BEE PASTURAGE. 89 



BUCKWHEAT IIOKEY. 



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 dependence, the 

 bees seldom getting more than a winter supply from the 

 early flowers. This honey is considered by many to be of 

 iiiferior quality. Its color, when separated from the comb, 

 resembles molasses of medium shade. The taste is more 

 pimgent than tliat of clover honey ; it is particularly prized 

 on that account by some, and disliked by others for the 

 same reason. When swarms issuing as late as July 15th, 

 commence on buckwheat, they will sometimes contain not 

 more than five pounds of stores, and yet make good stocks 

 for winter, wbereas without this yield, they might not live 

 through October. This crop fails about once in ten years. 

 I have known a swarm to gain sixteen pounds in one week, 

 and construct comb to store it in at the same time. I 

 once had a swarm issue August 18th, that obtained 30 

 pounds in about eighteen days. But such buckwheat 

 swarms, in ordinary seasons, seldom get over 15 pounds. 

 The buckwheat flowers last from three to five weeks. The 

 time of sowing varies in different sections, from June 10th 

 to July 20th. Farmers wish to give it just time to ripen 

 before frost, as the yield of grain is considered better, 

 but as the time of frost is a matter of uncertainty, some 

 sow several days earlier than others. Whenever an abun- 

 dant crop of this grain is realized, a proportionable quanti- 

 ty of honey is obtained.* 



DO BEES KTJtJKB THE GEAIN? 



Many people contend that bees are an injury to this 

 crop, by taking away the substance that would be formed 



* A friend informs me that, in 1863, the bees in some parts of Albany Co., M . 

 Y., refused to swarm before buckwheat blossomed, and that between the 1st 

 and 10th of Au^sthehad one hundred swarms. Many of them stored aban 

 dance for winter, and gained considerable surplus ; in some instances, 23 lbs. 



