Borage and Mignonette. 



355 



bloom from the middle of June to the first of October. 

 Their perfume scents the air for long distances, and the 

 hum of bees that throng their flowers is like music to the 

 apiarist's ear. The honey, too, is just exquisite. These 

 clovers are biennial, not blooming the first season, and 

 dying after they bloom the second season. They jDerpetu- 

 ate themselves, however, through the seed so as to really 



Fig. 157. 



Fig. 158. 



Mi£^7ionette, 



become perennial. A disagreeable fact is that they have 

 little value except for honey. The Bokhara clover is only 

 a variety of the above, though Mr. D. A. Jones thinks it 

 quite superior to the others. 



The other clovers — lucerne, yellow trefoil, scarlet tre- 

 foil, and alfalfa — have not proved of any value with us, 

 perhaps owing to locality. The alfalfa is valued highly 

 for bees in Colorado and other western States. 



Borage, Borago officinalis (Fig. 157), an excellent bee 

 plant, blooms from June till frost, and is visited by bees 

 even in very rainy v^reather. It seems not to be a favorite, 

 but is eagerly visited when all others fail to yield nectar. 



Mignonette, Reseda odorata (Fig. 15S), blooms from the 



