THE BEE-KEEERS' REVIEW. 



187 



bushels from one acre of ground through 

 some parts of this and a greater portion 

 of Albany County. Where bees are kept 

 in box hives, and have not much care, 

 the whole surplus is nothing but pure 

 buckwheat honey. I know of bee-keep- 

 ers who keep from 100 to 200 colonies, 

 and seldom get a pound of white honey; 

 in fact, a good share of these box-hive 

 men do not think of putting on surplus 

 boxes until the first of August, or when 

 the buckwheat commences to bloom; 

 which is about that time. In some local- 

 ities, buckwheat will not do as well as in 

 others; on light sandy soils it does not do 

 as well as where the soil is more fertile 

 and heavy; and in locations where it is 

 lime-rock soil it will thrive and give 

 more and a better quality of honey than 

 upon any other soil that I am acquainted 

 with. This latter fact I have fully satis- 

 fied myself of. 



Here in this vicinity we have a lime- 

 rock soil. I have noticed that the honey 

 produced here is much superior in flavor 

 and color to that produced upon sandy 

 or slate-rock soil. In some parts of Ver- 

 mont, the honey from buckwheat is in- 

 ferior in taste and color to ours here. 

 The combs are dark, and the honey has a 

 rank and disagreeable smell, while that 

 gathered from buckwheat here is of a 

 pleasant taste, and the combs produced 

 from it are whiter than the combs that are 

 produced from any other I ever saw. A 

 bee-keeper from Vermont stopped with 

 me several weeks last fall. He was much 

 surprised when he came to see the buck- 

 wheat honey that was produced in this 

 vicinity, and we actually put it by the 

 side of some choice white hone}' made 

 from bass wood, and the buckwheat act- 

 ually showed a whiter comb than the 

 other, the latter having a pale yellow 

 appearance, while the former showed a 

 comb of almost snowy whiteness. 



I have found that soil and climate have 

 much to do in changing the ciuality of 

 honey made from the same kind of bloom. 

 The basswood honey j^roduced in Ver- 

 mont is much superior, and of better 

 flavor, than the basswood honey gather- 

 ed here. The reason for it is, that it is 

 more natural for basswood to grow and 

 flourish there in that State than in our 

 vicinity, and vice vcisa. In regard to 

 buckwheat, the farmers here general!}- 

 choose a field of sod. Sometimes it is 

 turned over in the fall, and left through 

 the winter. In the spring it is cross- 

 plowed, and covered with a sprinkling of 

 manure, and well harrowed in ; then about 

 the 20th of June they commence to sow 

 the seed, and continue along from that 



time up until the 5th of July. A good 

 many put the seed in \vitha drill. When 

 sown with a drill, they use, upon an aver- 

 age, from 2 to 3 pecks per acre: if sown 

 broadcast, a little more seed is required. 

 The bees commence to work upon the 

 bloom about August i ; and if the weather 

 is fair it produces honey up until the sec- 

 ond week in September. Sometimes the 

 west winds will blast the blossoms, where 

 the buckwheat is sown upon high ground, 

 or in unsheltered positions; then it does 

 not load, or fill, so well, and does not 

 produce as much honey. 



I have seen it stated, that bees in some 

 locations do not gather honey from buck- 

 wheat except in the morning or fore part 

 of the day; but in this vincinitj' they will 

 work the whole day long, if the weather 

 is favorable and not cold and rainy. If 

 I were going to sow buckwheat expressly 

 for honey, I would choose a field of stiff 

 sod. I would turn it Ov^er as early as I 

 could in the spring; let it lie in this con- 

 dition till about the first of July; then 

 cross-plow and harrow until the soil is in 

 a^good mellow condition; then roll the 

 seed in plaster, or equal parts of plaster 

 and leached ashes, and apply about 3 

 pecks of seed per acre. I would sow the 

 ground about the lothor 12th of July, so 

 as to have it come in bloom as soon as 

 the earliest blossoms fail. A great many 

 locations, where there is not fall forage, 

 could be greatly benefited by sowing a 

 few acres of buckwheat. — F. Boomhoiver 

 i)i (, leanings for jSSj. 



Honey Quotations. 



Tho following; rules for grading honey were 

 adopted b.v tlie North American Bee • Keepers' 

 Association, at its Washington meeting, and, so 

 far as possible, tiuotations are made according 

 to these rules. 



F.\NOY.— All sections to be well filled ; combs 

 straight, of even thickness, and firmly attached 

 to all four sides; l)oth wood and comb nnsoiled 

 by travel-stain, or otlierwise ; all the cells sealed 

 except the row of cells next the wood. 



No. 1. — .Vll sections well filled, but combs un- 

 even or crooked, detached at the bottom, or 

 with but few cells unsealed ; both wood and 

 comb unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise. 



In addition to this tlie honey is to be classified 

 according to color, using the terms white, amber 

 and dark. That is, there wiU be " fancy white," 

 No. ],, dark," etc. 



CLEVELAND. OHIO. -We quote as follows: 

 Fancy white, 12; No. 1 white, 11 ; No 1 amber, 9 

 to 10; buckwheat, 8; white, extracted, 6; amber, 

 4 to 5. 



A. B. WILLIAMS & CO., 

 May 2ti. SO & S2 Broadway, Cleveland, O. 



