AUGUST 1, 1915 



G19 



GENEKAL CORRESPONDENCE 



BLOOM IN THE COLORADO FOOTHILLS 



L!Y WKSLEY FOSTER. 



For three years T have followed the prac- 

 tice of moving my bees to the foothills for 

 tlie spring bloom. Until this year it has 

 yielded very satisfactory returns. In 1913 

 it was possible to double the number of 

 colonial by June 15, and have all colonies 

 readj' for alfalfa and sweet clover in June, 



Thirableberry. A bee can be seen on the blossom 

 in the renter. 



July, and August. This moving was and is 

 expensive, as two moves are worse than a 

 fire, they say; but when bees are concerned, 

 it hardly works out so disastrously. 



I have this spring moved in only 160 

 colonies; and while they have done well, the 

 flow from white clover and dandelions has 

 been good where ray apiaries are perma- 

 nently located, so that the value of moving 

 has not been so very apparent. The late 

 hard freezes iji May and June destroyed the 

 nectar-secreting powers of the flowers in 

 large part. Early in the season we had fine 



l^rospects from the horsemint; but this 

 plant is seemingly very susceptible to 

 tVost injury, and a large proportion of the 

 plants were stunted or killed outright. 



This year I have been taking a census of 

 the wild flowers upon which the bees gather 

 honey or j^oUen. First among the moun- 

 tain bloom I place choke-cherries, then 

 hawthorn [Cover picture. — Ed.] and thim- 

 bleberries. 



A little later (in June) come the astrag- 

 alus, penstemon, oreocarya virgata, the 

 lupins, wild geranium, and numberless 

 others that I will tell later. 



We had fine prospects from the horsemint. 



