10 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE Sept. 15 



AS THE ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT SEES IT 



Very frequently, especially during the past year or two, we are in receipt 

 of inquiries from subscribers and customers regarding the suitableness of cer- 

 tain localities for bee-keeping, or requesting that we suggest some locality 

 especially well adapted for bees. Now, we are often unable to give any 

 very definite information regarding the locality mentioned, and we hesitate 

 to recommend any certain locality, even though we know that it is a good bee 

 country, because we know little or nothing of its other resources. 



With the new lands now being opened up in the middle West and Northwest, 

 there are some excellent opportunities for settlers, and it appears to us that any 

 one desiring to make a change of location would do well to look for some of 

 these new lands rather than to take up a residence in a country which has been 

 settled for many years and which has few new possibilities. 



Being somewhat interested in this north country, our Chicago manager 

 decided to take a vacation trip to the Bitter Root Valley in Montana. Mr. 

 Boyden was accompanied by Mr. Geo. W. Dial, who is a representative of the 

 real-estate company which is exploiting this Bitter Root Valley Co. Mr. Dial 

 is well known to us, and their impressions of this new country are rather in- 

 teresting. 



They found that bee-keeping has been greatly neglected in that section. 

 The settlers seem to have been so busy with other matters that they haven't 

 given much attention to their bees; and the result is that this industry has never 

 been developed, and, consequently, there are many very good opportunities 

 for bee-keeping in the valley. The winters are mild, and the temperature so 

 uniform that bees require almost no winter protection, and winter losses are 

 very rare. There is a source of honey from the middle of March until late in 

 October, and white clover is in blossom from about the 10th of June until the 

 middle of September, and is very abundant. With ordinary care a bee-keeper 

 could produce extra-fancy white- clover honey in large quantities. 



Alfalfa is grown extensively, and is the source of large honey-yields. Sweet 

 clover is found in great abundance, and is one of the chief sources of honey. 

 The large amount of fruit grown in the valley affords ample nectar for building 

 up colonies in the spring, and there is such a large flow from apple-blossoms 

 that there ought to be considerable surplus from this source. 



The present home market for honey just about equals the present supply 

 of comb, and there is almost no developed market for extracted honey. 

 Neither grade is advertised, nor has any effort been made to stimulate its sale 

 in the valley. By a little careful advertising, a steady demand for extracted 

 could be established, and comb honey could be sold for a great deal more than 

 it is now bringing in that market. Immediately adjacent to the home market 

 in the valley are the mining regions of Montana and Idaho. Every large pro- 

 ducer of honey will realize the immense advantage of this market. Shippers 

 to eastern markets could easily compete with the more distant producing sec- 

 ions of California, Utah, 'and Colorado. 



