12 Farmers’ Bulletin 1215. 
other main region of the United States. Not all of the clover region 
is equally good for comb-honey production, however, for the produc- 
tion of good comb-honey necessitates rapid secretion of nectar. 
Where this occurs in the clover region, the honey is of the highest 
quality and the color is lighter than in other parts of the region. 
Clover honey is also favorable as a comb-honey type because it does 
not quickly granulate in the comb as do some of the other light- 
colored honeys of the country. 
An additional reason for the production of comb-honey in the 
clover region is that the largest consuming population is in this 
region. The comb-honey producer of the clover region does not, 
therefore, have so far to ship his product—an advantage of impor- 
tance in the shipping of so delicate a product. While the West and 
South can and will produce extracted honey in abundance in the 
future, it may happen that the future of the clover region lies in the 
development of still greater production of comb-honey. It should 
be pointed out, however, that comb-honey can not be produced suc- 
cessfully and profitably by careless beekeepers, and if this region 
is to increase in importance in the production of comb-honey it must 
be through the development of a larger number of skilled beekeepers 
within the region. Because of the difficulty of swarm control in out- 
apiaries run for comb-honey, extracted-honey production is more 
’ attractive to the specialist beekeeper so long as the returns per man 
are as great and so long as the sale of pure extracted honey is facili- 
tated by the protection of pure-food laws. 
OTHER PLANTS IN THE REGION WHICH FURNISH 
NECTAR. 
Throughout the clover region there are other plants to which the 
beekeeper may look for additional honey, and within its boundaries 
are more restricted areas, usually marked off by soil or moisture dif- 
ferences, where other important major honey sources are found. 
Among these major honey sources may be mentioned wild red rasp- 
berry’ and some of the members of the heath family, which bloom 
early in the summer, and willowherb,® milkweed,? Spanish needle,*° 
sumac, and buckwheat,’ which bloom later. In some localities 
these plants are found quite near to good clover territory, but as 
a rule the places where these plants furnish considerable nectar are 
not those in which secretion from the clovers is good. They can 
be utilized by the beekeeper of the clover region best by the practice 
of migratory beekeeping. 
7 Rubus strigosus. ® Asclepias spp. 11 Rhus spp. 
8 Chamaenerion angustifolium, 10 Bidens spp. #2 Fagopyrum esculentum, 
