THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



177 



iloircij plants. 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY PROP. BESSET, 

 IOWA STATE AG'L COLLEGE. 



I send you a specimen of a plant that 

 bees in our part of the country work on 

 from the 10th of September until Novem- 

 ber. They leave buckwheat for it. Please 

 let me know if the honey from it is of a 

 good quality ; it appears nice as far as I 

 am capable of judging. I would like to 

 hear a good report from it, as it is a never- 

 failing crop with us. L. W. Lewis. 



Page Co., Va. 



The plant referred to is a species of As. 

 ter or Starwort. On account of its many 

 flowers it has received the name of Aster 

 Multiflorut. It may very properly bear 

 the common name of the Many Flowered 

 Aster, or Many Flowered Starwort. All 

 the Asters are good honey plants, and as 

 they come into bloom so late in the 

 season, and continue so long, they fill a 

 place unoccupied by any other, with the 

 exception of some of the golden-rods. 



Here is a twig of a plant which seems 

 to be excellent for honey. It commences 

 to blossom in May, and the bees work on 

 it from morn till night, in wet and dry 

 weather, and it will doubtless continue to 

 blossom on till frost. There was only a 

 little of it growing along the fence by the 

 roadside, and I never noticed it until last 

 year. I would like to know the name of 

 it. It grows from two to three feet high, 

 with many stems from the same trunk ; 

 the rest of the description you can see 

 from the specimen. T. W. Livingston. 



The fragment of plant belonged to the 

 Common Motherwort, (i^eo/iwus Cardiaca.) 



The sample of weed I send you grows 

 from 3 to 4 feet high ; it smells like honey ; 

 hundreds of acres are covered with this 

 weed during the summer — enough pastur- 

 age for 5,000 stands of bees. H. 



This is a species of eupatorium. It is a 

 near relative of white snakeroot, and as 

 it has no common name, it must be 

 known by its scientific one — Eupatorium 

 Serotinum. 



Enclosed is an insect — is it a bee-killer? 

 Also something that my bees are deposit- 

 ing at the entrance of the hive. I never 

 saw anything like it before. 



Paoli, Ind. B. M. Lingle. 



The enclosed insect is, as you rightly 

 surmise, the bee-killer. The specimen 

 was a magnificent one, being fully an inch 

 and a half long, and having wings nine- 



tenths of an inch in length. When living 

 it no doubt caught and killed many a bee. 

 The material carried out and deposited 

 at the entrance of the hive proves, upon 

 microscopic and chemical examination 

 to be wax. Its odor is unpleasant, sug- 

 gesting the idea that it may be excreted, 

 undigested wax which had been eaten by, 

 possibly, the worm of the bee moth. 

 Possibly, also, it may be foul wax which 

 the bees cut away and carried out. Its 

 finely divided state favors this idea. 



I send you several cotton-wood leaves ; 

 on the underside of which you will notice 

 small excrescences or secretions. Our 

 bees gathered ''pollen" therefrom for 

 nearly a month, last fall. What is it? 



Los Angeles, Cal. Jno. R. Bruck. 



The growths on the backs of the cotton- 

 wood leaves are of Fungoid origin. To 

 students of Fungology they are known 

 under the name of melampsora populina, 

 or " Poplar Brand." They belong to the 

 same great group of the Fungi, as the 

 Rusts, Smuts and Cluster Cups. Is our 

 friend quite certain that the bees really 

 gather and use this Fungus instead of 

 pollen ? If true, it is an interesting fact. 

 Will he not examine into this point with 

 the greatest possible care, and report the 

 result of his observations ? 



James McG. Fraser, of San Diego, Cal- 

 ifornia sends a specimen of "a honey pro- 

 ducing wild plant" which he says ''grows 

 about three or four feet high in bunches." 

 He states further that it is very abundant 

 in San Diego County. He asks for its 

 name through The Journal. 



It is known as Uosackia glabra. Torrey. 

 It is a near relation of common clover, 

 and like it has tri-foliate leaves; the flow- 

 ers which are yellow, are in small clusters 

 along the flowering stem. We know noth- 

 ing personally of its honey producing 

 qualities, but give it on Mr. Fraser's au- 

 thority. 



Inclosed is the sprig of a small tree 

 that grows here, known as yellow wood. 

 It yields more nectar tlian any other tree 

 or plant here. Its foliage is handsome, 

 and its bark smooth and white. It is one 

 of the most desirable trees to transplant 

 either for ornament or honey. I could 

 furnish scions or seed in any furnish 

 very reasonably. T. E. Shelton. 



This sample is from what is known as 

 the alder buck-thorn (Frangula Carolini- 



