544 



famine with California. The climate 

 of that country may with propriety be 

 termed erratic. One year the abun- 

 dance of honey cannot be handled. The 

 next year, there is not enough to keep 

 the bees from starving. 



The best evidence that the Blue-ridge 

 country is an unfailing honey country, 

 is found in the fact that the primitive 

 farmers of that region generally keep 

 bees ; keep them in sections of hollow 

 logs, rough boxes, and in the crudest 

 and rudest manner, and yet many of 

 them have from 50 to 100 colonies. 



The latitude of North Carolina in- 

 sures short winters. In the valleys and 

 on the plateaus, vegetation is seldom, if 

 ever, parched by drouth, the numerous 

 mountain peaks condensing the vapor 

 wafted from the Atlantic, and showers 

 which are distributed through the entire 

 spring and summer, keep plants always 

 green and blooming. The forests are 

 full of the best honey yielding trees and 

 shrubs; white clover springs up on 

 every foot of ground that is not usurped 

 by trees or immediately under cultiva- 

 tion ; buckwheat is one of the staple 

 crops of the farms ; and in some sec- 

 tions fruit blossoms afford rich forage 

 for bees in the spring. Travelers say 

 that it is admirably adapted to bees. 



In describing the country known as 

 high-lands, situated in Macon county, 

 Southwestern North Carolina, Messrs. 

 Kelsey & Hutchinson say, in their 

 pamphlet : " The honey produced is of 

 the very best quality, excellent in color, 

 and even where kept in rough boxes or 

 hollow tree-trunks, and with little or no 

 attention, except to rob the hive two or 

 three times a year, bees succeed admir- 

 ably. Bee-keepers will recognize in the 

 list of trees and shrubs many which 

 furnish honey, and white clover is so 

 abundant, wherever the timber is 

 cleared away, that bees may always be 

 kept with profit." 



Prof. Richard Owen, M. D., State 

 Geologist of Indiana, in his account of 

 a visit to this mountain region of North 

 Carolina, says : " From some cause or 

 other, bees seem to thrive remarkably 

 well, and to be great favorites in this 

 part of North Carolina. We saw at one 

 farm about 75 colonies, and heard of 

 one farmer who owned over 100 bee- 

 hives, 'bee-gums,' as the hive is usually 

 part of a hollow-tree." 



The topography, the metoric condi- 

 tion of climate— the elevation lifting it 

 above intense summer heats— the lati- 

 tude of 35° insuring short, mild winters, 

 and the flora of the region of the Blue- 

 ridge, all seem to combine to make the 

 best bee country, taking one year with 

 another, in the United States. e. 



Kor the American Bee Journal. 



The National Apiary. 



W. WILLIAMSON. 



I have read with pleasure, and I hope 

 profit, the proceedings of the National 

 Convention, last month. I find but one 

 unkind remark in the whole proceed- 

 ings and that seems to be directed par- 

 ticularly to me, by Mr. Heddon ; who 

 remarked after the reading of my short 

 essay : " I am decidedly in favor of the 

 project and would at once nominate 

 myself for superintendent, with a salary 

 of $2,500 per year; would be willing to 

 guarantee there would be no honey 

 raised ; it should be located at Pe- 

 toskey." 



When I wrote my essay I knew it 

 would not be popular, as it evidently 

 appeared to be in opposition to private 

 enterprise. Mr. Heddon seems to have 

 thought that it was intended as a private 

 enterprise of mine, or that I expected to 

 derive some pecuniary benefit from it, 

 if put into operation f this thought was, 

 and is as far from me, as the stars of 

 heaven from earth. Because I happened 

 to suggest a location, he seems to think 

 I had a view of doing all he suggests he 

 would do himself. 



In answer thereto, I will say, that, if 

 any one were to fill the bill as itemized 

 in my essay, and add a thousand acres 

 of the land spoken of, with a fine resi- 

 dence worth as much as the whole, and 

 compel me to live in the backwoods of 

 Kentucky or Tennessee, or any other 

 backwoods, I would not accept it as a 

 gift. My professional business keeps 

 me fully employed, and more profitably 

 than any "bee business" has ever 

 proven to me, or ever will, perhaps ; and 

 no sucli, enterprise would induce me to 

 quit it. 



Lexington, Ky., Nov. 11, 1879. 



[We do not think Mr. Heddon had the 

 slightest idea of referring to Mr. 

 Williamson. It was one of his playful 

 expressions, alluding to his little Para- 

 dise— Petoskey. — Ed.] 



Errata.— In the surplus honey re- 

 ports given at the National Convention, 

 mine should read 17,000 lbs. instead of 

 7,000 ; it was about half and half comb 

 and extracted ; 7,000 lbs. would not pay 

 expenses, say nothing about interest on 

 capital, or pay for my own time. 



On page 516, third line from bottom 

 of last column is an error. I said that 

 the report of English prices were \2% 

 cents for comb and 7 to 8 cents for 

 extracted. James Heddon. 



