264 



THE BEE-KEEPERS" REVIEW 



how much honey had been gathered. 

 To his astonishment, there were several 

 pounds in the central combs; and the 

 two men hustled for home, and worked 

 all night packing up another load of bees 

 to take the next day. My brother Elmer 

 says he has known the flow to be so 

 abundant that a small drop of nectar 

 might be seen at the base of each petal. 

 We will probably get a crop from this 

 source next year, and then it may be a 

 dozen years before we get any more to 

 amount to anything— not until another 

 great fire sweeps over the country. 



This plant grows from two to six feet 

 in height, and, as a rule, inclines to a 

 single stalk. In fact, it reminds me of 

 the phlox of the flower garden. One 

 peculiarity of the bloom is that it lasts 

 from the middle of July until cut down 

 by the frost. So long as it is in bloom 

 there seems to be a cluster of buds push- 

 ing themselves up from the center of the 

 bloom. As these buds unfold, others 

 take their places, and so the stalk pushes 

 up and up, always tipped with a sprig of 

 buds, below which is a cluster of bloom 

 that in time gives way to seed-pods that 

 eventually burst open and scatter to the 

 winds seed like thistle down. Thus we 

 have on the same stalk, buds, blossoms 

 and seed-pods; and, in many instances, 

 the oldest seed-pods have burst and are 

 scattering their downy seeds far and 

 near. I think sirch seeds might be 

 carried in great numbers— well, perhaps, 

 hundreds of miles. My brother Elmer 

 tells me that one day last fall, when the 

 sun was shining brightly, he could see 

 the willow herb seeds floating as high up 

 in the air as the eye could reach; and 

 the air seemed literally filled with seeds, 

 white and glistening. Perhaps this 

 explains why it springs up, apparently in 

 a spontaneous manner, after the ground 

 has been burned over by fires; whereas, 

 the fire simply burns off the leaves or 

 turf, and furnishes a seed-bed for the 

 wandering seed. 



The honey from willow herb is the 

 whitest and sweetest honey I have ever 



tasted. The flavor is not very pro- 

 nounced, but has a suggestion of spici- 

 ness. Only a bee keeper can realize 

 how much real, downright pleasure 1 

 experience in working in such an apiary 



A Sprig of Willow Herb in Bloom, 

 as is shown on the opposite page — 

 extracting the honey, storing it away in 

 the bright, new, tin cans, and sending it 

 off to tickle the palates of our far-away 

 customers. 



Flint, Mich., Aug. 6. 1910. 



