HONEY PLANTS 137 



large amounts of honey was the tulip or 

 yellow poplar. The great cup-shaped 

 flowers sometimes contain an abundance 

 of nectar from which the bees make a 

 strong dark honey, unsuited for human 

 food but of value in brood rearing. 



Like the linden, the tulip-tree is rap- 

 idly reaching the point where it is almost 

 a curiosity. It was one of our finest for- 

 est trees and will be missed more by the 

 tree lover than it will by the beekeeper. 



In some parts of the country the smooth 

 or black sumach yields tremendous quan- 

 tities of honey. It is a plant of dry hill- 

 sides and is often found in those portions 

 of the low hill country where clover is 

 scarce and where the native basswood has 

 mostly been cut out. In such situations 

 it sometimes gives the beekeeper a sur- 

 plus in years when all other plants fail to 

 make a showing. 



Any one who has ever visited the cut- 

 over portions of northern Michigan or 

 Wisconsin in the summer is familiar with 



