PRACTICAL BEEKEBPING 29 
grown quite extensively in some parts of the state and afford a not 
unimportant source of honey of a fine flavor. All of these sources, 
however, come at a time to render them of not much consequence 
as sources of surplus honey. They serve, however, to build up the 
colonies for the more extensive yields which follow. 
Usually by the time raspberries bloom the bees are quite strong 
and in localities where these are abundant, either in the mountain 
canyons or in districts where raspberries are grown extensively, 
honey of a very fine flavor may be obtained. Mints of all kinds are 
usually abundant honey yielders. The cleone or spider plant, found 
growing wild along the roads and popularly called, in Colorado, the 
Rocky Mountain bee plant, yields honey of a good quality. 
By far the greatest yields of honey in the state come from the 
clovers. Chief among these is alsike clover, grown extensively for 
hay. This usually begins to bloom about the middle of June, in the 
Gallatin Valley, continuing until about the tenth of August. The 
main yield comes in July and we registered a gain of eleven pounds 
by an average colony in a single day,—giving a net gain of some 
six pounds after evaporation had been accomplished by the bees over 
night. Alsike clover honey is of a very light and clear grade, some- 
what heavier than white clover,—that is, having more body. 
Alfalfa, or lucern is an extensively grown forage crop and fur- 
nishes a light honey of a high grade. In some parts of the State this 
is the main yield and where three or four crops are had, if allowed 
to bloom well before cutting, can be made to last over a consider- 
able portion of the summer. White clover is working in in the more 
settled valleys and is found along the road side, in the corners of 
fields and along the creek bottoms. Where white clover and alsike 
clover bloom at the same-time the bees seem to show a decided 
preference for the latter. A striking instance was noted when the 
campus at the College was white with the blossoms of white clover 
one could cross it most anywhere and hardly find a bee upon it. 
About a quarter of a mile south of the campus there were some quite 
extensive fields of alsike clover and these were covered with bees 
fiying clearly in the direction of the colonies on the station farm. 
In some parts of the State, notably in the Flathead basin, there 
is a considerable yield of an amber colored honey of a muddy ap- 
pearance from sweet clover or melilot. This clover is a biennial 
and grows to the height. of four or five feet, blossoming the second 
