122 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



can imagiue my surprise to find 

 every hive in the apiary literally 

 glistening with honey from top to 

 bottom^ Just five days had done 

 it, and if I remember right one of 

 the days' work was broken by rain 

 fall. My apiary did about as well 

 last year, though they had a little 

 longer time to operate in. I have 

 in my possession a statistical table 

 of nearly all the modern beekeepers 

 in our state, giving an outline of 

 their success. There are perhaps 

 not more than one hundred modern 

 beekeepers in the state. Of course 

 there are bees kept in some fashion 

 nearly everywhere, but I speak of 

 modern beekeepers, less than one 

 modern beekeeper to the county 

 in the state, if they were evenly 

 distributed. From the information 

 before me, I doubt if any state can 

 show the uniformity of success in 

 honey production that Kentucky 

 does. The few modern honey 

 producers in the state are scat- 

 tered nearly all over the state and 

 their success last year in the pro- 

 duction of honey presents surpris- 

 ing uniformity. 



Still, I have every reason to be- 

 lieve that the best locations in the 

 state for the production of honey 

 have never been tested. When 

 this is done there will be less uni- 

 formity, but the aggregate will be 

 raised to no inconsiderable extent. 



The facts before me show that 

 the white, or Dutch, clover as it was 

 formerly called here, is the great 

 surplus honey producer, Avhile the 

 locust comes ne;st, poplar third, 

 and linden, fourth. Of the fall 

 honey plants, the large smart weed 



(Hydropiper), heartsease, or by 

 whatever name it is best known, 

 stands at the head, though in 

 many locations, the asters and 

 golden rods yield well. I insist 

 that modern beekeepers have failed 

 to realize the importance of utiliz- 

 ing the best locations. I can find 

 locations not over fifteen miles 

 from my own, that would give an 

 increase of honey per colony, over 

 what is possible to be obtained in 

 my location, the aggregate of 

 which would be suflicient to pay 

 the expenses of running the apiary 

 including hired labor. The only 

 drawback would be that the sur- 

 roundings of such locations would 

 not be so pleasant to the apiarist 

 who loses the best society. Soci- 

 ety in all rough places seems to par- 

 take of the rough surroundings. 

 But the world is much what we 

 make of it after all. 

 Christiansburg, Ky. 



SHALL 

 WE MAKE BEEKEEPING 



AN 

 EXCL USIVE B USINESS 9 



By L. O. Root 



Every beekeeper of experience 

 will answer this question for him- 

 self, but there are those who con- 

 template entering into beekeeping 

 who will hesitate. 



I have followed beekeeping as 

 an exclusive business for fifteen 

 years and have had an opportun- 

 ity to observe very closely its many 

 phases. 



