32 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 408 



Permission to enter bee colonies from out of State to territory 

 now well occupied by commercial beekeepers has been refused. 

 These actions have had a surprising effect. When newcomers are 

 given to understand they cannot crowd their way in they are all 

 the more desirous of coming in. They seek this new protection, 

 slight as it is. The actual result has been that beekeepers wishing 

 to move outfits into Montana have sought out unused territory of 

 value and are putting it into production. Far from being a State 

 trade barrier, an unprecedented number of bees have entered and 

 are entering the State. For the period July 1, 1941 to June 30, 

 1943, the total entries granted or pending are 6,700 colonies, over 

 one-fifth of Montana's bees in 1941. Small as this regulation may 

 seem it has increased Montana's beekeeping industry and avoided 

 the abuses of overstocking. What the policy will be when the 

 frontier disappears we cannot predict though that time is not far 

 away. Nor do we know whether the Montana regulation is a step 

 in the ultimate control of beekeeping territory on a priority basis. 

 Though it has achieved a result which we believe to be highly 

 satisfactory, it has not been easy to administer. 



Another opportunity to utilize Montana's honey resources 

 receives little attention. There are many spots where it is not 

 practicable for commercial beekeepers to operate because of the 

 distances to be traveled and the small productivity of the areas. 

 Some avocational and amateur beekeepers have been remarkably 

 successful in these small geographically isolated localities where 

 they live. The ranks of the avocational one-apiary beekeeper could 

 be swelled many-fold. There is no transportation problem, the 

 territory supports small apiaries well, and if the crop should fail 

 the operator is not dependent on it for a livelihood. 



At the same time it should be noted that practically no line of 

 agricultural endeavor has more people who dabble at it more or less 

 unsuccessfully. The success of the amateur beekeeper is directly 

 proportioned to his knowledge and skill in managing bees, and the 

 average amateur beekeeper is not a successful one. Indeed, the 

 actual experience of many an amateur is in shaking a swarm off 

 a bush so it may enter a box. Sometimes the entire knowledge of 

 apiary management is included in shaking a bush. The crop may 

 not be harvested at all and the hive never opened from the time 

 the inspector visits one year until he visits again the next year. 



The answer to this problem is an active extension program. 

 Perhaps the most potent extension tool is the actual inspection 

 of apiaries. When the owner is indifferent nothing is achieved 

 beyond actual inspection. But personal contact arouses interest 

 and leads to the solution of problems. Hundreds of bulletins, lists 

 of literature, and supply catalogues have been circulated by per- 

 sonal contact and by mail. 



