AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



51 



secured surplus honey from buckwheat to any extent, and his was mixed 

 with other sources to such an extent as to have a very different color and 

 flavor from that which is secured unmixed. 



It was given a trial at the Texas Agricultural College for a period of 

 three years. It failed to meet expectations as a honey plant on account of 

 the hot and dry weather which prevails there during most summers. It 

 was reported as blooming profusely, but not yielding nectar. 



In New York it is regarded as one of the best honey plants. The late 

 E. W. Alexander, writing in Gleanings, stated that he had kept 200 colonies 

 in a location with scarcely 100 acres of buckwheat within four miles, yet 



Fig. 



iuckwheat field in bloom. 



had harvested 15 to 20 pounds of section honey from buckwheat per colony. 



He stated that it yielded best with cool nights followed by a clear sky 

 and a hot sun, with little or no wind. Under such conditions it secreted 

 nectar freely from about 9 a. m. to 2 p. m. No bees would be seen on it 

 earlier or later in the day. On one occasion, when there were 1,500 acres 

 of buckwheat within reach of his bees, they were gathering fast at the 

 beginning of the August harvest. A thunder storm caused the tempera- 

 ture to drop 21 degrees in less than half an hour. The weather remained 

 cloudy and windy, with a temperature of about 65 degrees, for eleven days. 

 During that time the bees gathered no honey, and destroyed much of their 

 brood.— Gleanings, March 15, 1907. 



The Ontario Association's Crop Report Committee reported an aver- 

 age per colony production of 23 pounds from the more than ten thousand 

 colonies belonging to its members for two years in succession. A writer 



