240 



MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 



of the South find the sour-wood, or sorrel tree, Oxydendrum 

 arboreuni, a valuable honey tree. . This belongs to the Heath 

 family, which includes the far-famed heather bloom of Eng- 

 land. 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, JCalmia latifolia. Yet, a near relative 

 of the South Andromeda nitida, is said to furnish 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 favorite with the 

 honey-bee. Though it often, nay always, swarms with wild 

 Fig. 95. — Button Bush. 



bees when in blossom, yet I never saw a honey-bee visit the 

 ample bloom amidst its rich, green, vigorous foliage. Now, 

 too, the St. John's wort, Hypericum^ with its many species, 

 both shrubby and herbaceous, offers bountiful contributions 

 to the delicious stores of the honey-bee. The catnip, too, 

 Nepeta cataria, and our cultivated asparagus — which if 



