JANUARY 1, 1913 



Beekeeping Among the Rockies 



Wesley Poster, Boulder, Colo. 



Brother A. C. Miller, let's have a game 

 of chess with your apiary-record system on 

 page 666, Oct. 15. The ordinary beekeep- 

 er with 300 colonies or more will not have 

 the patience to master your method. First 

 you will have to educate him to feel the 

 need of a book-record sj'stem; then you 

 will have to give him a thorough course in 

 hieroglyphics. You have laid plans for a 

 200-colony apiary, and I doubt whether 

 a beeman can be prevailed upon to use it 

 if he has that many colonies. 



LESS ALFALFA BEING GROWN. 



With the gradual development of the 

 West from a stock-growing, cattle-feeding 

 country to. a general farming and fruit- 

 growing section, less alfalfa is being grown. 

 Alfalfa is being plowed up to make place 

 for sugar beets, potatoes, onions, and ap- 

 ple and peach orchards. With this devel- 

 opment comes a closer and more intensive 

 cultivation. The fence-corners and ditch- 

 banks are kept free from sweet clover, and 

 the roadsides are pastured by the farmers' 

 cattle. Dandelions, sunflowers, and the res- 

 inweed produce very inferior honey, and 

 the bees store large quantities of these 

 honeys when the range for alfalfa and 

 sweet clover is limited. These things ac- 

 count for the poorer quality and smaller 

 quantity of honey jjroduced in some of the 

 regions of the West. 



» * » 



AFFILIATION OF BEEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 



The local and county association has a 

 work to do that the State association can 

 not do. The latter has work that neither 

 the local nor the National Association can 

 do. The National has Avork to do that 

 neither the local nor the State associations 

 can do. The problem before the beekeepers 

 is, how to get all local. State, and national 

 associations affiliated where each will help 

 and be an aid to the other. If being affil- 

 iated with a State association draws 

 strength from the local association, success 

 is not permanent, and either the local goes 

 down or the local withdraws from the larg- 

 er association. At the present time there 

 are three local associations in Colorado, 

 none of which are affiliated with the State 

 association. Several members in each local 

 are members of the State association, and 

 that is as far as it goes. The local association 

 does not seem to be able to survive unless 

 there is some financial gain to be had. This 

 financial gain is secured through ordering 



supplies in a body. Shipping honey to- 

 gether is also done on a limited basis. The 

 fraternal association solely is going; and 

 if local. State, and the national can be 

 united on a business basis with the frater- 

 nal part on the side we can expect a larger 

 degree of success all along the line. 

 * # « 



STARTING ON A LARGE SCALE. 



The beginner can start more varied trains 

 of thought on beekeeping than a seasoned 

 veteran would think of in several days. 

 The veteran has mastered and forgotten so 

 many things that the beginner asks about 

 that a writer can not do better than to talk 

 with some beginner in order to get original 

 subjects for his writing. 



The proverbial advice to beginners is, to 

 start with a very few colonies and build up. 

 That is all very well ; but I have seen the 

 beginners start with a hundred colonies, 

 and make a success from the start. It de- 

 pends on the man. A farmer or other rural 

 Avorker who has had experience with farm- 

 ing, gardening, fruit-growing, etc., and has 

 made a success at these, can begin with bees 

 and make a success without the long tedi- 

 ous building-up from one or two hives. The 

 trouble with the beginner is that he is so 

 enthusiastic that he goes through his one 

 or two hives every day or two, and worries 

 them to death, or at least he secures only a 

 partial crop. The man with more colonies 

 will not have the time to open his hives so 

 often, and will confine his operations more 

 to preparing supers, arranging the apiary, 

 taking honey, handling increase, etc. The 

 beginner will probably have a lot of experi- 

 ence hiving swarms the first year ; and when 

 he runs up against difficulties he will seek 

 out the experienced man for advice or will 

 hunt up the points desired in the bee-jour- 

 nals or bee-books. I would disabuse the 

 beginner of the thought that, because a man 

 is making his sole living from bees, he is a 

 master beekeeper. His success may be 

 largely due to a favorable location. I have 

 known men who have done well with bees 

 for a term of years, and then when foul 

 brood or poor seasons came they lost out 

 completely. Beekeeping is pleasant work, 

 and should yield as satisfactory returns as 

 any other rural pursuit. 



The field is open, and much money is not 

 required, and I hope that we may have a 

 good number of eager beginners added to 

 our ranks during the coming year. 



