10 Farmers’ Bulletin 1215. 
PRESENT DEVELOPMENT OF BEEKEEPING IN THE 
REGION. 
As has been indicated in an earlier section, beekeeping as a busi- 
ness first developed in the United States in the clover region. Be- 
cause of the peculiarities of the problems of this region, and the 
difficulty of getting the maximum honey-crop from the clovers, the 
most skilled beekeepers of the country are found in the clover dis- 
tricts. It does not necessarily follow, however, that the clover region 
is as well developed as it should be, for it is unfortunately true that 
too few of the beekeepers of this region are sufficiently skilled to 
make beekeeping a vocation. This region is the most densely popu- 
lated part of the United States, and this leads to a larger number 
of amateur beekeepers. 
There is not so much honey produced in the clover region to-day 
as formerly, and this decline is not due to any change in the value 
of the clovers as honey-plants. Formerly basswood *® was abundant 
throughout most of this region. It begins to bloom much later than 
the clovers, and when it was abundant the beekeeper could utilize 
part or most of the clover season to prepare his colonies for the bass- 
wood honey-flow to follow. The loss of the basswood made it neces- 
sary that the care of the colonies be improved if a surplus crop was 
to be obtained, and since many beekeepers were not able to do 
this, they suffered a decline of their business, while many abandoned 
beekeeping. The development of more intensive agriculture in much 
of this region reduced the abundance of the flowers which furnished 
the honey-flows of the fall, making it more difficult to devise a system 
of beekeeping which would insure good colonies for winter. The 
most important factor leading to the decline of beekeeping in this 
region was the methods which came into vogue during the days 
when comb-honey was produced almost exclusively. At that time it 
was the aim of most beekeepers to have every possible drop of 
early honey stored in the supers, and this resulted in a shortage of 
honey for fall and winter, which in turn resulted in the death of 
many colonies or a great reduction in colony population the fol- 
lowing year. It thus became common for beekeepers at that time 
to have exceedingly small colonies, and this reduced the profits of 
beekeeping so greatly that many persons no longer found it profit- 
able to keep bees. It seems strange now that the cause of this 
decline was not then recognized, but with a return to more rational 
beekeeping methods it is found that the clover region has not lost 
its capabilities for profitable beekeeping, and it is now becoming 
again an important area for honey production. There is no part of 
the country where the industry may be carried on with greater profit 
® Linden, Tilia americana, 
