Hello Dan and All,
 Dan wrote:
> The question is how do I ethically label a honey with respect to it's
source?

The rules for the floral source are general in the U.S. AS LONG AS YOU DO
NOT LABEL PURE CLOVER OR PURE WILDFLOWER.

The USDA will come down on you if you label a floral source as *pure*. Pure
honey is ok but not a pure floral source.

When shipping to many countries a claimed floral source you need a floral
source certification from a laboratory that the honey is over a certain
percent Tupelo, orange etc.

> How do I guess how many apple blossoms in the orchard I set the hives (or
adjoining orchard) vs how many cherry blossoms in an orchard 1 or 2 miles
away?

Bees like apple blossoms and hives strong enough can produce a surplus. The
bees do seem to prefer dandelions and clover over the apple blossoms at
times so you need to mow the orchard before pollination to keep the bees
working the apple blossoms. You can label the honey *Apple blossom honey*
but not PURE APPLE BLOSSOM HONEY.

The majority of the honey should be from apple blossoms but if you were in
Missouri would also include dutch clover, dandelion,  and nectar from
several trees such as Maples and willows.

 In my opinion bees are not going to travel 1-2 miles for cherry blossoms
when there are plenty of apple blossoms to work within a acre of the hive.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison