No 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 339 



ordinary yield with only one or two colonies, do not make the mis- 

 take to think that because you get 150 pounds per colony you can 

 count on doing the same thing if you should increase to 50 or 100 

 colonies. A. great variety of plants helped to make that 150 pounds, 

 some of them yielding only a small amount, but enough so that one 

 or two colonies could find employment every day throughout the 

 season, ^^'hen you increase to 10 colonies, there will be days when 

 the plants yielding at the time will yield no more than the bees 

 need for their own support; and when you increase to 50 or 75, 

 there will be only a short period when the bees get more than their 

 living. It is a comfort to know, however, that when the harvest 

 is rich, a short period will be sullicient to make a handsome re- 

 turn for all the year's work. In the State of New York, G. M. 

 Doolittle reports a yield of 66 pounds of linden honey from one 

 colony in three days. That is very unusual, but even with 5 or 10 

 pounds per day, it w'ould need only a few days to make a fine return. 

 The harvest from linden may last two or three days, or it may last 

 three or four weeks. 



KINDS OF HONEY. 



There are as many kinds of honey as there are of plants from 

 which it is gathered. It may be dark in color, then it may be light; it 

 may be strongly flavored, or so mild as to be almost a pure sweet, 

 and as varied in flavor as the different plants vary. Grenerally 

 speaking, honey of light color brings the highest price, although 

 there are persons w^ho prefer the darker and stronger-flavored honey, 

 for dark color and strong flavor are likely to go together. 



White-clover honey ie the great staple. In quality, the great ma- 

 jority of people will place it at the head. It also leads as to amount, 

 taking the State at large. A stray blossom of white clover may be 

 seen here and there toward the latter part of May, and in about 

 ten days later the bees will be found busy storing from it. That is, 

 if it yields honey. For it may bloom abundantly and the bees find 

 no nectar in the flowers, because of atmospheric conditions, or for 

 some other reason. In a good season the bees store most rapidly at 

 a time when farmers just begin to complain of drought. Usually 

 the white-clover harvest covers a period of three or four vreeks, 

 although it may be half as long, or it may be twice as long. Alsike 

 clover exceeds white in yield. Sweet clover is coming to the front 

 as an important honey and forage plant. 



Linden, or basswood, also yields a white or vei-y light amber honey, 

 of a flavor that is highly esteemed, and in very many cases it is 

 classed as white-clover honey. In rai)idity of yield no other plant 

 surpasses it, as already menlioned. With a good range of lindeo 



