of the honeybee. There is a rainfall of nearly 100 inches. The only month in which dry weather prevails is August. About the 10th of March the salmonberry begins to bloom, and yields a small surplus. The honey is slightly red, thin, and very sweet. It is closely followed by vine-maple, which yields a heavy honey of medium flavor with a pinkish tinge. The two honeys are usually blended. Vine-maple is in bloom during the last of April and the first of May. During the last of May the wild blackberry yields a dark inferior honey, which would be unsalable were it not mixed with honey from white clover. In July and August willow-herb, or fireweed, furnishes the choicest honey. The California dandelion is the source of yellow slightly bitter honey.
A beekeeper at Myrtle Point, on the Umpqua River, Coos County, writes that it is usually cold and rainy in April and May, when vine-maple blooms. This town is only 20 miles from the ocean, and the north winds in summer are cool, and the nights are often very cool. The apiaries are usually small and located on farms. The largest yard in the county contains 100 colonies. Vine-maple and willow bloom from April 20 to May 10. Apple bloom comes a little later; cascara sagrada from May 10 to June 15; poison oak from May 15 to June 15; and fireweed in July and August. Dandelion, buckbush, wild gooseberry, and huckleberry are less important honey plants.
The Willamette Valley, east of the Coast Range, is the most thickly populated portion of the state. The land is generally level and the soil fertile, supporting a rank growth of grasses, many groves of maple, ash, and poplar, and a great variety of shrubs. There is, however, a shortage of lime in the soil, and lime has to be brought from southern Oregon to supply the deficiency. The higher elevations of the mountain ranges on both sides of the valley are crowned with a dense fir and pine forest. The whole valley was once occupied by an arm of the sea which extended southward through Puget Sound. There are only a few commercial apiaries in the valley, and they seldom contain a large number of colonies. Because of excessive rains in the spring, and severe droughts in late summer, special management is necessary to secure a surplus. Alsike clover, red clover, and vetch are the leading honey plants. While the common vetch is good, the Bulgarian is more dependable, according to H. A. Scullen, Specialist in Bee Culture. It is better adapted to this soil and climate and is less subject to attacks by aphides. Both the vetches are extensively grown for seed, and have extra-floral nectaries.
In the northern part of the valley, Columbia County is bounded on the north and east by the Columbia River. There are several large apiaries and a few small ones. From Ranier, on the Columbia River, the report is less favorable. The farms are small, and most of the settlers work in the logging camps. There is a heavy rainfall in winter. The spring's are cold and windy, and it is very dry in late summer. The larger part of the colonies in this location have died, apparently from bad management or brood diseases. But at Oak Point, in the state of Washington, 21 miles from Ranier, the German settlers are said to be very successful. Locally at Portland, on the Willamette River, Multnomah County, the surplus is derived from white clover only. Many, however, after the flow from white clover is over, ship their bees to the mountains, where they secure a good crop from fireweed. There are no large apiaries in this vicinity.
The larger part of the Willamette Valley is included in the counties of Clackamas, Marion, Linn, Washington, Yamhill, Benton, and Lane. The counties of Washington, Marion, and Linn are, according to Scullen, the most promising for honey. In Clackamas County in a good year the average surplus per colony is about 50 pounds, but very large crops are never obtained. A beekeeper writes from Wood-burn: “I consider this a good location for an average yield every year, but know of no large yields. The past six years we have had trouble with foul brood.” At Sil-