154 
BUCKWHEAT 
this crop regularly in after years. It is 
not advisable to give the seed after the 
second year; during the third and the 
fourth years it should be furnished at half- 
price. It should not be supplied free to 
any one living more than a quarter of a 
mile from the bees. 
BUCKWHEAT HONEY. 
Buckwheat honey is of a dark-purplish 
color, and looks much like the old New 
Orleans or sorghum molasses. The flavor 
to one who is a lover of clover and bass¬ 
wood honey and is unaccustomed to that 
of buckwheat is more or less sickish; but 
those who have always eaten buckwheat 
honey, or at least many of them, prefer 
it even to that of clover or basswood. 
A lady from the East once called at a 
store and looked over the honey. She was 
shown several samples of choice clover and 
basswood honey. 
“I do not like this,” she said. “It looks 
like manufactured sugar honey. Haven’t 
you any buckwheat honey?” 
“Yes, but we did not suppose that you 
would like that, because such honey rarely 
sells in our locality.” 
Some sections of buckwheat honey were 
placed before her and these suited her ex¬ 
actly. 
“That is real bee honey,” said she, with 
a look of satisfaction, and she carried home 
several sections. 
Her father had been a beekeeper in a 
locality where buckwheat was abundant: 
and unless honey had the strong flavor 
and dark color of the honey with which 
she was familiar in her childhood days, it 
was not honey to her. There are thousands 
like her in the East who prefer buckwheat 
honey; and this trade is so large in New 
York and Albany that it brings almost 
as high a price as the fancy grades of 
white. But in the western markets, prin¬ 
cipally in Chicago, it is without purchasers 
and sells as an offgrade honey. 
Notwithstanding the color of buckwheat 
honey itself is purplish, the comb honey is 
very attractive, since the cappings, espe¬ 
cially if made by black bees, are almost 
pearly white. 
Buckwheat honey occasionally contains 
33 per cent of water, and is, therefore, 
too thin, according to the formula of the 
national pure food law passed June 30, 
1906, which limits the amount of water 
in honey to 25 per cent. It is thus neces¬ 
sary to evaporate thin honey in order that 
it may conform to the law. This may be 
done by means of a honey evaporator, or 
by storing it for a while in a hot dry room. 
The quality of the honey is so greatly 
improved that it will fully compensate 
for the trouble involved. 
THE CULTURE OF BUCKWHEAT. 
Buckwheat is very sensitive to cold and 
is killed by the first heavy frost. It should 
not be sown too early in the spring since 
it is liable to be killed by the frost after 
it has sprouted, or the very hot weather 
of midsummer may blast the flowers so 
that they will produce no seed. No other 
cereal crop requires so short a season to 
mature, and under the most favorable con¬ 
ditions a crop may be obtained in from 
8 to 10 weeks, but the average time is 
about 12 weeks. As it fills best in cool 
weather, the time of seeding for any local¬ 
ity 'may be determined with a fair degree 
of accuracy by allowing a period of 12 
weeks for growth before the first killing 
frost is expected. When seeded the last 
week in June or the first week in July in 
New York and Pennsylvania, or about a 
week earlier in Michigan and Wisconsin, 
it is most likely to escape injury from hot 
weather. Over 40 bushels per acre of 
grain have been harvested from a crop 
drilled in with 300 pounds of phosphate 
as late as August 4. Buckwheat grows so 
quickly that it can succeed another crop, 
as barley, rye, or oats, or it may be sown 
where corn or some other crop has been 
planted but failed to grow. Such fields 
should be immediately ploughed and har¬ 
rowed. Buckwheat leaves the land ex¬ 
tremely mellow, which is an advantage in 
the case of heavy soils, but undesirable if 
the soil is light. With the exception of 
corn, the yield of which, it is claimed, is 
reduced, any crop may follow buckwheat 
with excellent results. It is subject to very 
little injury from insects or fungi. 
THE SEED-BED. 
There is probably no othqr crop that 
will yield better on infertile soil, such as 
old meadow and pasture lands, than will 
