17G ANNUALS. 



from cloth. It yields a beautiful honey in large quantities, but coming 

 almost with basswood, cannot be cultivated solely for honey. It begins 

 to bloom about July 10th, and lasts from twenty to twenty-five days — 

 about a week longer than basswood. It is much thinner than bass- 

 wood and beautifully white,— almost transparent whtn sealed up in the 

 comb, but the flavor is strong and objectionable to many people. 



BONESET OR THOROUGHWORT. 



This plant yields honey during July and August, sometimes a little 

 into September. In some localities and seasons it yields good honey 

 very liberally. 



Beside these, the whole families of mints, balms, and mallows are 

 good honey plants. Plants of the genus Cleome, Polanisia, and Sophau- 

 thus abound in the great North-west, from Illinois to Oregon, and yield 

 good supplies of hone}'. Early in the Spring bees are assisted in pollen 

 gathering by the dandelion and crocus, which show their blossoms soon 

 after the first warm weather sets in. 



First in importance among annuals stands buckwheat, though not 

 first in the quality of honey. Buckwheat honey is quite dark, but rich 

 and good. This grain cannot be raised to advantage where the sum- 

 mer is long and hot. la cool mountanious regions the yield is best- 

 Bees generally work on buckwheat during the month of August, unless 

 the weather is extremely dry or wet. If an acre or two of buckwheat be 

 sown a month or six weeks before the regular time for sowing it will 

 yield honey for the baes just when pasturage fails in most places— from 



