Practical Gonchmoiw. 291 



sun-flowers, the brilliancy is due to the involucre, or bracts 

 which serve as a frill to decorate the more modest flowers. 



The-great Willow Herb, or Fire Weed, Epihhimn angusbi fo- 

 lium, is often the source of immense honey harvests. The 

 downy seeds blow to great distances, and finding a lodgment, 

 their vitality makes them burst forth whenever bru^ is burn- 

 ed or forest fires rage. Hence the name. Fire Weed. Anoth- 

 er excellent fall honey plant of wide range is the Coral Berry 

 or Indian Currant, Symphoriearpiis vulgaris. The honey pro- 

 duct of this plant is worthy its name. I close this account 

 with mention of another Cleome, the famous Spider Plant (Fig. 

 162), Cleome pungens. This plant thrives best in rich, damp 

 clay soil. It is only open for a. little time before night-fall 

 and at early dawn, but when, open its huge drops of nectar 

 keep the bees wild with excitement, calling them up even be- 

 fore daylight, and enticing them to the field long after dusk. 



I have thus mentioned the most valuable honey plants of 

 our country. Of course there are many omissions. Let all 

 apiarists, by constant observation, help to fill up the list. 



BOOKS ON BOTANY. 



I am often asked what books are best to make apiarists 

 botanists. I am glad to answer this question, as the study of 

 botany will not only be valuable discipline, but will also fur- 

 nish abundant pleasure, and give important practical infor- 

 mation. Gray's Lessons and Manual of Botany, in one vol- 

 ume, published by Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co., New 

 York, is the most desirable treatise on this subject. A more 

 recent work by Prof. C. E. Bessey, and published by Henry 

 Holt & Co. , is also very excellent. 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 



It will pay well for the apiarist to decorate his grounds with 

 soft and silver maples, for their beauty and early bloom. If 

 his soil is riclj, sugar maples and lindens may well serve a 

 similar purpose. The Judas and tulip trees, both North and 

 South, may well be made to ornament his home. For vines, 

 obtain the wistarias. 



