ia70.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



125 



ra|)icl grower, and can be made profitable as a 

 honey tree. 



Borage has been highly recommended as a 

 honey plant ^ bnt it is a question whether it will 

 pay to raise a crop especially for bees. One of 

 my neighbors has an acre of this plant ; the bees 

 work ou it from morning till niglit ; it remains in 

 bloom a long time ; and bees seem to secure con- 

 siderable honey. Hut an acre of any plant is of 

 little value when within the range of the flight of 

 several large apiaries. That is to say, the in- 

 crease of honey distributed among so many colo- 

 nies, would scarcely be noticed. 



Heartsease gave me considerable honey last 

 year, but not so much this year. In general it is 

 one of my best plants for honey. 



M. L. Dunlap, Champaign. — Until this year, 

 I supposed we could supply our bees with abun- 

 dant j)asturage. There are several desirable 

 honey plants, but we need pasturage that is of 

 value for other than honey purposes. No matter 

 what the season may be, it will i)ay to raise ci'ops 

 for soiling. For this purpose fall rye is excellent, 

 and can be cut early in the spring. The land can 

 then be plowed and sowed to buckwheat. In 

 most of seasons this crop of buckwheat will 

 produce considerable honey. When the plant 

 is in full bloom, it niaybe plowed under as a fer- 

 tilizer, and the land resowed for a grain crop. 

 There is always a good demand for buckwheat 

 flour, and the crop is generally a paying one for 

 grain purposes alone. This year I sowed three 

 acres to buckwheat as just stated. My apiary of 

 seventy-five colonies have gathered enough honey 

 from thi.s plant to winter them. 



This year my bees have worked considerably 

 on apple juice. I liave never known them to do 

 so before, and therefore attribute this innovation 

 to the scarcity of honey. As soon as my second 

 crop of buckwheat came into bloom, my bees 

 quit cider-making. I have been asked the ques- 

 tion whether bees stored cidei" or honey from the 

 apple juice. This question I will answer by saj'- 

 ing that I do not believe the honey bee is at 

 jirtsent sufficiently skilled in chemistry to change 

 apple juice, or molasses even, into honey. 



Last spring I sowed seven acres to Alsike 

 clover. The ground was nicely jorepared, but 

 the extreme drought and the lateness of the sea- 

 son, destroyed it. I think this clover should be 

 sowed alone, and as eaiiy in the spring as pos- 

 sible. 



A Stranger. — My experience with buckwheat 

 is not a favorable one. A year ago I sowed a 

 few acres to this crop, but I was unable to find 

 my bees at work upon it. Has any one else a 

 similar experience ? 



Secretary. — In the vicinity of St, Charles, buck- 

 wheat seldom yields much honey. There are in 

 the village about 250 hives of bees. They do not 

 average, one year with another, more than three 

 to five pounds of honey from the buckwheat. 

 The land is quite high and rolling. Twelve miles 

 west of the village, the Messrs. Marvin have an 

 apiary of fifty colonies. In this location we have 

 never known the buckwheat to fail in the secre- 

 tion of honey. From forty to fifty pounds of 

 buckwheat honey is the yearly average for each 



colony in this apiary. The land is level au«l 

 quite low. 



On some soils white clover fecretes but little 

 honey, and the same may be true in regard to 

 buckwheat. Careful observations in ditt'erent 

 parts of the country may soon settle this point. 



John Ilusted, Beardstown. — Buckwheat is a 

 good honey plant with me. This season I have 

 taken from two hives 128 lbs. of buckwheat honey, 

 as suri)lus. 



A. T. Bishop, Leroy.— Up to the Rth of Sep- 

 tember my bees did not gather much buckwheat 

 honey. But at that date the blossoms began to 

 secrete honey, and since then they have done 

 well. This indicates that the secretion of honey 

 in buckwheat, as well as in other blossoms, is 

 more or less subject to atmospheric influence. 



A. Stranger. — One acre of Spanish needles* 

 will give more honey than five of buckwheat. 

 The honey has a finer flavor and a rich color, 

 and commands a good price in the market. Not 

 so with buckwheat; the honey is too dark, and 

 the flavor is not generally well liked. 



Ml". Wilmot. — I have noticed that bees do not 

 work much on buckwheat sowed in the early 

 part of the season. 



President Francis. — As a honey plant there 

 are two objections to buckwheat. 1st. It is un- 

 reliable — hot weather and early frosts ruin it 

 completely. 2d. It depreciates the value of white 

 clover honey when mixed with it. Every year 

 I have more or less boxes of white clover honey 

 nearly full, finished up with buckwheat. The 

 appearance of the white clover honey is spoiled, 

 so much so that it sells for no more than buck- 

 wheat honey. Dark honey will not sell in mar- 

 ket within' 5 or 10 cents per pound as much as 

 light-colored honey. Instead of raising buck- 

 wheat for honey, it is the better way to keep 

 none but Italian bees. These bees will gatlitr 

 honey fronr plants not visited by the common 

 variety, and will work with greater industry. 

 For these reasons they will gather more honey 

 without than the natives will with buckwheat. 



Alsike clover is an excellent honey plant, but 

 it yields honey only when we have plenty of 

 white clover and other blossoms. On this ac- 

 count it is not so valuable as it would be if it 

 bloomed later in the season. Perhaps feeding it 

 awhile in the spring would delay its blossoming, 

 and obviate this objection. 



Secretary. — Our main dependence for honey, 

 last year, was the Alsike. "^l his year the drought 

 has been so severe that it made but a small growth, 

 and consequently yielded bat little honey. The 

 prospect however is good for a crop of Alsike 

 next year. It seems to stand the droutli well, 

 notwithslanding the growth is small. Compaia- 

 tively it has suftered but little more from the 

 drouth than timothy, which with us, this year, 

 is not more than one-fourth of an average crop. 

 All of my Alsike was sowed with winter and 

 spring grains. It does well when put in with 

 barley just before the last harrowing. Some- 

 times this clover will grow to the height of 15 to 



* Spanish needles grow abundantly here (in Wa-^liington) 

 on waste places aid roadsides ; but we never saw a bee on 

 the blossom, though, we examined them frequently, year 

 after year, when iu blouiu. — En. Am. Bee Jouknal. 



