260 



April Plants. 



appear. The bees work on these, here in Michigan, the first 

 week of April, and often in March. They are also magnifi- 

 cent shade trees, especially those that have the weeping habit. 

 Their early bloom is very pleasing, their summer form and fo- 



Fig. 126. 



JFiG. 127. 



Judas Tree. 



Willow. 



liage beautiful, while their flaming tints in autumn are inde- 

 scribable. The foreign maples, sycamore, Acer pseiido-plata- 

 nus, and Norway, Acer platanoides, are also very beautiful. 

 Whether superior to ours as honey plants, I am unable to say. 

 The willows, too, (Fig. 126) rival the maples in the early 

 period of bloom. Some are very early, blossoming in March, 

 while others, like the white willow, Salix alba (Fig. 126), 

 bloom in May. The flowers on one tree or bush of the willow 

 are all pistillate, that is, have pistils but no stamens, while 

 on others they are all staminate, having no pistils. On the 

 former, bees can gather only honey, on the latter only poUen. 

 That the willow furnishes both honey and pollen is attested 

 by the fact that I saw both kinds of trees, the pistillate and 

 the staminate, thronged with bees the past season. The wil- 

 low, too, from its elegant form and silvery foliage, is one of our 

 finest shade trees. It grows everywhere in the United States. 



