Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 



Vol. XI 



DECEMBER 1901 



No. 12 



GOLDENROD. 



She stood, the blooming flowers among 

 When Spring's soft airs were whis- 

 pering, 



And all the woods were glad with song 

 A poor, unsightly, weed-like thing. 



The Summer, with her languid sigh, 

 Stole on and warmed the winnowing 

 air. 



And still the wild bee passed her by, 

 And still she grew, neglected, there. 



All scattered lie the flowers of Spring; 



The Summer's early bloom is dead; 

 The song-birds have forgot to sing. 



The thrush to other haunts has fled. 



The mountain wears a misty crown; 



The first red leaves are flitting by; 

 But to the fields is drifted down 



A glory from the glowing sky. 



A reflex of the ripened sun 



All Spring and Summer stored with 

 care. 

 The patient plant-heart's work is done, 



And now all nature owns her fair. 



And from each dainty, golden cup 

 With amber nectar richly stored 



The Bacchant bees with rapture sup 

 And hum love-ditties at her board. 



Thus the slow-clianging soul that keeps 

 Within her secret depths a-glow 



And feels, as in long, dreamful sleeps, 

 The germ immortal stir and grow — 



The soul that feared itself so poor. 

 Half doubtful of its ripening. 



When Autumn's sun has warmed its 

 core. 



May bloom at last, a radiant thing. 



— Danske Dandridge, in ".Toy and 



Other Poems." 



>->4-f>>-^>» 



Loving kindness is greater than laws; and 

 the charities of life are more than nil cere- 

 monies. — Talmud, 



Peculiarities of White Alder. 



(By Arthur C. Miller.) 



CLETHRA ALNIFOLIA, com- 

 monly known as White Alder 

 and Sweet Pepper Bush is both 

 the most attractive and most tantaliz- 

 ing honey plant with which I have had 

 to do. Blossoming during the latter 

 part of July and early part of August, 

 it comes at a time when few other flow- 

 ers are open, and when the hives are 

 often nearly devoid of honey- Could it 

 be depended upon to yield with even a 

 reasonable degree of regularity, it 

 would be a boon indeed, but it is more 

 than erratic. It never fails to flower 

 profusely, but it gives a honey shower 

 only about once in seven years; a mod- 

 erate flow, enough to put the bees in 

 fine fettle for goldenrod and asters, for 

 three years, and for the other three it 

 is a flat failure. For twenty-one years 

 I have watched this shrub but I am now 

 no nearer discovering the cause of its 

 failure one season and its success an- 

 other, than I was at the beginning. 

 Low, moist lands are its native soil, 

 but it thrives in any good loam. Its 

 foliage is a dark glossy green, and its 

 long spikes of waxy-white flowers make 

 it most showy. The perfume is heavy, 

 reminding one of the tuberose. For 

 low hedges this plant is excellent, 

 growing close and dense and the stems 



