ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 



not pjiy iu honey, it certainly will in grain. 

 If one has the money, and can afford to run 

 the risk ol' a failure, it is a fine thing to 

 make some accurate experiments, and it 

 may be that a farm of one or two hundred 

 acres, judiciously stocked with honey-bear- 

 ing plants, trees, and grains, would be a suc- 

 cess linanciiilly. It has been much talked 

 about, but none, so far as we know, have 

 ever put the idea in i)ractice. To beginners 

 we would say : Plant and sow all you can 

 that will be sure to pay aside from the hon- 

 ey crop, and then, if the latter is a success, 

 you will be so much ahead ; but beware of 

 investing much in seeds that are for plants 

 producing nothing of value except honey. 

 Alsike and white Dutch clover, buckwheat, 

 rape, alfalfa, and the like, it will do to in- 

 vest in ; but catnip, mignonnette, Rocky- 

 Mountain bee-plant, etc., etc., we would at 

 present handle rather sparingly. 



The question, "How many acres of a 

 good honey-bearing plant would be needed 

 to keep 100 colonies busy V" has often been 

 asked. If ten acres of buckwheat would an- 

 swer while in full bloom, we should need 

 perhaps ten other similar fields sown with 

 rape, mustard, catnip, etc., blossoming at as 

 many different periods, to keep them going 

 the entire warm season. It would seem 500 

 acres should do nicely, even if nothing were 

 obtained from other sources, but at present 

 we can only conjecture. A colony of bees 

 will frequently pay for themselves in ten 

 days during a good yield from natural pas- 

 turage ; and if we could keep up this state of 

 affairs during the whole of the summer 

 months, it would be quite an item indeed. 

 Alfalfa, sainfoin, sweet clover, buckwheat, 

 rape, alsike clover, crimson and red clover, 

 cow peas of the South, and some others, are 

 the only cultivated plants that have given 

 paying crops of honey, without question, so 

 far as we have been informed. See Honey- 

 plants in Index. 



ARTIFICIAL SVTARJVIING See 



SwAioiiNo, AitTiFiciAL, and Nucleus. 



ASTERS. Under this head we have a 

 large class of autumn Uowers, very often 

 called daisies in some localities, most of 

 whicli are honey-beariug ; they may be dis- 

 tinguislied from the helianthus, or artichoke 

 and suntlower family, by the color of the ray- 

 flowers. The ray-llowers are the outer col- 

 ored leaves of the flower, which stand out 

 like rays ; in fact, the word aster means star, 

 because these ray-flowers stand out like the 

 rays of a star. Many of the yellow autumn 



34 ASTERS. 



flowers are called asters, but this is an error; 

 for the asters are never yellow, except in 

 the center. The outside rays are blue, purple, 

 or white. You may frequently find half a 

 dozen different varieties growing almost 

 side by side. Where there are many acres of 

 them, they sometimes yield considerable 



ASTER. 



honey, but other seasons they seem to be un- 

 noticed by the bees. Better move your bees 

 to where they grow naturally, when you 

 have determined by moving a single hive 

 first, as a test, whether they are yielding 

 honey in paying quantities. 



AVhere asters and goldenrod abound 

 largely, it may be best to defer feeding un- 

 til these plants have ceased to yield honey, 

 say the last of September. 



In some localities, notably along the bot- 

 tom lands and during some years, the asters 

 may yield considerable honey, on the amber 

 order, of good heavy body, but of a flavor 

 that would not ordinarily be considered suit- 

 able for table use. It must go to the confec- 

 tioner or to the baker. Commercially it is 

 scarcely known on the market. 



As we stated at the outset, asters are 

 very numerous. It has been estimated that 

 there are about 120 different species in the 

 United States alone, and about 60 in the 

 northeastern part of North America. Of 

 this entire number all but a dozen are pur- 

 ple or blue. So numerous is the family, and 

 so slight the variations between the different 

 species, that botanists are often puzzled to 

 distinguish them. 



A very common variety is the A. patens, 

 with bright bluish-purple flowers. These 

 are low -growing, with wide - spreading 



