4 Farmers’ Bulletin 1216. 
and as the wild buckwheat which constitutes an important source of 
nectar in California. It is an introduced plant, probably native to 
China, 
GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES OF THE BUCKWHEAT 
REGION. 
The buckwheat region lies in the Northeastern States and extends 
into Canada. Two-thirds of the entire buckwheat acreage in the 
United States is in New York and Pennsylvania. Buckwheat grows 
westward as far as Minnesota and southward in higher elevations in 
the Appalachian Mountains as far as North Carolina. From the 
700,000 
FREER Setntcts 
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Fig. 1.—Chart showing variation in acreage of buckwheat in New York, New Jersey, and 
Pennsylvania. The total honey crop is closely related to the acreage. (Data supplied 
by Bureau of Crop Estimates.) 
beekeeping standpoint the buckwheat region is limited to those 
places where this species is regularly grown as a farm crop in suffi- 
cient abundance to furnish nectar for a surplus honey-crop. This 
beekeeping region, therefore, lies in New York, Pennsylvania, north- 
eastern Ohio, western Maryland, and West Virginia. (Fig. 1.) While 
this plant is grown in other States to the west of the region indicated, 
it is frequently a catch crop. It has little influence on the honey- 
crop under these circumstances and does not materially modify the 
plans of the beekeeper in preparing for the honey-flow. The abun- 
dance of this species in the various sections is shown on the accom- 
panying map (fig. 2). Zavitz* states that the average number of 
3 Zavirz, C. A., 1919. Farm crops. Bul, 268, Ontario Agricultural College. 
