CHAPTER IX 
The Honey-flow 
THE VALUE OF KNOWING THE LOCAL CONDITIONS; PUTTING 
ON AND TAKING OFF SUPERS; FULL SHEETS OF 
EXTRA THIN FOUNDATION RECOMMENDED 
FOR SECTIONS 
There are some beekeepers who do not seem to know that 
there is a period during which the great share of the surplus honey 
is gathered. In the Northern States there may be two such periods; 
but most of the locations in those States have only one main flow, 
and this from white clover, although in some places this is followed 
by a basswood flow. The period of white honey varies from a very 
short flow in a poor year to one extending over as much as six 
weeks in an extra good year. 
The time of the commencement and ending of the season is 
also a little uncertain. In some seasons clover begins to bloom the 
first of June, and produces honey a week or ten days later; then 
in other seasons it does not produce honey before the 20th of June. 
We figure that a late season means a short one, and our guess has 
usually been about right, along these lines. 
The basswood is even more uncertain as to the time of bloom 
and duration of the honey-flow. It blossoms with us as early as 
the 1st of July in some years, and as late as the 10th in others; but 
an average date is from the 4th to the 7th. About this time clover 
is through yielding; and so, usually, the basswood laps on and 
makes a continuous flow of white honey until the season closes, 
which is rarely later than July 15. Where there is no basswood 
the flow from clover usually ends about July 8, and the novice can 
figure on his crop of white comb honey being ready to remove from 
the hives about the middle of July. 
These calculations are based on the supposition that there is 
to be an ordinary flow of honey. Of course, there are seasons of 
failure and seasons like the last, where only half a crop was har- 
vested; and, once in a while, an extra good season when the flow 
may be somewhat longer than usual. 
