BEES AND PLANTS 205 



overdoes the matter by loading the feet of the bee 

 with its pollen sacs, until the poor messenger dies of 

 exhaustion under the burden of its message, or dies 

 a prisoner in the blossom. 



The cheerful and ubiquitous dandelion has this 

 much in its favour, that it is beloved by the bees and 

 often gives them honey and pollen at a time in the 

 spring when they need it for brood-rearing. 



Of all the weeds which will pay the apiarist to 

 establish in waste places, the most profitable are the 

 mellilots, or sweet clovers, of which there are two 

 species, the white and the yellow. These are most 

 beneficent weeds, for they carry nitrogen to the soil 

 like other clovers, and they are easily exterminated 

 by cultivation, so they are not to be feared. 



Sweet clover in blossom fills the atmosphere of the 

 country road with perfume, for it is almost every- 

 where a roadside weed; and, as might be expected, 

 it is most attractive to the bees. While the honey 

 made from it is rather strong in flavour, yet it is of 

 good colour, and sells well. Wlien it is mixed with 

 the honey from other flowers, it adds much to the 

 excellence of the flavour. 



