1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



561 



trial of it. If I understood you correctly, it 

 is now your opinion that, had you at any 

 time, while you Avere thus affected, been 

 stung enough so that your system had be- 

 come thoroughly inoculated with the poison, 

 these bad symptoms would have disappeared. 

 I am inclined to think that giving way to 

 these feelings has often a good deal to do 

 with it. 



Bee Bqt^ny, 



OR, HONEY - PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



HYPTIS EMORGi; A GOOD REPORT FROM THE PRO- 

 CEEDS OF ONE COLONY. 



SEND you a specimen of a plant. It is a shruh 

 or l)ush 4 to 10 ft. in height, with 50 to lOOshoots, 

 from the size of your fore-flnger to the size of 

 your wrist, making- a dense bush from 4 ft. to 

 10 ft. across the top. It has flue light-green 

 twigs like knitting-needles, and long slim needle- 

 like leai'es of a very bright light-green color, which 

 enables you to distinguish it from other shrubs at a 

 great distance. It comes in bloom about the first of 

 Oct., and continues till near the first of Nov. The 

 bees swarm on it and roar like a swarm. However, 

 they can not gather honey so fast as from bass- 

 wood; but they store so much honey, that I had to 

 extract twice while it was in bloom to give the bees 

 room to raise brood. 



I have kept bees in Missouri for 12 years, and 

 have investigated Arkansas and Kansas. "1 have 

 read the honey reports in the bee journals for 30 

 years, but have never read, or heard of any thing, 

 or place, that will compare with this lor bees and 

 honey. Who ever heard of 14 swarms, and tKX) lbs. 

 good thick honey that weighs 12 lbs. to the gallon, 

 from a start of one weak swarm in March? This, 

 too, by natural swarming, and without the use of 

 comb foundation, or any unusual exertion. 

 Tempe, Arizona. Jno. L. Gregg. 



The plant from J. L. Gregg is T/f/pfis Etuorui, 

 Torr., belonging to the mint family iLnhiata), to 

 which so many of our best honey-plants belong. 

 Its late blooming must make it \aluable for bee 

 pasture. I think it has never been lound east of 

 the Mississippi. W. S. Devol, Botanist. 



Ohio Ag'l Exp't Station, Columbus. 



vi 1 :t id ma k s h - !■ I , i; a b a n e . 



I send you by this nuiil a weed, called here pole- 

 cat weed. E. .\. lU TI.KK. 



Terry, Miss. 



Plant sent from Terry, Miss., by Mr. H. A. Butler, 

 is the fn?tid Marsh-Fleabane {Pliirlirn firtiitus, D. C.K 

 This and allied species are found generally distrib- 

 uted throughout the eastern, southern, and middle 

 United States, some of them in salt nuirshes and 

 others in fresh-water marshes and along the banks 

 of streams and shores of ponds, the above-named 

 species being one of the hitter class. Like most of 

 the order romprosite it blooms rather late in the 

 season— August to October. It grows 3 to 5 ft. high, 

 minutely pubescent and glandular; leaves oppo- 

 site, .5 to 8 inches long, coarsely serrate, resinous 

 dotted; the small numerous heads of purplish 

 flowers on slender pedicels are clustei'ed in a pani- 

 cle or paniculate corymb. 



Columbus, O. W. S. Devol, Botanist. 



mountain spinach. 



I was advised to send you a specimen of some- 

 thing that grew in my flower-bed. We supposed at 

 first it was some of the seed I had sown. It had at 

 first a faint resemblance to sunflower, and grows 

 seven feet tall. The plant was examined by a great 

 many, and no two agreed as to what it was. 



Marengo, O. Mrs. Abbey A. Sherman. 



The plant from Mrs. A. A. Sherman is Orache, or 

 Mountain Spinach (Atrp'cx hortensis). It is a hardy 

 annual 3 to 3 ft. high, very popular in France, into 

 which country it is said to have been introduced in 

 1548. It is little grown in the United States, but 

 seeds freely, and in some gardens becomes a troub- 

 lesome weed. W. S. Devol. 



Columbus, Ohio. 



Please name, and tell how inclosed plant ranks as 

 a honey-plant. It is known here as a bad weed in 

 young corn, and is called " Torment," or wild mint. 



Dorchester, Mo. Will T. Zink. 



The specimen from W. T. Ziuk belongs to the 

 mint family; from the small cluster of leaves sent, 

 and no flowers, 1 am unable to determine the spe- 

 cies. If Mr. Z. will send specimen when in bloom I 

 will endeavor to name it for him. 



Columbus, O. W. S. Devol. 



PRIVET. 



1 send a specimen of a shrub now in bloom, which 

 is every year covered with bees, and doubtless 

 yields much honey. Will you please name it for 

 1 me? S. W. MoKUisoN. 



I O.vford, Pa., Julyf), 1885. 



Specimen of flowering shrub from S. W. Morri- 

 son is Privet, or Prim (Lii/uxtriim vuluare, L.) found 

 ' in woods and thickets in N. V., Pa., Va., and west- 

 ' ward to the Mississippi River, supposed to have 

 i been introduced from England, but this is doubt- 

 [ ful. It grr)ws .'> or ft. high, and bears numerous 

 : small, white flowers. W. S. Devol. 



! Columbus, O. 



T. LANCEOLATIM; A FIRST COt'SIN TO THE BAS- 

 TARD PKNNYUOYAL. 



Inclosed please find another specimen of the 

 honey-plant I sent you for identification. The cor- 

 olla is too deep for the bees to get the honey in the 

 usual way, so I went to sec how they did get it. The 

 bee catches hold of the flower, and presses with his 

 tongue and fore-feet at its slender neck, till it 

 I cracks enough to get his tongue in; then he slides 

 it like lightning along to the honey. It was funny 

 to see how eagerly he would slide his tongue along 

 to the honey when he once got in. They did not ap- 

 pear to be able to get into some of the blossoms. 

 This was something new to me, and I hardly knew 

 whether to believe the bee made the crack or not ; 

 so I tried it with the point of my knife, and I found 

 they would crack at the neck with a very slight 

 pressure. Some would not crack at all; these may 

 have been too old and not brittle enough. We sow 

 wheat and oats for hay, and mow it in June. After 

 a month or so. this plant comes up as thick as it can 

 stand and lasts two or three months. 



Soquel, Cal. Hknry R. Dakin. 



The pretty litlle iihtiit from H. R. Dakin is a spe- 

 cies of blue curls {Tri'-lumtrnin). It is known to bot- 

 anists as r. laucriilaturn, Benth., and is a first cous- 

 in to the bastard pennyroyal so often spoken of in 

 this department of Gleanings. It is a strong- 

 scented herb with a soft pubescence covering the 



