BEE CULTURE. 115 
told, buckwheat is worthless as a honey-producer, and, in fact, 
the same is true of many localities in the Middle and North- 
ern States ; but where it does produce honey abundantly, it is 
well worth cultivation. 
There are many other plants which will undoubtedly well 
repay cultivation for field purposes alone, and yield a profit- 
able bonus through the labors of the bees. This of course 
will depend upon circumstances surrounding the apiarist. 
In the list can be placed many kinds of fruits, plants, grains 
and grasses, and much will depend upon the judgment and 
observation of the bee-keeper. 
PLANTS FOR HONEY EXCLUSIVELY. 
The catalogue of honey-producing plants is almost without 
end. Scarcely one but is some assistance, either in furnish- 
ing honey or pollen ; but observation and judgment will be 
required to determine the best. 
If for the roadside, hillside or commons, where cattle, 
sheep and hogs run at large, the Rocky Mountain bee plant 
(Cleome integrifolia) is probably one of the best, owing to its 
immunity from grazing animals. T. J. Dodds, of Iowa, says 
of it: “Its habitat is clay, gravel, rock and limestone. 
Our river bluffs are carbonate and magnesian limestone, our 
streets and gutters are macadamized and paved with this 
stone, and in this the bee plant finds its most attractive 
home. Hundreds of plants can be found in sight by the 
writer of this, that will measure five feet in circumference 
and five feet in height. Through curiosity I went across the 
street and counted the pods on one stalk alone, out of hun- 
dreds of the same kind all around. They numbered 272 ; the 
space occupied was 5 ft. 10 inches, height 5 ft. 8 inches; 
circumference of stalk, 1} inches. No rain here for nearly 
three months, yet they are green, luxuriant and beautiful. 
No animal will touch them, and they outgrow everything they 
come in contact with, thus proving the survival of the fittest. 
Sow the seed anywhere—among rocks, on craggy hillsides, 
along the highways, in fence corners where nothing useful 
will grow, and where the winds and rains will spread them, 
and in a few years your waste places will prove attractive to 
the eye, and yield abundance of sweets for the table.” Seed 
