Page:How to Keep Bees.djvu/250

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HOW TO KEEP BEES

wine-red stubble. Buckwheat is usually sown late in the season, often on ground where oats have already been grown earlier in the year. It blossoms in August and even in September, and furnishes a wealth of nectar when there is little to be found elsewhere. The honey made from buckwheat is dark, reddish brown and brings a lower price in most markets than do the lighter-coloured varieties. Though it is strong in flavour, it is preferred by many, and on our table it alternates with basswood and clover. It has always seemed poetic justice that the plant which produces buckwheat cakes should produce the honey to eat with them. The following are the good points of buckwheat as a crop: It is profitable, the grain always brings a good price; it grows well on poor soil; it is one of the best agencies for ridding a field of weeds. There is a certain gameness about buckwheat which we have always admired and which was thus characterised by a farmer of our acquaintance: "Buckwheat is a gritty plant; if it can get its head above ground it will blossom. I have seen it, during dry seasons, blossom when its stalks were so short that the bees had to get down on their hands and knees to gather the honey." While this may be putting the case rather strongly, yet it expresses well the habits of the plant.

Black mustard, rape and turnips all furnish nectar for excellent honey. The seed of mustard and rape brings a good price, and the root of the turnip is always valuable.

The blossoms of the red raspberry yield a delicious