1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



267 



General 

 Correspondence 



IMPROVING OUR BEE-PASTURES. 



May we Profitably Increase the Produc- 

 tion of Honey by Aiding Nature, or by 

 Making Artificial Bee Pasturage? the 

 Great Value of Sweet Clover for this 

 Purpose. 



BY ISAAC F. TILLINGHAST. 



A homely old adage says, "There are two 

 sides to every plank; " yet from my observations 

 I am convinced that very many bee-keepers are 

 so near-sighted that they see but the upper surface 

 of the foundation upon which their living de- 

 pends. 



A question which I have not seen much dis- 

 cussed in the bee-journals, yet which I think 

 worthy of much thought and study, is whether 

 the ordinary number of bees kept in most locali- 

 ties, or, to make it more personally interesting, 

 whether the number of colonies kept in your 

 neighborhood gather and save from loss or waste 

 all the nectar which is naturally supplied; and 

 eten if decided that they do not, yet could not 

 more bees be profitably kept, and more honey 

 produced by aiding nature, by supplementing or 

 increasing the pasturage artificially? 



For nearly fifty years I have been a bee-keep- 

 er, and have studied the business in all its phases 

 in my own locality. Recently I have traveled 

 quite extensively, visiting many honey-producers 

 in several States, in order to make a study of lo- 

 cations, and after comparing methods and results 

 in different localities I am persuaded that, while 

 there are very few who have colonies enough to 

 lave from waste what nature already supplies, 

 there are still fewer who could not profitably in- 

 crease their pasturage to such an extent that they 

 might correspondingly increase their harvest 

 whether they increase their number of colonies 

 or not. 



Probably there are thousands of bee-keepers 

 scattered over this country who keep perhaps 

 from ten to fifty colonies each, and which give 

 them annually but 25 or 30 pounds of surplus, 

 who think that their bees are giving them about 

 all that is to be obtained within their range, and 

 that no more could be stored, either by increas- 

 ing the number of colonies or by making use of 

 improved methods in handling those they already 

 hare. 



To show the fallacy of this thought I need only 

 cite the case of Mr. Alexander, who by his up-to- 

 date methods has for several years kept from 700 

 to 800 colonies in one yard, and caused them to 

 produce an average of nearly 100 pounds per col- 

 ony each season; yet he told the writer but a 

 short time before his death that he believed a 

 large amount of nectar annually went to waste 

 within the reach of his bees. 



In one of his best seasons an aggregate of 

 73,800 pounds, or nearly 37 tons, of honey was 

 harvested within a radius of distance covered by 

 the flight of a bee, whatever that may be. That 

 this surprising yield was due to locality, or to any 



special environments, outside advantages, or aids 

 to nature, I do not believe, for a careful study of 

 liis surroundings shows nothing unusual or dif- 

 ferent from thousands of other locations in which 

 little or nothing is saved. If it is due entirely to 

 the man and his management, then many of us 

 must admit that we are not living up to our op- 

 portunities, and at first it would seem to show 

 that our " plank " really has but one side, and 

 that nature is already abundantly supplying the 

 nectar for all the bees that we may desire to keep. 



But now let us look for the other side. On a 

 visit to Mr. Salisbury, who resides right in the 

 city of Syracuse, N. Y., he showed me two hives 

 from which he has taken 532 pounds of surplus 

 the past season, and surely his location would 

 naturally be much poorer than almost any spot 

 outside of a city. But looking over the ground 

 there, what do we find? Vacant lots and parks 

 all around that city are covered with a rank 

 growth of sweet clover which commences to 

 bloom in June, and keeps at it until frost. 

 Whether this came about by accident or design 

 I can not say; but certain it is that it is an envi- 

 able position for any bee-keeper, and one which 

 might easily be imitated; for when once started 

 this plant readily seeds itself and spreads with 

 great rapidity, and we can scarcely imagine a lo- 

 cality where there are not many vacant strips and 

 corners which might as well be growing sweet 

 clover as other weeds which are not honey-pro- 

 ducers. 



But does nature produce an abundant and con- 

 stant supply, even in the most favored localities? 

 She surely does not, and this is the point we wish 

 to bring to light. This is the other side of our 

 plank. While it is true that there are times when 

 800 colonies can not save all the nectar which is 

 formed within their reach, it is equally true that 

 there are other times, between these flows, when 

 not enough can be found to keep even one colo- 

 ny busy, and then is the time that it surely would 

 prove profitable to supplement the natural sup- 

 ply; for does not the laborer who works full time 

 bring home a fatter pay-envelope than he who is 

 laid off four days in each week? The foundation 

 idea in working for the greatest success in bee- 

 keeping is this demonstrated fact, that honey- 

 flows are much more abundant, but of much 

 shorter duration, than most people suppose. It 

 is a glaring case of fleeting opportunity, and can 

 be taken advantage of only by maintaining the 

 strongest possible colonies, teeming with almost 

 millions of willing workers, and seeing that they 

 are fully supplied with empty storage combs at 

 the very moment that they are needed; for if the 

 bees must stop to build combs to-day, while per- 

 haps the supply of nectar is unlimited, by to-mor- 

 row it may all have evaporated, passed away, 

 only to return at intervals, and that opportunity 

 is gone forever. 



All cases of opportunity are confined to the 

 present moment, and must be acted upon nonxj, 

 so we should never wait for the next one to ap- 

 pear, but see if an important one may not already 

 be passing. 



Starting now with an idea of taking advantage 

 of the knowledge above imparted, our first care 

 must be to see that our bees are properly winter- 

 ed and kept in condition to start early spring 

 breeding in time to produce workers for the first 



