1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



563 



wild raspberry never fails to produce honey. 

 It does not winter kill, as does the clover, 

 and its nectar-yielding pi'operties are less 

 affected by the weather. I have seen bees 

 doing quite well working upon it when the 

 weatner was so cool that clover would not 

 yield a drop. I have seen the bees continue 

 to work on berries when it was raining quite 

 a little, and had been raining some time. 

 Many of the blossoms are inverted, like little 

 umbi'ellas, and the water does not get into 

 them. 



It might not 

 be worth while 

 to devote so 

 much space to 

 the raspberry 

 regions were it 

 not that new 

 tracts are be- 

 ing continual- 

 ly logged ofJ, 

 thus offering 

 new pastures 

 to newcomers. 

 That many are 

 interested i n 

 this region, 

 and would 

 gladly go there 

 to take up bee- 

 keeping as a 

 specialty, I 

 know from the 

 numerous let- 

 ters that come 

 to me asking 

 in regard to 

 the prospects, 

 where to go to 

 find locations, 

 how to find 

 them, etc. To 

 help a man 

 find a good lo- 

 cation, where 

 the nectar is 

 never - failing, 

 and he can 

 spread out and 

 establish out- 

 apiaries, and 

 make some 

 money and en- 

 joy life, is ful- 

 ly as impor- 

 tant as to show 

 him how to 

 manage his 

 bees after he is 

 rightly locat- 

 ed, hence the 

 following par- 

 agraphs. 



SOME VITAL POINTS IN SELECTING A LOCA- 

 TION IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



Let no one imagine that all of Northern 

 Michigan is covered with raspberries, the 

 same as some other portions are covered 

 with clover. This portion of Michigan is 

 laid off in "streaks," so far as timber and 



soil are concerned. Pine barrens form a 

 large share of this northern country; and 

 more dreary, desolate, God-forsaken spots it 

 has never been my lot to behold— nothing 

 left but pine stumps and logs blackened by 

 lire; and yet, in spite of it all, there is a sort 

 of weird, lonely fascination about these pine 

 plains. Occasionally there is an old pinery 

 upon which raspberries grow, but they are 

 short, stunted, and scattering, and of little 

 value as honey-producers. 



-^~^^CN 



'%^^ 



FIG. 1.— HAKD-MAPLE FORESTS OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



As fast as the timber is lumbered off, red raspberries spring up in myriads, furnish- 

 ing bee pasturage that is simply Incomparable. 



After driving for miles through a dreary 

 waste of sand, pine stumps, and logs, there 

 will come a change, sometimes within a few 

 rods, to the most magnificent forest of beech, 

 maple, elm, etc.; and it is in these hard-tim- 

 bered belts that we must look for the honey- 

 yielding berries. When these tracts of hard 



