On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 12:23 PM, Michael Palmer <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> >> Furthermore, huge honey crops were reported a hundred years ago.
>
> Not necessarily because of the bees. Imagine keeping bees in a clover area
> and the farmers not even starting hay harvest until the fourth of July.
> That's thew way it was a hundred years ago here in the Champlain valley.
>

And you are lucky Michael if at least they are still growing hay in the
Champlain Valley.  Here on PEI I haven't had a really good crop of wild
white clover for years because the amount of pasture is so decreased.
There are only a fraction of the beef farms that there once were, and the
dairy farms (also decreased) may have some grazing, but are mostly relying
on supplemental feeding (one reason the milk production is higher).

As you noted, Michael, they cut the hay at maximum protein content which is
as the buds are just opening.  Fortunately, they can't cut alfalfa in
September without damaging the plants so some dairy hay fields give a good
crop then.

But when I came to PEI, 35 years ago, farming was marginal and a huge
percentage of the island was old fields growing up in goldenrod.  There is
still a lot of goldenrod in the hedgerows and ditches and it is always our
most reliable honey crop but back then there were really some amazing
fields of it.

Stan

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm