884 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. 
by the name of Alsike, or Swedish clover (Fig. 126). 
The objection made to this clover is that its stem is so 
light that it fallsto the ground. This is remedied by sowing 
it with timothy. The latter helps itto stand. It is as good 
for honey as white clover. 
704. The raspberry furnishes a most delicious honey. 
In flavor it is superior to that from the white clover. The 
sides of the roads, the borders of the fields, and the past- 
ures of much of the ‘‘hill-country’’ of New England, 
abound with the wild red raspberry, and, in such favored 
locations, numerous colonies of bees may be kept. When 
it is in blossom, bees hold even the white clover in light es- 
teem. Its drooping blossoms protect the honey from moist- 
ure, and they can work upon it when the weather is so wet 
that they can obtain nothing from the upright blossoms of 
the clover. As it furnishes asuccession of flowers for some 
weeks, it yields a supply almost as lasting as the white 
clover. The precipitous and rocky lands, where it most 
abounds, might be made almost as valuable as some of the 
vine-clad terraces of the mountain districts of Europe. 
The borage (Borago officinalis), (Fig. 143), blossoms 
continually from June until severe frost, and, like the rasp- 
berry, is frequented by bees even in moist weather. The 
honey from it is of a superior quality. 
The Canada thistle, the viper bugloss yield good honey 
after white clover has begun to fail. But these plants are 
troublesome, for they cannot easily be gotten rid of. 
705. Melilot, or sweet clover (figs. 127 and 136), which 
grows on any barren or rocky soil without cultivation, is 
one of the most valuable honey-plants. It will not thrive, 
however, where cattle can graze on it, as they soon destroy 
it. If cut early to be used as forage, it blooms later than 
white clover and till frost. It is a biennial. 
The different varieties of smart-weeds (Persicaria), golden 
rod, buckwheat, asters, iron-weed, Spanish-needies in low 
