130 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



son honey plant. It is very hardy, blooms 

 the first year, and is perennial, but needs 

 renewing once in three or four years for 

 the best result*. 



The great willow herb, Epilobiuia an- 

 gusUfolium, is another source of profit 

 to the bee-keeper with almost no trouble. 

 This plant is commonly known as fire- 

 weed, the downy seeds being blown far 

 by the winds, and their vitality making 

 them burst forth wherever brush is 

 burned. Thus in newly cleared land the 

 plant is common, and easily recognized 

 by its large spikes of rose-purple bloom. 

 It occurs from Labradorto Alaska, South 

 to North Carolina and Kansas, in the 

 Rocky Mountains to Arizona, and on the 

 Pacific Coast to California, says Dr. 

 Britton. Thus it would seem that it 

 might be successfully grown in almost 

 any portion of the United States. In 

 Western New York it is a conspicuous 

 and pleasing characteristic of the flora, 

 while the newly cleared lands of Michi- 

 gan teem with it. In the latter State it 

 often gives a rich harvest to the apiarist, 

 says Prof. Cook, who notes the beautiful 

 clover tint of the honey. Surely a plant 

 which combines so much of both the 

 beautiful and useful should not begrudg- 

 ed a vacant fence row. 



The cardinal flower, frequenting moist 

 grounds either in sun or shade, is one of 

 the most brilliant plants — in fact, there 

 is nothing that will compare with it in 

 the intense coloring of the corolla, unless 

 it be the scarlet salvia of the garden. It 

 is one of the lobelia family and readily 

 submits to garden cultivation. Though 

 yielding less honey than the above, its 

 beauty should gain for it protection. 



Boneset, common in waste places 

 everywhere, is a plant of considerable 

 importance for honey. Button-bush, a 

 shrub found In moist grounds, with 

 small white flowers in spherical heads, is 

 also worthy of attention. Gill-over-the- 

 ground, or ground ivy, is a too common 

 weed which tides the bees over the gaps 

 in the brood-reading period, and while 

 the honey is dark and of an inferior 



quality, it serves the purpose of supply- 

 ing food for young bees. Like many 

 other plants, it does much better on gar- 

 den soil than in the waste places in 

 which it has become as thoroughly at 

 home as though not imported from Eu- 

 rope. But this very fact would lead one 

 to be wary of transplanting. It has the 

 bad habit of spreading. Its near relative, 

 catnip, is also a useful honey plant, yet 

 not rendering itself obnoxious to the 

 farmer. 



This meager list might be greatly 

 lengthened; it serves to show what the 

 waste places keep in store. 



Harmonsburg, Pa. 



"Honey from buckwheat, blue thistle, 

 cotton, orange blossoms, white sage, catnip, 

 thyme and other plants, shows its origin in 

 its distinctive hue and taste." 



A NEW FOUNTAIN OF 

 KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERED. 



An Attractive Number Suggested for the 

 Buffalo Programme. 



BV A. Q. CUMBER. 



Editor Bee-keeper : Please let me 

 have a little space in your journal to 

 offer a suggestion which if put into prac- 

 tice will result in more benefit to those 

 who, like myself, will be at the Buffalo 

 Convention, than any other feature of 

 the programme can possibly do. 



I shall claim the distinction of having 

 discovered a source of information of 

 which yourself and all the other bee- 

 paper editors seem to be ignorant. The 

 discovery was accidental, I'll admit, but 

 this fact renders it no less valuable. 



As stated, you seem not to know that 

 we have with us a class of bee-keepers 

 whose phenomenal knowledge of every- 

 thing pertaining to the business obvious- 

 ly places them upon the ever increasing 

 list of the world's wonders. Heretofore 

 the bee-keepers' conventions have de- 

 pended entirely upon that class who are 

 still studying bee-papers and books; 

 when, there is no doubt, we could as 



