PASTURE FOR BEES 75 



nish large quantities of pollen, which is an 

 essential food for the young bees. Following 

 these, the fruit trees bloom and then the dande- 

 lions. Thus there is no break. If nectar secre- 

 tion is suddenly checked, the queen will stop 

 laying until it begins again, unless the bees are 

 fed to stimulate a light honey flow. Thus a 

 locality that favors early brood rearing is one 

 where the bees are ready for business when the 

 flow from clover really begins. It often hap- 

 pens that the clover flow does not last more 

 than two to four weeks. Strong colonies will 

 store a surprising amount of honey in that short 

 period, which in many localities is the only 

 source of surplus. 



Alfalfa is the principal source of nectar in 

 many irrigated sections of the West. For some 

 unaccountable reason it secretes little nectar in 

 the humid regions east of the Missouri River, 

 but many carloads of alfalfa honey reach the 

 Eastern markets from Colorado, Idaho, Utah 

 and other Western States. 



