390 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



skin of a sound grape. This fallacy is one that the bee-keepers of this country 

 have been obliged to fight for years and years, and yet it has many times been 

 proved to be wrong. 



Mr. Harris : I do not believe that the honey bee injures the grape, 

 that is the sound grape. — Minn. Hort. Soc, 1892. 



NATIVE BEE PLANTS. 



N Michigan there is a very large number of plants which 

 furnish a good quality of honey. If the species is abun- 

 dant in any region, it usually becomes known to the apiarist 

 as a good bee plant ; if not abundant it very likely fails to 

 attract attention. A plant may be rare or important in 

 one region and abundant in another. In autumn, asters 

 and golden rods are known as excellent bee plants, because some few of the 

 many species in the State are plentiful in nearly every neighborhood, but the 

 same sorts of asters or golden rods do not everywhere throughout the State 

 furnish a great amount of honey. As a rule, those plants which produce odor- 

 ous or showy fiowers afford honey and will be visited by honey bees, unless 

 the flower is of a shape which makes it impossible for the bee to reach the 

 food. Probably in the State there are of native plants, introduced weeds and 

 field crops, a thousand species which furnish excellent food for bees This is 

 nearly one hundred times as many as the beekeeper has in mind, unless he ha 

 given unusual attention to the subject. Our open, low lands furnish a large 

 proportion of the bee pasture ; the forests some ; the weeds and some of the 

 field, garden, and orchard crops a fair amount. Extremely dry, or very wet 

 weather, are both unfavorable to the yield of honey. Drainage of the swamps 

 and the clearing of waste places are unfavorable to the interests of the bee- 

 keeper. As the botanist now looks at the subject, colors and odors are mere 

 advertisements to call the attention of insects to the rich supplies of food in 

 store for them. It may be said that the honey is there for the bees, but 

 primarily it is there for the good of the plant, secondarily for the good of the 

 insect. Had good old Dr. Watts lived in our day, he would have, no doubt^ 

 written his familiar verse in this way : 



How (loth the little busy bee 

 Improve eaoli shining hour ': 



By carrying pnUen <lay by day 

 To fe)-tili/.t; ffich flower. 



-Michigan Flora. 



Stakes and similar nijuisitcs gather up carefully, and store in a safe place 

 for another season. — American Gardening. 



