Regional Differences within the United States 207 



BEEKEEPING REGIONS 



It helps to an understanding of the differences in the prac- 

 tices of beekeepers in various parts of the United States if 

 we divide the country into honey regions. This, as any 

 experienced beekeeper will at once recognize, is a more or 

 less arbitrary division and many exceptions might be cited 

 to the following classification. In the main, however, the 

 nature of the honey-flows justifies such an arrangement, and 

 this plan is still more permissible if we consider the systems 

 of manipulation found most advantageous by beekeepers. 

 These regions may first be divided into general and restricted, 

 depending chiefly on their area. The general regions are 

 those not only of considerable extent, but of greater influence 

 on the choice of manipulations. 



General regions. 



These are five in number and the division is based on 

 differences in climatic conditions found in the United States. 

 The placing of the sage region in the rank of a general re- 

 gion is justified mainly by the size of the crops obtained 

 there in favorable seasons. 



(1) The white clover region includes eastern Canada, the 

 New England States, except along the coast, and a belt along 

 the northern United States as far west as the Dakotas. 

 It is limited to the west by the arid region and again reap- 

 pears on the Pacific coast, both in the United States and 

 Canada. The southern boundary is approximately Mason 

 and Dixon's line and the Ohio River. In this region, in addi- 

 tion to white clover, alsike clover, sweet clover, basswood, 

 tulip poplar and locust contribute to the honey crops and, 

 with the exception of that from tulip poplar, the honeys 

 from these sources are light in color. Alsike clover is steadily 

 increasing in importance with its wider planting for forage, 

 while basswood is rapidly disappearing because of the exten- 

 sive cutting of this tree for lumber. In this region the 

 honey-flows are rapid and relatively short and the main 



