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BEE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY. 

"QUEEN OF THE PRAIRIE."
ENCLOSED I send you a honey plant, which I
came across this morning, and do not know
that I ever saw it before. I found it in a
marshy or wet field, where nothing grows but what
we used to call sour grass. There were bees without number working at it. I think I will try and
get seed from it. It may be nothing new to you but
JOEL HEYDT.
Ashley, Luzerne Co., Pa., July 7, 1879.
The specimen enclosed is Spirea rosea (Queen of the Prairie), common in cultivation as an ornamental plant.
Lansing, Mich., July 16, 1879.
W. J. BEAL.

LIPPIA NODIFLORA.
By next mail, I will send you a section of a plant
that grows here, from which our bees get more than
half of all their honey, and it is an excellent quality
of honey. It generally commences to bloom in May
and blooms till frost comes in Nov. or Dec. As you
can see by the plant, the first blossoms that come
last for months. As the stalk extends, the flowers
increase in number, new ones coming all the time.
It runs on the ground, and each thrifty plant will
cover a yard or two square, by fall, with a perfect
mat of flowers, as you can see by the specimen. It
grows wild here. I have never seen it anywhere
except in this, a small section of Cal. We have no
name for it, and never have seen any one here that
knew what to call it. The honey is fully equal to
any white clover or sage honey.
The plant spoken of above is Lippia nodifora. It
belongs to the verbena family.
Agricultural College, Lansing, Michigan.
W. J. BEAL.