Honey Plants of Fuly. 373 
bloom of England. It also includes our whortleberry, 
cranberry, blueberry, and one plant which has no enviable 
reputation, as furnishing honey which is very poisonous, 
even fatal to those who eat, the mountain laurel, Kalmia 
latifolia. There is good reason to question these reports 
as to poisonous honey. We can easily see how mistakes 
could occur. It is not easy to understand, if these plants 
furnish poisonous nectar, why poisonous honey (?) is so 
very rare an occurrence. A near relative of K, latifolia, 
which grows at the South, Andromeda nitida, is said to fur- 
Fic. 177. 
Button Ball, 
nish beautiful and wholesome honey in great quantities. The 
Virginia creeper also blooms in July. I wish I could say 
that this beautiful vine, transplendent in autumn, is a favor- 
ite with the honey-bee. Though it often, nay always, 
swarms with wild bees when in blossom, yet I have rarely 
seen honey-bees visit the ample bloom amidst its rich, green, 
vigorous foliage. 
