382 Books for Apiarists. 
delicious honey. In all of this great family, the flowers 
are small and inconspicuous, clustered in compact heads, 
and when the plants are showy with bloom, like the sun- 
flowers, the brilliancy is due to the involucre, or bracts 
which serve as a frill to decorate the more modest flowers. 
The great willow herb, or fire weed, Epilobium angus- 
tifolium (Fig. 184), is often the source of immense, honey 
harvests. The downy seeds blow to great distances, and 
finding a lodgment, their vitality makes them burst forth 
whenever brush is burned or forest fires rage. Hence the 
name, fire weed. This handsome plant often covers acres 
of burnt lands in Northern Michigan with its beautiful pink 
bloom. Unlike most nectar from late bloom, the honey 
from this flower is white as clover honey. It often gives 
a rich harvest to the apiarist of Northern Michigan. 
Another excellent fall honey plant of wide range is the 
coral berry or Indian currant, Symphoricarpus vulgaris. 
The honey product of this plant is worthy its name. 1 
close this account with mention of another Cleome, the 
famous spider plant:(Fig. 185), Cleome pungens. This 
plant thrives best in rich, damp clay soil. It is only open 
for a little time before night-fall and at early dawn; but 
when open its huge drops of nectar keep the bees wild 
with excitement, calling them up even before daylight, and 
enticing them to the field long after dusk. 
I have thus mentioned the most valuable honey plants of 
our country. Of course there are many omissions. Let 
all apiarists, by constant observation, help to fill up the 
list. 
BOOKS ON BOTANY. 
I am often asked what books are best to make apiarists 
botanists. I am glad to answer this question, as the study 
of botany will not only be valuable discipline, but will 
also furnish abundant pleasure, and give important prac- 
tical information. Gray’s Lessons and Manual of Botany, 
in one volume, published by Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman 
& Co., New York, is the most desirable treatise on this 
subject. A more recent work by Prof. C. E. Bessey, and 
published by Henry Holt & Co., is also very excellent. 
