The Tulip Tree. 361 
T have several times purchased what purported to be Chi- 
nese mustard, dwarf and tall, but Prof. Beal, than whom 
there is no better authority, tells me they are only the white 
and black, and certainly they are no whit better as bee 
plants. These plants, with buckwheat, the mints, borage, 
and mignonette, are specially interesting, as they cover, or 
may be made to cover, the honey dearth from about July 
2oth to August 2oth, 
The mustards and rape may be planted in drills about 
eight inches apart, any time from May ist to July 15th. 
Four quarts will sow an acre. 
In this month blooms the tulip tree, Liriodendron tulip- 
ifera (Fig. 165)—often called poplar in the South, which 
Fic. 166. 
Teasel, 
is not only an excellent honey producer, but is one of our 
most stately and admirable shade trees. Dr. Brown, of 
Georgia, says this is the great dependence—the basswood 
of the South. He says that along rivers especially the 
bloom is so prolonged, being earlier on the uplands, that 
the harvest is long as bountiful. Now bloom the sumacs, 
though one species blooms in May, the wild plum, the 
raspberries, whose nectar is unsurpassed in color and flavor, 
and the blackberry. The blackberry comes quite late. 
