332 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



along the line between Mississippi 

 and Alabama for a hundred miles 

 north of Meriden. The possibilities 

 of a location vary materially, depend- 

 ing upon the quantity of sweet clover. 

 There are large areas where sweet 

 clover has become established over 

 thousands of acres of unused land. 

 This, of course, makes an ideal con- 

 dition for the beekeeper. 



I found one apparently well au- 

 thenticated record of an average of 

 one hundred pounds per colony for 

 ten years, with as high as seven hun- 

 dred colonies in one apiary. I hesi- 

 tated to record it here, but my infor- 

 mation came from a well-known man 

 of wide experience in honey produc- 

 tion. I found no other location sup- 

 porting so many colonies and giving 

 such a yield. Not far away, good bee- 

 keepers are keeping from 160 to 200 

 colonies in one yard. The man who 

 is interested should depend jupon his 

 own examination to pick out a spe- 

 cific location. 



At Corinth, Miss., I visited Mr. J. 

 L. Leath, a well-known queen 



ease. He reports no goldenrod and 

 little honey from cotton. 



Finding a Location in the South. 



The northern beekeeper vvho 

 dreams of finding an ideal location 

 w the south should spend some time 

 there before tearing up stakes and 

 moving his family. In general, 

 southern locations are not equal to 

 those of the north, while social con- 

 ditions are so different that one 

 should become somewhat familiat 

 with the south before making a 

 change. The southern people are 

 very agreeable, but customs are rad- 

 ically different and one must not ex- 

 pect to find things as he knows them 

 in the north. There are places in 

 the south where northern families 

 might locate with entire satisfaction, 

 while in other neighborhoods the 

 northerner would surely be dissatis- 

 fied. The best plan for one contem- 

 plating such a change is to spend his 

 winters in the south, becoming famil- 

 iar with the conditions and customs 

 until he feels sure that he is pre- 

 pared to adjust himself to them. The 



northern man who goes south, ex- 

 pecting to show those who have lived 

 there for years a better way of doing 

 things, is not likely to succeed very 

 far. The southern people have prob- 

 lems different from ours, and they 

 know better how to approach local 

 conditions than a stranger does. 



The negro population is much 

 greater than the white, in most lo- 

 calities in the States mentioned. Few 

 northern men are content to live 

 among the blacks. 



There are some extensive beekeep- 

 ers in the north who might find it 

 to their advantage to have apiaries 

 south, as does Mr. Stringham of New 

 York. Bees are very cheap in many 

 southern localities, and one could 

 establish an apiary there without 

 great cost, except for hives and 

 equipment. By spending the winter 

 there, getting them ready to ship 

 north, in packages, in spring, one 

 could prepare for making such in- 

 crease as needed in his northern api- 

 aries, while enjoying the milder cli- 

 mate during the cold months. 



ONE OF M. C. BERRY'S ALABAMA OUTYARDS 



The Color of Honey From Gol- 

 denrod and Aster 



By C. C. Miller. 



NOT long ago I received by par- 

 cel post a section of honey. It 

 was done up in a small armful 

 of excelsior, by which I knew it was 

 from Allen Latham without reading 

 the name on it, for Allen Latham is 

 the man who knows how to ship 

 section honey by mail. I waited some 

 days for a letter saying why he had 

 sent the honey, and receiving none 

 I wrote gently abusing him for set- 

 ting me to guessing. He replied as 

 follows : 

 "Dear Doctor Miller: 



"That section of honey was handed 

 over to me by the bees without any 

 Encyclopedia Brittanica article about 

 it. I wanted to give you a chance to 

 crack the nut without any sugges- 

 tions. But it was not fair, I'll admit. 



breeder whose name is familiar to 

 many of our readers. Corinth seems 

 to be out of the best sweet clover 

 territory, although both white and 

 sweet clover yield honey abundantly. 

 Being in the extreme northern part 

 of the State, many plants common to 

 the northern States are found. Mr. 

 Leath reports that his early honey 

 comes from the willow, elm, maple 

 and fruit bloom, sources which are 

 familiar to northern beekeepers. He 

 also gets some dark honey from per- 

 simmon. White and sweet clover 

 furnish his principal crop, with bit- 

 terweed, asters and goldenrods in the 

 fall. Cotton does not help appre- 

 ciably in his section. 



From Corinth I went to Memphis, 

 Tenn., which seems to be out of the 

 =weet clover district. Mr. W. E. 

 Drane, who has bees on both sides 

 of the river, in Tennessee and Arkan- 

 sas, advised me that his honey comes 

 from white clover, holly, tupelo, 

 black gum, redbud, locust, tulip pop- 

 lar, blackberry, asters and hearts- 



ONE OF ACHORD'S QUEEM YARDS. 



