 

 cussion of this plant. It was brought prominently to the attention of 

 American beekeepers by Hiram Chapman, of Versailles, New York, who 

 planted about three acres of it at that place. He made such glowing re- 

 ports of the plant at the National Beekeepers' Convention that a com- 

 mittee of prominent men was appointed to visit the Chapman home and 

 report on the new plant at the convention of the following year. They 

 made a lengthy and very favorable report, which is published in full on 

 page 28 of the American Bee Journal for January 5, 1887. 



Numerous beekeepers secured seed, and so attractive did the plant 

 prove to the bees that favoral)le reports appeared frequently in the 

 columns of the journals for the next few years. However, the great 

 expectations were not realized, for it soon disappeared, and is seldom 

 mentioned in current literature. The following quotation from Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, which appeared in Gleanings, in December, 1918, is probably a cor- 

 rect estimate of the value of the plant: 



"After reading the British Bee Journal of September 26, I should 

 have made a vigorous effort to secure a supply of seed of Echinops 

 Sphoerocephalus, if I had no previous experience with the plant. No 

 bee plant that I have ever grown was so attractive to the bees. When- 

 ever the weather was favorable the heads were crowded. I have 

 counted fourteen or fifteen bees on one at the same time.' 



This is the Chapman honey plant that had a big boom in this 

 country a number of years ago; but it is not heard of now, and is not 

 included among the honey plants in the bee books. Upon its introduc- 

 tion I planted quite a patch of it, and like Mr. Harwood, I never saw 

 the bees so thick on any other plant. But close observation showed 

 that the bees were not in eager haste in their usual way when getting 

 a big yield, but were in large part idle. It looked a little as if the 



