AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 231 



altitudes. Ramona Mountains west of Calistoga, Mt. Shasta, Calaveras and 

 Mariposa Counties, San Diego County. May." (Jepson). "Also June, Sierra 

 foothills from Sierra to Inyo Counties, main source of honey in many dis- 

 tricts." (Richter). 



Concerning the regularity of yield from sage, Mr. P. C. Chadwick 

 wrote in Gleanings in Bee Culture (January 1, 1911), as follows: 



"South of the Tehachapi Mountains lies practically the entire sage 

 of our State, notwithstanding eastern people and many of our west- 

 erners term every form of small growth on the vast slopes of the 

 Rocky Mountains "sage brush.' There is no denying that the button 

 (or black) sage is, of all honey plants, our chief surplus producer. 

 Neither does it average a crop more often than every other year, re- 

 gardless of rainfall, for it seems necessary, from its semi-arid nature, 

 to be dried out or rested before it comes back to its prime yielding con- 

 dition. I have seen it return some surplus for three consecutive sea- 

 sons; but the middle season was not what could be considered a crop, 

 even after a sufficient rainfall." 



Again he writes to the same journal to the effect that the sage ranges 

 soon give place to other crops (Dec. IS, 1911): 



"If I should predict that thirty years hence the sage ranges of 

 California would be almost a thing of the past there would doubtless 

 be criticism of my views; but I firmly believe that we shall face such a 

 condition, for emigration to this part of California is increasing rap- 

 idly. Hillsides are yielding to the plow, where twenty years ago it 

 would have been thought almost impossible." 



Some writers give two hundred pounds per colony as a fair average 

 in a good sage year, so that with even one good year in three it comes well 

 up with the yield of many plants more constant in their production. 



SAINFOIN or ESPARCET (Onobrychis sativa). 



Sainfoin is grown to a limited extent in Canada, and although given 

 numerous trials in various parts of the United States, has not, till the pres- 

 ent, succeeded in establishing itself successfully. It is a splendid forage 

 crop, somewhat similar to alfalfa, and is an important source of nectar in 

 Italy and other parts of Europe. 



Several years ago it was given an enthusiastic endorsement as a honey 

 plant for America by John Fixter, at that time apiarist at the Central 

 Experiment Farms at Ottawa, Canada. A test plot at the Farms proved 

 so attractive to the bees that it attracted much attention on the part 

 of eastern beekeepers. He reported that it yielded nectar in the morning 

 and that the bees began work upon it fully an hour before they did on 

 alsike or white clover. A further advantage was stated to be that the first 

 bloom came between fruit bloom and white clover and the later bloom at 

 a time when there was a dearth from other sources. On plots side by 

 side he reported that there would be something like a hundred bees on the 

 sainfoin to ten on the white clover. 



In spite of the glowing accounts of its value and a general attempt to 

 boom the plant, it failed to succeed. It should be remembered, however, 

 that there was a general failure with alfalfa when first attempts were 

 made to grow it in America, and it would seem worthy of further trial to 



