THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



139 



OILED PAPER VERSUS TARRED FELT FOR 

 SPRING PROTECTION. 



These bees were dug- out, and most 

 of the hives covered with oiled paper. 

 Wiiether this will prove the equal of 

 tarred felt remains to be seen. The 

 oiled paper is cheaper, and stronger, 

 and more easily put on. Most of the 

 hives at the home-yard and the south 

 yard were papered, or protected, with 

 the tarred felt, and we will have an op- 

 portunity to comviare the merits of the 

 two kinds of paper. 



THERE MUST BE NO FUSSINESS IN 

 OUT-YARDS. 



Even with this initial trip at out- 

 apiaries, I can see very clearly that 

 there must be short-puts, quick work, 

 and, especially, system. Methods that 

 might beendured in ajiome-yard could 

 not be tolerated in ai ^ut-apiary. 



After papering all ^ these hives, and 

 feeding the bees in c .e chaff hives that 

 were short of store , we were ready for 

 the most importaj.<^ part of our mission, 

 that of finding- raspberry districts for 

 the location of the apiaries. 



SOME VITAL POINTS IN SELECTING A 



LOCATION IN NORTHERN 



MICHIGAN. 



Let no one imagine that all of north- 

 ern Michigan is covered with raspber- 

 ries, the san.e as some other portions of 

 the countr'- ;'-e covered with clover. 

 This n- . Michigan is laid out in 



o,.icaiis," so far as soil and timber 

 are concerned. Pine barrens form a 

 large share of this northern country, 

 and more desolate, dreary, God-for- 

 saken spots it has never been my lot to 

 behold — nothing left except pine stumps 

 and logs blackened by fire. Occasion- 

 ally there is an old pinery upon which 

 raspberries grow, but they are short, 

 stunted, and scattering, and of little 

 value as honey producers. After driv- 

 ing for miles through a dreary waste 

 of sand, pine stumps and logs, there 

 will be a change, sometimes within a 



few rods, to the most magnificent for- 

 ests of maple, beech, elm, etc., and it 

 is in these hard-timbered belts that we 

 must look for the honey-yielding 

 berries. 



When these tracts of hard timber 

 have been lumbered off there springs 

 up a growth of the wild red raspberry 

 that is simply incomparable as a honey 

 producer. It comes into bloom early in 

 June, is a profuse yielder of a delicious 

 white honey, and continues to bloom 

 about six weeks. It is not greatly 

 affected by the weather. The blos- 

 soms are inverted; that is, hang .down 

 like so many umbrellas; and the rain 

 does not wash away the nectar as it 

 does in clover. Bees will keep right 

 on working in wet weather, unless it 

 rains too hard. We saw a few bass- 

 woods, and occasionally a trace of 

 clover, but berries are the "whole 

 thing" here. 



Having found such a hard timbered 

 tract, there are still several points to 

 be considered in the selection of a site 

 for an apiary. First, an old, settled, 

 farming country is of no value; unless 

 lumbering is going on ir that neigh- 

 borhood, because the farm^/s cut the 

 timber slick and clean and plow up 

 the ground. Of course, there will be a 

 fringe of berries around the edges of 

 clearing's, along fences, etc., and a few 

 colonies would probably find plenty of 

 honejs but the man who is g^oing to 

 bring in several hundreds of colonies 

 must find some place back away from 

 the cleared land, or, at least, where 

 the hard timber has been lumbered off, 

 and has not yet been sold for farms. 



Still another point; it is not until 

 land has been lumbered some two or 

 three years that the berries are suffi- 

 cient in number and growth to be valu- 

 able as honey producers. 



BURNED OVER TRACTS NOT SO 

 DESIRABLE. 



If the fire runs through and burns 

 them up, they seldom come in again 



