60 SOURCES OF HOKEY. 



The Melilot or Sweet-scented Clover, botli yello-w and 

 white, deserves a place in our list. It is found in bloom by 

 midsummer, and remains until our latest flowers. Where 

 it grows in profusion, as along many of our small streams, 

 the supply it furnishes is by no means inconsiderable. 

 In color the honey is rather dark, but the flavor is much 

 superior to that of Buckwheat honey. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



This honey is considered by many to be of inferior 

 quality. Its color, when sepskrated from the comb, re- 

 sembles molasses of medium shade. The taste is more 

 pungent than that of clover honey ; it is particularly 

 prized on that account by some, and disliked by others 

 for the same reason. 



In several counties in this State, so little of this 

 grain is raised, that the honey can not be found in the 

 hive or boxes. But in many places it is the main de- 

 pendence, the bees seldom getting more than a winter 

 supply from the early flowers. 



In some sections full sets of boxes are often filled from 

 Buckwheat after a fine yield of white honey. This adds 

 materially to the pecuniary returns from apiaries in such 

 localities. The date of sowing Buckwheat varies with 

 different farmers. I have passed through districts where 

 some fields were out of blossom, while the flowers in others 

 were not yet open, and still others at all intermediate 

 stages. This protracts the yield from this source for 

 several weeks. Although the honey commands a less 

 price in market than lighter grades, it is a source of 

 much profit. 



In some regions the Golden Eods, (several species of 

 Solidago, fig. 16), afford valuable forage, and assist 

 largely in replenishing the combs for winter consumption. 

 I have frequently observed that bees were working vigor- 



