54 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



says that at times the blossoms of the Indian corn yield both honey 

 and pollen to the bees, but we think to no great extent. We have 

 never observed the bees working on these blossoms. 



The laurel (Kalmia) yields honey which is poisonous. Gener- 

 ally the bees do not work on these blossoms, but in some localities 

 they do, and we frequently read of persons poisoned by honey 

 which probably comes from this plant. It is thought that the 

 poisoning of the Greek soldiers under Xenophon was by honey 

 from this family of plants in this case from rhododendrons. 



The plant lice (aphides) which infest many plants secrete a 

 sweetish fluid of which bees, ants, and other insects are very fond. 

 In seasons when real nectar is scarce or altogether lacking, bees will 

 collect and store this material, which is generally known as honey- 

 dew or manna. There is, however, another variety of honeydew 

 which seems to be secreted by the leaves of plants and is gathered 

 by the bees. This material is hardly fit for human food, nor is it 

 for bees either, and it is doubtless a principal cause of winter loss 

 of colonies, for it produces in the bees a diarrhoea from which 

 they perish if the winter is one of continuous cold, so that they 

 can not take an occasional cleansing flight. Cider, juices of 

 grapes, and all other sweet fluids are collected and stored by bees 

 in seasons of scarcity. The general bad effects of all these are the 

 same as of the honeydew they produce intestinal disorders of 

 which the bees die. 



The profitable cultivation of plants, otherwise useless, for honey 

 alone has never yet been demonstrated, and the low price of sugar 

 will probably preclude any such efforts in the near future. Honey 

 will remain a luxury, and as such will be produced in favorable 

 locations that is, on poor soil, where the honey plants grow natu- 

 rally, and where the land can be utilized for nothing else. How- 

 ever, in the planting of shade trees it would be well to plant those 

 which will produce honey as well as shade. 



The effort is made by practical bee-keepers to find some plant, 

 like the buckwheat, which may make a useful farm crop and at 

 the same time produce honey. Many think alsike clover will do 

 this. Prof. Cooke thus speaks of it : " Alsike or Swedish clover 

 (Trifolium hybridum) seems to resemble both the red and the 

 white clover. It is a stronger grower than the white, and has a 

 whitish blossom tinged with pink. This forms excellent pasture 

 and hay for cattle, sheep, etc., and may well be sown by the 

 apiarist. It will often pay apiarists to furnish neighbor farmers 

 with seed as an inducement to grow this par excellent honey plant. 

 Like white clover, it blooms all through June into July. It should 

 be sown early in spring with timothy, five or six pounds to the 

 acre, in the same manner that clover is sown." 



