The American Apiciiltufisl 



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ENTERED AT THE POST-OFFICE, WENIIAM, AS SECOND- CLASS MATTICU. VVVv 

 Published Monthly. Henrt ArxET, ManagI 



VOL. VI. WENHAM, MASS., FEBRUARY i, 1888. 



"We deal in lirst-class apiari- I Kstabli.shed in 1883. Terms: I Any yearly subscriber is en- 

 an supi)lies of all kinds. lowest I $1.00 iier year, 50 cents per six I titloil to one of our selected 

 prices. Prompt shipment. iiiontlis, 25 cents jier three I queens jinvtime l>et\vnen. June 1 



Semi for price list. I months. Cash in advance. | and Oct. l", by remittinpr 50 cts. 



Address all communications, AMEHICAlSr APICUIiTURIST, Wenham, Mass. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



MELISSA, OR THE HONEY 

 PRODUCER. 



A. C. Tyrrel. 



" JfeJifssa officinalis," or the 

 " Honey Producer," also known a,s 

 " Balm'," '* Bee Balm" (old name 

 from Greek for bee). Thirty thou- 

 sand flowers from one seed. 



In this article 3'ou will find the 

 information desired as to the man- 

 ner of cultivating Melissa, its 

 habits, etc. 



Botanical description of Mel- 

 issa : — calyx with 3-toothed up- 

 per lip flat. Corolla more or less 

 curved and ascending. Filaments 

 arching and bringing anthers to- 

 gether in pairs, rather hairy, loosely 

 branched, lemon scented, with 

 ovate or scarcely heart-shaped cre- 

 nate-toothed leaves and yellowish 

 or snow-white flowers in small loose 

 axillary clusters. Right here I 

 must digress to say that although 

 the flowers were originally pure 

 white, as described above, I now 

 have plants with purple stalks and 

 flowers, cross-fertilized by my bees. 

 By carrying pollen from '•Phacelia" 

 a small blue flower, and "■ good 

 bee food," to 3Idissa, the transfor- 

 mation was eftected, proving con- 

 dusivebj that ^ees are not confined 

 exclusively to one variety of flow- 

 ers in gathering honey, but flit 



3 



from flower to flower, if in close 

 proximity ; and it also shows the 

 agency of bees in cross fertilizing 

 and otherwise improving flowers. 

 This is the most wonderful and 

 convincino; transformation wrought 

 by bees that has come under my 

 observation, and those who con- 

 tend that those harmless insects 

 injure fruits and flowers, are not 

 well informed. One more observa- 

 tion in this connection ; I have a 

 bed of pure Crescent strawberries 

 a pistillate variety. The rule for 

 planting is: — they must have 

 hermaphrodite or perfect-flowered 

 varieties planted every fifteen or 

 twenty feet among them or they 

 will produce imperfect fruit. 



My hermaphrodite sorts were 

 growing 200 or 300 feet from them 

 but I had a good yieldof7)er/t'C< fruit 

 from the Crescents, through no other 

 agency than the bees. But to re- 

 turn to my subject. Melissa is the 

 oldest recognized honey-plant in the 

 world, being known to the Greeks, 

 as its name indicates, and so-called 

 on account of the attractions the 

 plants possessed for bees. It was 

 imported in 1881, and thoroughly 

 tested since, but I did not call the 

 attention of apiarists to this re- 

 markable plant until 1886, prefer- 

 ring to fully satisfy myself first as 

 to its merits or demerits. Since 

 then I have scattered seeds broad- 

 cast, as it were, over nearly every 



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