114 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



furnishing a wholesome and palitable 

 material for soups, and attracting 

 winged visitors by its nectar. The 

 foihige of the lentil somewhat resem- 

 bles that of the vetch, as do also the 

 pale blue flowers. The pods contain 

 small lens-shaped seeds, in fact the 

 name of the lens originated from the 

 Latin word for lentil, and was given 

 on account of the close similarity in 

 form to that of the seed of this plant. 

 The seeds are a staple article of food 

 in some parts of the Old World, and 

 more than one family of emigrants 

 has been homesick for the " linsen " of 

 the Fatherland, seed of which they 

 neglected to bring with them across 

 the sea. The seeds are gathered and 

 threshed when ripe in a manner simi- 

 lar to beans ; they may be cooked in 

 any way liked for beans or peas, while 

 their smaller size renders them savory 

 in much less time than that required 

 for cooking our standard garden 

 legumes. 



The cleome, or spider flower, is cu- 

 rious and interesting, and its long 

 spikes of white or pink form a fine 

 background for plants of lower growth. 

 The stamens are much longer than the 

 clawed petals, and render the name 

 spider plant a most appropriate one. 

 Seeds are formed in long pods some- 

 what similar to those common in the 

 mustard family, and after the first 

 flowers become transformed into ripen- 

 ing fruit at the base of the raceme, the 

 terminal buds still continue to form ; 

 thus a single spike will produce flow- 

 ers for several consecutive weeks. Of 

 this plant Prof. Cook says in his Bee- 

 Keepers' Guide : " This plant thrives 

 best in rich, damp, clay soil. It is 

 only open for a little time before 

 night-fall and at early dawn, 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. This cultivated species, C/eome 

 pungens, is a native of South A.merica. 

 A less showy species, though one per- 

 haps even more valuable, is C. integ- 

 rifolia, the Rocky Mountain bee plant, 

 indigeous from Minnesota to Kansas, 

 and frequently cultivated in gardens 

 for its nectar. 



Southern apiarists reap a rich har- 

 vest from the cotton blossoms. While 

 we cannot afford to grow it in quanti- 

 ties here for the honey alone, a few 

 plants in the garden will furnish in 

 their large creamy or pinkish flowers 

 and curious bolls, even though the 

 latter fail to mature, a profitable sub- 

 ject of study for the children, and 

 one that will delight the bees. 



Then there are candytuft, sweet 

 alyssum, mignonette, and many other 

 plants almost indispensable to the 

 flower lover, and while in small quan- 

 tity not to be regarded as a material 

 source of the honey crop, yet close at 

 hand and alluring to the bees when 

 not actively engaged on some of the 

 staple plants. They may be reckoned 

 akin to the knitting work with which 

 the industrious housewife of olden 

 times made use of the odd moments 

 which would otherwise have been lost. 



Let those inclined to make light of 

 the small part which a flower bed 

 would furnish to a colony of bees, re- 

 pair to the crocus bed on the first 

 sunny days. The blossoms are liter- 

 ally alive with the busy insects, which 

 evidently want to make up for their 

 long imprisonment, at least they never 

 seemed more hard at work, and a first 

 glance at them among the blossoms ia 



