TMm aMERicTCK PHU joijimniti^. 



295 



j)eculiar construction and openness of 

 the blossoms, even a very gentle breeze 

 of wind will shake the nectar all out 

 of them in an incredibly short time ; 

 or, when the sun shines out brightly, 

 the nectar disappears with the morning 

 dew. Tlie bees do not notice it througli 

 the middle of the da}'. Therefore, I 

 conclude that the spider-plant is of 

 but little value for honey, especially in 

 localities much exposed to wind. 



Cleome, ok Rocky Mountain Bee- 

 PLANT.^This is a rank, thrifty-grow- 

 ing plant in this soil, and evidently 

 yields considerable nectar ; but the 

 plant and dowers have a very disagree- 

 able odor, which appears to be im- 

 parted to the honey which it produces. 

 Two years ago I had a row of cleome 

 growing about live rods long, and the 

 plauts branched out and formed a 

 complete mass from 6 to 8 feet wide, 

 the whole length of this row, and 

 when in full bloom, it was very beauti- 

 ful in appearance. Although there 

 were more than 40 colonies of bees 

 which had access to it, yet one colony 

 succeeded in storing enough honey 

 from this little patch of plants, so that 

 the odor of the plant was plainly dis- 

 cernible in some of the honey in the 

 sections, both to the smell, and to the 

 taste. This seems to indicate that 

 cleome, when well grown, will j-ield 

 considerable quantities of honey, but 

 not of a desirable quality for table use. 



I have been watching with consid- 

 erable interest for Prof. A. J. Cook's 

 account of his experiment with cleome, 

 wdiich I understood he proposed to 

 make last season ; but if anything has 

 been published concerning the result, 

 it has escaped my notice, or else I have 

 forgotten about it. I wish that the 

 Professor would give us his opinion 

 about cleome as a honey-plant. 



Catnip. — This is a good hoaey- 

 bearing plant, but it also has a flavor 

 peculiar to that herb, which is im- 

 parted to the honey that it produces, 

 but, fortunately, it is not very objec- 

 tionable, and r estimate it as one of the 

 best of honey-plants. 



Melilot. — This plant is too widely 

 and favorably known to need anything 

 further said in its praise. Its delight- 

 ful fragrance is a guarantee for the 

 excellence of the honej- which it pro- 

 duces, and the eagerness with which 

 the bee visits it, is an indication of the 

 quantitj\ as well as the quality of the 

 nectar which they obtain from it ; 

 although there are times when, for 

 some cause, they seem to pass it by 

 almost unnoticed — but this is also the 

 case with almost all other honey-bear- 

 ing plants, shrubs and trees. 



Simpson Honey-Plant. — It is per- 

 haps one of the most valuable of any 

 on the list of plants to be grown for 



" honey alon(i " in this locality. It is 

 a rank, thiifty-growing perennial ; 

 grows re.adily from the seed, and, 

 when once startc^l, will crowd every- 

 thing else out so far as it is allowed to 

 spread. Thi! variety which 1 have (I 

 think that it is called " early or 

 dwarf") grows about 8 feet high, anfl 

 branches out like a small tree. It 

 commences to bloom in July, and con- 

 tinues in bloom until severe frost stops 

 its growth — usually in September or 

 October, in this locality. 



When this plant is in bloom, and the 

 weather is such as to admit of it, the 

 bees literally swarm over it from the 

 early dawning of the morning until 

 the shades of evening fall. Hive-bees, 

 bumble-bees, yellow-jackets, hornets, 

 and other species of honey-loving in- 

 sects hover around it and keep up a 

 roaring equal to a large swarm on the 

 wing, which can be heard several rods 

 distant. 



I have never been able to form any 

 definite opinion as to the flavor of the 

 honey from this plant, but if the eager- 

 ness manifested by all kinds of bees 

 and other insects to get some of it, is 

 any criterion to judge by, then the 

 quality must be excellent, and the 

 quantity considerable. I have had a 

 little patch of this (perhaps equal to 

 about one square rod) growing for the 

 the last 5 or 6 years, and have many 

 times noticed that all wild bees — such 

 as yellow-jackets, hornets, etc. — have 

 a great preference for this plant ; ap- 

 parently, they will not notice any 

 other kind of flowers in its vicinity, 

 therefore the hive-bees stand a poor 

 chance to get much from so small a 

 stand of plants. 



I have sometimes watched the bees 

 working on the Simpson honey-plant, 

 to see how often each blossom would 

 be visited ; and I calculated that every 

 oijen blossom was examined by one or 

 more bees as often as once every min- 

 ute, on an average, throughout the 

 whole of each and every fine day. Of 

 course they could not get much each 

 time when visited so often, but still 

 they would get enough to keep them 

 hanging around, rather than to go 

 somewhere else to look for honey. 



Another important feature about it 

 is, that whatever dearth of nectar 

 there may be from other sources, I 

 have never known the bees to desert 

 the Simpson honey-plant, when it was 

 in bloom, and the weather suitable for 

 bees to work. 



Now, with the little knowledge I 

 have of this matter, and the impres- 

 sions received by observations made 

 from the foregoing trifling and com- 

 paratively insignificant experiments, I 

 am ready to believe that it will " pay 

 to occupy farm land for honey alone " 

 — provided that care is taken to select 



plants well suited to the soil and loca- 

 tion, and that we do not have to jias- 

 ture too many of other people's bees. 

 My first choice of plants for such pur- 

 pose in Miis place, would be the Simp, 

 son honey-plant ; second choice, meli- 

 lot — but the latter does not seem to 

 "catch" well when sown broadcast on 

 soil here. I have tried twice to seed 

 half an acre, by sowing it with gi-ain 

 crops, the same as other clovers, but 

 for some cause it mostly failed to 

 grow. 



GoLDEN-Roi). — That " Many men 

 have many minds," is, I think, verified 

 by the many difl'erent opinions which 

 have lately been expressed through 

 the columns of the American Bee 

 Journal concerning golden-rod as a 

 honey-plant ; and perhaps to some ex- 

 tent they may all be correct, under 

 certain conditions, so far as the plant 

 itself is concerned ; but I think that 

 some of them are mistaken in regard 

 to the character of the honey which it 

 produces, if not in the quantity. 



In this part of the country, golden- 

 rod is a good honey-plant, when all the 

 conditions are right, but it needs an 

 abundance of rain to keep the ground 

 moist when it is in bloom, to enable it 

 to secrete nectar freely. For example, 

 last August, when golden-rod first be- 

 gan to bloom, the weather was very 

 dry, and the bees paid no attention to 

 it until about Aug. 20, when we had a 

 heavy fall of rain which soaked the 

 ground, and for 3 or 4 days after the 

 rain, the bees were all excited over the 

 golden-rod — 7 or 8 bees would some- 

 times be working on the same flower, 

 all at once ; but after a week or so of 

 dry weather, they seemed not to notice 

 it any more. 



Golden-rod honey, when free from 

 admixture with any other kind of 

 honey, is of a peculiarly bright-straw 

 color, rather thin in texture, and has a 

 flavor, when first gathered, decidedly 

 resembling a weak decoction of the 

 plant, and it is as little inclined to 

 granulate as any other honey with 

 which I am acquainted. I have had 

 it remain liquid a year or more, but it 

 is not often that we can get it free 

 from mixture with other honey, be- 

 cause boneset, wild celandine, wild 

 asters, etc., all bloom about the same 

 time with golden-rod. Honey from 

 wild asters will granulate in a very 

 short time, whether in the comb or out 

 of it. 



Aster honey, when free from admix- 

 ture, is very white — I think that it is 

 as white as linden honey, and, when 

 first gathered, it has a sort of spicy 

 flavor, wdiich is very pleasant to the 

 taste ; but when it granulates, it loses 

 that spiciness. I send to the Editor a 

 sample of it, and would like his opin- 

 ion in I'cgard to its quality, and prob- 



