OR, MAKUAI, OF THK APIARY. 397 



WHAT ARE THE VAI,UABI,B HONBY-PLANTS ? 



In the northeastern part of our country the chief reliance, 

 for May, is the fruit-blossoms, willows, and sugar maples. In 

 June, white clover, alsike clover, and raspberries yield largely 

 of the most attractive honey, both as to appearance and 

 flavor. In July, the incomparable basswood and sweet clover 

 make both bees and apiarist jubilant. In August, buckwheat 

 offers a tribute, which we welcome, though it be dark and 

 pungent in flavor, while in Michigan, August and September 

 give a profusion of bloom which yields to no other in the rich- 

 ness of its capacity to secrete nectar, and is not cut off till the 

 autumn frosts — usually aboi^t Sept. IS. 



Thousands of acres of willow-herb (Fig. 252), goldenrod, 

 boneset, asters, and other autumn flowers of northern Michi- 

 gan as yet have blushed unseen, with fragrance wasted. This 

 unoccupied territory, unsurpassed in its capability for fruit- 

 production, covered with grand forests of maple and basswood, 

 and spread with the richest of autumn bloom, offers oppor- 

 tunities to the practical apiarist rarely equaled except in Texas 

 and the Pacific States. 



In the following table will be found a list of valuable 

 honey-plants. Those mentioned first are annual, biennial 

 or perennial ; the annual being enclosed in a parenthesis thus : 

 ( ) ; the biennial enclosed in brackets thus : [ ] ; while those 

 mentioned later are shrubs or trees ; the names of shrubs 

 being enclosed in a parenthesis. The date of the commence- 

 ment of bloom is, of course, not invariable. The one appended, 

 in case of plants which grow in that State, is about average 

 for Central Michigan. Those plants whose names appear in 

 small capitals yield very superior honey. Those with (a) are 

 useful for other purposes than honey-secretion. All but those 

 with a * are native or very common in Michigan. Those 

 written in the plural refer to more than one species. Those 

 followed by a f are very numerous in species. Of course I 

 have not named all, as that would include some hundreds 

 which have been observed at the college, taking nearly all of 

 the two great orders, CompositaK and Rosaceae. I have only 

 aimed to give the most important, omitting many foreign 

 plants of notoriety, as I have had no personal knowledge of them. 



