12 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



gins to bloom from the fifteenth of 

 June a,nd continues in bloom over 

 two months. The bees work on it 

 from morn till night whether the 

 weather is wet or dry. This year 

 lias been the dryest season for 

 twenty-seven years, I think ; and 

 still pleurisy root kept yielding 

 honey right along, when nearly 

 everything else that blossoms was 

 dried np. Another thing in its 

 favor is that if it rains ever so 

 much it yields honey right along. 

 It has been known here for fifteen 

 or twenty years, and since I have 

 taken notice of it, I never knevv 

 a year that it did not furnish honey 

 in abundance. Tliis cannot be said 

 of any other hone}- plant that I am 

 acquainted with. I consider that 

 one good root of pleurisy will fur- 

 nish honey daily for two hundred 

 to five hundred bees. I would say 

 as far as my observation goes, I 

 know of no honey plant that can 

 be compared with it, and if you 

 wish it to bloom late in the season 

 just cut it off before it gets through 

 blooming. There is another pe- 

 culiarity about it. It seems to 

 furnish no pollen, and is rarely 

 ever visited except by bees. I 

 have once in a while seen bumble 

 bees on it, but there is scarcely 

 anything that works on it but honey 

 bees. In answer to inquiries about 

 the seed, I would sa}'^ that what I 

 planted this spring sprouted better 

 than that I sowed in boxes in the 

 winter ; but as there seems to be 

 such a tough covering around the 

 seed, I think it would sprout 

 much sooner if the seed was soaked 

 in warm water. The seed looks 

 much like that of the milk-weed, 

 and lias a wing or balloon attached 

 to it, so when it gets ripe it flies 

 away. The .young plants may be 

 planted between potato hills for tiie 

 first season, 2 to 4 feet apart if the 

 land is rich ; if poor, they may be 

 planted nearer ; if a large plant 

 grows in the same hill with the 



corn it seems not to hurt the latter 

 any, or scarcely an}'. I would say 

 riglit here I have no seed to sell 

 this fall, and it is too late now to 

 gather the seed ; but I can furnish 

 it in any amount another season, 

 I think. I send you a few seeds in 

 this letter for trial. I am ever so 

 much obliged for the Journal you 

 sent. I am well pleased with it. 

 Empire Prairie, Mo. 



Mr. John W. Blodget, another 

 beekeeper residing in Empire, Mo., 

 sends the following concerning 

 pleurisy root : 



"lean endorse everything Mr. 

 Heddon says of pleurisy root. I 

 have found it in our corn fields and 

 meadows. It does no damage nor 

 harm in any land or to any crops. 

 It is not hard to grow it here, as 

 our soil is so rich ; it seems to do 

 well and thrive in our orchards as 

 well as in waste places. I have 

 seen as many as seven bees on one 

 stalk, no matter how much clover 

 and basswood there are, it is all 

 the same and it seems to furnish 

 nectar all day long." 



I don't think we shall want any 

 bee pasturage next year, as there 

 will not be many bees left. The 

 outlook for a good crop of honey 

 next season never was more prom- 

 ising. I noted that where the 

 drought killed the white clover and 

 blue-grass roots the past season 

 that the white clover has now start- 

 ed up again and is nearl}'^ as large 

 as ever, so look out for one of the 

 best honey years ever thought of. 



I don't think there is one colony 

 in ten that has sufficient stores to 

 winter." 



