bama and Mississippi a large amount of honey is stored for winter from this source, and it is not necessary to feed sugar. Beekeepers engaged in the shipping of pound packages of bees northward regard it as invaluable for brood-rearing and find their colonies very strong in the spring if there is an abundance of bitterweed honey in the fall.

Bitterweed is a herbaceous plant 1 to 2 feet tall, with threadlike leaves and yellow flowers in heads. It belongs to the Compositae and to the same genus as sneezeweed, extending from Virginia to Kansas, and southward to Florida and Texas. It is abundant in waste land and along the roadsides, blooming from mid-July to October, and yielding nectar freely and also much pollen. When cows eat bitterweed the milk and butter are so bitter that they can not be eaten. See Sneezeweed. (Fig. 23.)

BLACKBERRY (Rubus allegheniensis). — The genus Rubus, of the rose family, comprises the raspberries and blackberries. There are many species widely distributed in the North Temperate Zone. The value of blackberries as honey plants varies widely in different parts of North America. In New England the wild species are seldom sufficiently common to be of much importance, nor do the cultivated varieties yield nectar freely. As visitors the solitary bees far outnumber the honeybees, which show a preference for collecting pollen rather than the scanty supply of nectar. In New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania little mention is made of these bushes as nectar-producers. In Tennessee, although plentiful, they are almost entirely neglected by honeybees. In Michigan, after the hardwood forests of beech and maple have been lumbered, there speedily springs up a luxuriant growth of brambles, many acres being covered with raspberries and blackberries; but, while the former is an excellent honey plant, the latter is seldom noticed by bees.

The failure of the blackberry to obtain a place among the honey plants in so many states might seem to warrant its omission; but, contrary to expectation, in several states it stands well up in the honey flora. At Bogart, in northern Georgia, the larger part of the surplus comes from wild blackberries, which are abundant in the woods. The flow is at its height about the middle of April, and 25 pounds per colony is reported to have been stored from this source. In the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia blackberry is very abundant, and yields an ash or smoky-colored honey of inferior quality. In California the common blackberry is Rubus vitifolius, which grows chiefly along streams in southern California, and is of great value. The honey is light amber, and has a good flavor. Both Stockton and Chiles, of this state, report surplus crops. In Oregon, during the latter part of June, the wild blackberry furnishes a dark inferior honey that would not be salable were it not mixed with honey from white clover. In Australia a blackberry (R. fruticosus) has been introduced which has completely overrun some districts. It yields a thin white honey. (Fig. 24.)

BLACK GUM. — See Tupelo.

BLACKHEART. — See Smartweed.

BLACK HAW (Viburnum prunifolium). — There are in North America some 19 species of arrow-wood, or Viburnum, which bloom in spring or early summer. They are widely distributed throughout both the northern and southern states. The honey is not certainly known; but that from B. dentatum is supposed to be light-colored. This species is very abundant in southern Rhode Island. (Fig. 25.)

BLACK WATTLE. — See Acacia.

BLUEBERRY (Vaccinium corymbosum). — Blueberries and huckleberries yield an amber-colored honey of good quality. In New England the honey flow comes late in May or early in June. It lasts for about ten days, and strong colonies store from 60 to 100 pounds. There are large areas of both blueberries and huckleberries in southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and beekeeping is in localities largely dependent upon these shrubs. In Rhode Island the blueberries are all of the bush type, the low blueberry (V. pennsylvanicum) being seldom found. Blueberries and huckleberries are also valuable honey plants in North