340 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



The question of large versus small 

 hives, over which there have been so 

 many spirited discussions, is largely 

 one of local it}'. In the cooler regions, 

 where the harvest is early and short, 

 small hives find favor, especiall}' in 

 comb honey production, while tlie large 

 hive is a favorite in the warmer 

 regions that are blessed with a long 

 honey-flow. 



Which the bee-keeper shall produce, 

 comb, or extracted honey, is also 

 largely a question of locality. Where 

 the main honey flow is short, as it 

 often is from basswood, sometimes 

 lasting only a few days, there is not 

 time for the bees to build combs in the 

 sections, fill them and cap them over, 

 before the harvest is over and past. 

 With full sets of drawn combs in the 

 extracting-supers, a good crop of ex- 

 tracted honey may be secured within a 

 week. Such conditions as this exist in 

 many parts of Wisconsin. Where 

 honey must be shipped long distances 

 to market, as is the case in Cuba and 

 and California, one very important 

 reason for producing extracted honey 

 is that there is so much less danger of 

 damage in shipment. Dark honey is, 

 as a rule, much more saleable in the 

 extracted form. When the flow is light 

 but constant, and of long duration, as 

 in Colorado, and the honey is white, 

 comb honey production has its advan- 

 tages, as honey is worth more when 

 stored in sections than when taken in 

 the extracted form. 



California furnishes the most im- 

 mense crops of honey that are any- 

 where produced, but they are entirely 

 dependent upon the rainfall that comes 

 in the winter. If the rains fail to come 

 the bee-keeper knows to a certaintj' 

 that, not only will there be no surplus, 

 but, unless the proper management is 

 given, his colonies will perish from 

 starvation. 



In the buckwheat regions of New 

 York, not much dependence is placed 

 upon the early honey-flows for securing 



a surplus. They enable the bees to 

 breed up, and, as a rule, finish their 

 swarming, before the buckwheat opens, 

 when the main crop of the season is 

 gathered. A colony so weak in the 

 spring that it would be nearly useless 

 in a flow from clover or basswood, has 

 abundant time in which to build up 

 for tlie buckwheat honey-harvest. 



Then, again, there ate localities 

 near swamps, where the main flow 

 comes very late, from fall-flowers, 

 asters, and the like. The yield is 

 often verjf abundant, but the quality 

 is undesirable when used for winter- 

 stores. If the cold confines the bees 

 for several months upon such stores, 

 they are almost certain to perish. 

 The only remedy is to extract the 

 honey and feed sugar syrup; unless it 

 might be that of brimstoning the bees 

 in the fall, and buying more in the 

 spring from some other locality, a 

 course which has been followed suc- 

 cessfully, as the long season for pre- 

 paration allows of the building up of 

 one colon}' into several. 



It would be an easy matter to use 

 pages in giving illustrtaions of the 

 differences in localities but it is un- 

 necessary; the thing for the bee-keeper 

 to remember is that if he changes his 

 locality he must leave behind him 

 many of his old notions and methods, 

 and seek the advice of his new neigh- 

 bors who have been successful. The 

 veteran bee-keeper from the verdant 

 hills of old Vermont would make a 

 flat failure were he to bring his apiary 

 to Colorado, and manage it the same 

 as he has been accustomed to doing. 

 A bee-keeper cannot know his local itj' 

 too thoroughly. Some men succeed in 

 localities where the majority fail, and 

 one reason is because their more 

 thorough knowledge of the locality en- 

 ables them to adopt methods more per- 

 fectly adapted to the peculiarities of 

 that location. Above all things know 

 your locality. 



