wine-colored; but a sample from Georgia is light brown, with the odor of vinegar and a mild acid flavor. It granulates quickly with the approach of cold weather. (Fig. 118.)
YETCH (Vicia villosa). — Sand or winter vetch is an excellent soiling crop, which has been grown successfully in the wet coastal regions of Oregon and Washington, the dry prairies of South Dakota, and the rich loams along the Gulf of Mexico. The corolla tube is 12 millimeters long and the flowers in the experimental garden were visited only by bumblebees. But there are extra-floral nectaries on the leaves, which honeybees have been seen to work faithfully in western Washington. The honey is white, and mild in flavor. The common vetch (V. sativa) is at times a source of a heavy white honey gathered from the leaf nectaries. The flowers of the common vetch (V. Cracca) are visited by honeybees. (Fig. 119.)
VIBURNUM. — See Black Haw.
VINE. — See Grape.
VINEGAR WEED. — See Blue Curls.
VIRGINIA CREEPER. — See Clematis.
WATERMELON (Citrullus vulgaris). — The flowers are monoecious, and dependent on bees for pollination. Watermelons are grown chiefly in the South and in New Jersey, Delaware, and southern Illinois. See Cucumber.
WATTLE — See Acacia.
WHITE BRUSH (Aloysia ligustrina). — Mexican heliotrope. A small shrub with sweet aromatic foliage, which is eaten by sheep and goats, and white flowers tinged with violet. In southern Texas, west of the Colorado River, it forms impenetrable thickets, often many acres in extent. About 5 days after every rainfall of more than an inch, according to H. B. Parks, it blooms from 5 to 7 days. In 1923 near San Antonio it bloomed seven times, the first time in May and the last time in November. In 1924 it bloomed only in June and November. During the short blooming period bees store from 3 to 6 pounds of honey. But if there are numerous rains about a week apart white brush may remain continuously in bloom, as in 1919, when well-filled supers of honey were obtained. The honey is light amber-colored with a mild flavor. (Lippia ligustrina.)
On the Edwards Escarpment westward to southern Arizona much larger yields of a similar honey are obtained from Aloysia Wrightii.
WHITE SWEET CLOVER. — See Sweet Clover.
WILD ALFALFA (Lotus glaber). — Deer-weed. Wild broom. A shrubby plant, 2 to 5 feet tall, belonging to the pulse family, or Leguminosae. In the western states there are some 40 species belonging to the genus Lotus. In California wild alfalfa is common throughout the Coast Ranges and in southern California, blooming from June to September. As the plant dies out every two or three years, it is not a reliable honey-producer every season. Says Richter: “Some years in some sections yielding twice as much as the sages; this is true for either the coast or the valley side of the Coast Ranges, yet a good wild alfalfa honey flow on the east side does not necessarily mean that such is the case on the west side. Beekeepers report wild alfalfa honey as being white, light amber, amber at times with a characteristic green tinge. It is one of the main honey plants of the Coalinga district.” It comes up in ground that has been burned over, and is of little value as a forage plant, as the stalks, though fine, are tough and woody. Where it has water it grows throughout the year; but if it is dependent on rainfall and not on irrigation, it dries up and drops its leaves about the first, of July, after maturing its seed crop. Then the stalks change in color from green to a reddish tint. It is this plant which gives its hue to wide areas of the plains and hills at this season of the year.
WILD BUCKWHEAT (Eriogonum fasciculatum). — This bushy shrub, which is two to four feet tall, is an important honey plant in California. The small white