HONEY PLANTS 135 



sought by the lumber men and it has 

 now vanished from the greater part of 

 the country it once occupied. Sections 

 which one yielded a reliable crop of 

 basswood honey now do not produce a 

 drop of this delectable product simply 

 because the tree has been all but ex- 

 terminated. The wood is soft, light and 

 easily worked and all of these qualities 

 caused it to be very much in demand. One 

 curious thing about the vanishing of this 

 fine tree is that the beekeepers themselves 

 have played no small part in its destruc- 

 tion. For many years the little wooden 

 sections in which comb honey is produced 

 have been made from basswood exclu- 

 sively. In fact I do not know that I ever 

 saw a section made from any other wood. 

 This use may be thought to play a tiny 

 part in the consumption of this kind of 

 timber, but in the aggregate immense 

 amounts of basswood have been thus used. 

 To-day, I know of no place where this 

 tree is sufficiently common to make it an 



