BEE PASTURAGE. 



61 



FlG.48.-Sacalineor giant knot 

 sachatinense) . 



in raspberries will furnish, pasturage for three weeks to 75 or 100 colonies 

 of bees. Mustard for seed, and rape for pasture and seed, may be made 

 to furnish much to the bees in early spring. Buckwheat honey is dark 

 and strong, but is relished by some, and when well ripened is good 

 winter food for bees, so that whenever this plant can be made to blos- 

 som at a time when the bees find nothing better and a crop of grain can 



also be harvested from it, a plenti- 

 ful supply should by all means be 

 sown; the clovers, white, alsike, 

 crimson, and mammoth or medium 

 red may be sown for pasturage, 

 nay, forage, for purposes of green 

 manuring, or for seed, and honey 

 of fine quality obtained if a suf- 

 ficient number of blossoms are 

 allowed to appear. Alfalfa (Medi- 

 cago sativa), a most important honey 

 (Poiygonum producer as well as perennial forage 

 crop, can be grown over a much 

 greater area of the United States than has heretofore been generally 

 supposed. Sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa) and serradella (Ornithopus 

 wtivus), both most excellent honey plants, have not received the atten- 

 tion they merit either North or South. Japan clover (Lespedeza striata) 

 is grown profitably in the South, and more even might be expected 

 from the introduction of sulla clover (Hedysarum 

 coronarium) there, the latter a great honey pro- 

 ducer. Chicory, even on poor soil, is a good honey 

 and pollen plant. Northern bee keepers should try 

 the dwarf (quick-growing) varieties of cowpeas 

 ( Yigna sinensis) extensively grown in the South for 

 forage and green manuring. Vetches are of recog- 

 nized value for the same purposes, especially the 

 Eussian hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa}. Sacaline (Poiy- 

 gonum sachalinense) and flat peas(%riw sylves- 

 tris) are visited by bees, and in certain situations 

 may be found of value otherwise. Peppermint 

 (Mentha pipcrita) yields well in July and August. 

 Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa} when grown for seed 

 are assiduously visited by bees for honey during 

 June, July, and August, Gorse or furze (Ulex 

 europcKiis] for forage may prove valuable in some localities here, 

 is highly esteemed in some parts of Europe. Its odorous yellow bios 

 soms, much frequented by bees, appear in May. Filbert bushes ( Corylu 

 avellana) will grow in many portions of our country, yielding, beside 

 nuts, an abundance of early pollen, even in February or March 

 carob tree- (Ceratonia oiliqua) succeeds in the Southwest, yie 

 3407 No. 105 5 



FIG. 49 Russian or hairy 



vetch (Vicia villosa). 



it 



