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- 



FiG. 177. 



Bilttoi 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. 



