216 Beekeeping 



MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING 



By this expression beekeepers designate the moving of 

 apiaries from place to place during a single summer to take 

 advantage of two or more honey-flows which do not occur 

 in a single locality. This has been practiced since ancient 

 times, and most extensive beekeepers cherish the hope that 

 some day the subject may be sufficiently understood so 

 that they may move their bees several times a season and 

 thereby keep them working almost all the year. Some 

 elaborate plans have been made for moving bees from south 

 to north as the seasons advance, but most of the trials have 

 been failures. Since success in beekeeping depends on an 

 intimate knowledge of the honey sources of the locality and 

 of the best manipulations to obtain maximum crops, such 

 migratory beekeeping would necessitate detailed knowledge 

 of many sections, so that the beekeeper may know when 

 and where to move his colonies to advantage. 



The Mississippi River has long been considered an ideal 

 avenue for transporting colonies in migratory beekeeping, 

 especially since there is no better way to ship colonies than 

 by boat. It has been propose'd that the beekeeper place 

 his apiary on a flatboat in the South in early spring and 

 move northward by night, allowing his bees to gather nectar 

 by day, and following the season as it extends northward. 

 This plan so well illustrates the limitations of migratory 

 beekeeping that it may be critically examined. One of the 

 chief difficulties is the fact that the beekeeper must know 

 just where to anchor after each move so that his bees will 

 be in range of the best forage and this would involve too 

 careful a study of the valley to make the plan practical. 

 This objection might be overcome but there is a more funda- 

 mental difficulty which has not been sufficiently considered 

 by those who have cherished this dream. If one species 

 of plant furnished the main nectar-flow throughout the 

 Mississippi valley, the beekeeper could move northward 

 to prolong the gathering period, but this is not the case. 



