Elements of Beekeeping 19 



White clover produces a delicious, white honey, of the finest 

 quality, which is considered one of the best for table use. It 

 tisually yields a heavy surplus, but in unfavorable seasons the 

 plant secretes nectar in limited quantities and the surplus is 

 very light. 



Red clover secretes an abundance of nectar but the flower 

 tubes are too long for the honey bees to get the nectar ; in times 

 of drouth, however, or in the second growth the tubes are shorter 

 and it is then sometimes worked by the bees. 



Sweet clover is one of the most important honey plants, since 

 it furnishes nectar for a long time, while the honey is of light 

 color and excellent flavor, suggestive of vanilla. It flowers after 

 white and alsike clovers, comes into bloom when the colonies 

 are strong and continues blooming thru a period of four weeks 

 or more. 



It does not pay to cultivate the plant for nectar alone, but 

 beekeepers who have become interested in the plant are sowing 

 it along the roadside and waste places, sowing a mixture of the 

 white and yellow species. The yellow species will bloom about 

 two weeks before the white. 



Sour wood produces a clear honey, of excellent quality, 

 which does not candy. It, together with the linden, is one of the 

 principal honey plants in the mountain sections and yields nec- 

 tar in large quantities. 



Buckwheat is an important honey plant, producing pollen 

 and nectar in large quantities, and comes at the time when there 

 is a dearth in the honey flow of other plants. The honey is 

 dark, of heavy body and strong flavor. 



Goldenrod yields an abundance of nectar and the honey 

 has a golden or dark amber color, with a strong flavor when 

 first stored, but after having been well ripened the flavor be- 

 comes rich and pleasant. 



Aster produces a white honey, but this often becomes mixt 

 with honey from the golden rod and other fall plants, giving it 

 an amber color. When first gathered it has a strong, rank odor, 

 but after it is ripened the odor disappears. The honey is thick 

 and granulates very quickly. The bees usually gather enough 



