6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The sources of honey in Rhode Island grouped in the order of their 

 appearance are willows, maples, elms and other less numerous trees 

 which furnish the bees with the early supply of pollen and honey so 

 useful and so needful in building up the bee population preparatory 

 to the harvest in which the beekeeper shares. 



Next comes the fruit blossoms, peach, plum, cherry, pear, apple, 

 huckleberries and blueberries which, when the spring is favorable, 

 yield good crops of the finest honey. In some places dandelions are 

 an important addition to the fruit bloom, though not always coming 

 at the same time. After the lapse of a week or ten days the main 

 crop of the year comes from the white and alsike clovers. In some 

 parts of the State these are accompanied by a heavy but brief flow 

 of water-white honey from the locust, and are soon followed by 

 chestnut which yields a rich, heavy, but dark honey. 



In many sections sumacs furnish the next crop, and where they 

 are abundant the beekeeper may rightly look for a good crop of a 

 very fair honey. 



In some of the more swampy and less settled sections, button bush, 

 clethra (sweet pepper bush) and clematis yield a white and highly 

 flavored honey, that from clematis being of the very highest quality. 

 But the yield from these plants seems to be irregular, in some years 

 being almost absent. 



In some of the villages and cities the European Lindens are num- 

 erous and yield heavily. The bloom comes toward the end of the 

 clover flow, though the time of flowering of different trees in the 

 same neighborhood varies greatly. Native Linden (Basswood) is 

 now found only in a few places. The season closes with the golden- 

 rods and asters \^'hich yield a rich aromatic honey, but which is not 

 acceptable to many persons. The crop from these two sources is not 

 always to be depended upon, being more affected by the weather 

 than some of the others. 



Many other flowers contribute to the harvest, but seldom to any 

 great extent. 



It is important that the bee-keeper should know well the pasturage 



