BEES AND BEE CULTURE. 



1165 



The principal honey plants are the willows and maples, only 

 important as they come so early that they stimulate early breed- 

 ing, the fruit bloom, white and alsike clover (Fig. 37), raspberry 

 bloom, locust, melilot or sweet clover, the incomparable bass- 

 wood (Fig. 38), and later 

 the fall bloom, which in- 

 cludes buckwheat, asters 

 (Fig. 39), golden -rods, 

 bonesets, and many other 

 composite plants which 

 yield bountifully of rich 

 golden honey. These 

 are the standard honey 

 plants which can be de- 

 pended on, while there 

 are many others which 

 can be planted to supple- 

 ment the ones mentioned 

 above. Of these the mus- 

 tards, rape, borage, cat- 

 nip, motherwort, Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant, fig- 

 wort, and spider - plant 

 are the most valuable. 

 These can be set out so 

 as to furnish pasturage 

 at any desired time. 



It will pay well for 

 bee-keepers to set out 

 basswoods and locusts 

 along the road-side, scat- FIG. 37. 



ter figwort, Rocky Mountain bee-plant, catnip, and motherwort 

 in all waste places, and by furnishing seed, if that be necessary, 

 induce their neighbors to sow liberally with alsike clover. There 

 is no question but that by taking heed to these suggestions the 

 honey product can be much increased. 



To close this subject, I must refer to the oft-repeated accu- 



