452 THE BEE-KEBPBR'S GUIDE; 



honey-product of this plant is worthy its name. The closely 

 related snow-drop (S. racemosus), common in cultivation, is 

 also a honey-plant. I close this account with mention of 

 another, Cleome, the famous spider-plant (Cleome spinosa), 

 (Fig-. 253). This plant thrives best in rich, damp, clay soil. It 

 is only open for a little time before nightfall and at early 

 dawn, closing- by the middle of the forenoon ; but when open 

 its huge drops of nectar keep the bees wild with excitement, 

 calling them up even before daylight, and enticing them to 

 the field long after dusk. It is a native of the tropics, and is 

 found now from south New Jersey to Florida and Louisiana. 



I have thus mentioned the most valuable honey-plants of 

 our country. Of course, there are many omissions. Let all 

 apiarists, by constant observation, help to fill up the list. 



BOOKS ON BOTANY. 



I am often asked what books are best to make apiarists 

 botanists. I am glad to answer this question, as the study of 

 botany will not only be valuable discipline, but will also 

 furnish abundant .pleasure, and give important practical 

 information. Gray's Lessons and Manual of Botany, in one 

 volume, published by Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co., New 

 York, is the most desirable treatise on this subject. A more 

 recent work by Prof. C. E. Bessey, and published by Henry 

 Holt & Co., is also very excellent. Coulter's and Atkinson's 

 Botanies are also most excellent. The first treats of syste- 

 matic, the second of physiological botany, while the last two 

 are up to date and very fascinating. 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 



It will pay well for the apiarist to decorate his grounds 

 with soft and silver maples, for their beauty and early bloom. 

 If his soil is rich, sugar-maples and lindens may well serve a 

 similar purpose. Indeed, every apiarist should strive to have 

 others plant the linden. No tree is so worthy a place by the 

 roadside. The Judas and tulip trees, both North and South, 

 may well be made to ornament his home. For vines, obtain 

 the wistarias, where they are hardy. In California, encourage 



