118 



THE A31ERI0AN APWULTURIST. 



istiikcn to keep the ground around 

 Lliem moist. — Youv correspond- 

 ent asks " How far will bees go in 

 search of honey?" That is a ques- 

 tion I cannot answer. 1 have 

 known my bees to go seven miles, 

 l)ut how much farther they went 1 

 cannot say. Several j-ears ago, 

 when I first got my Italians, the 

 first in this vicinity, they were 

 discovered by a party of bee hunt- 

 ers seven miles from my apiary ; 

 they caught a few, thinking they 

 were " a new race of wild bees, " 

 as the hunters afterw^ard told me, 

 and set them at work and lined 

 them to my apiar3^ I was not at 

 home at the time, and one of the 

 party lieing well acquainted with 

 me took the liberty to open a hive 

 for the purpose of satisfj'ing his 

 curiosity. I have often known my 

 bees to work on bass wood five 

 miles away, but of course the gain 

 in honey was small compared with 

 the gain when they worked nearer 

 home. To illustrate : when bass- 

 wood near one of my apiaries was at 

 its height two years ago, my scale 

 hive would gain 30 to 33^ lbs. 

 per day ; in four days the gain was 

 1231 ibs. At this time there was 

 plent}^ of basswood in bloom with- 

 in one mile of the apiary, and as 

 this gradually passed by they were 

 obliged to go farther off and at the 

 same time the gain correspondingly 

 decreased ; until, when the bees 

 were obliged to go five miles away, 

 the gain was but three lbs. per 

 dozen. I have one apiary where 

 there is no great amount of bass- 

 wood nearer than three miles, yet I 

 usually get a fair crop of basswood 

 honey in that apiary, though their 

 l)cst day two years ago was but 

 15 Ibs. against 33^ in the apiary 

 mentioned above. I keep one col- 

 ony on scales all through the sum- 

 mer in each yard in order that 1 

 may know from day to day what 

 the gain or loss is. 



1 will state that I am located at 



the base, and on the west side, of 

 the Green Mountains. The foot 

 hills (so-called) all about me are 

 more or less covered with bass- 

 wood which blooms some days ear- 

 lier than that which is on the 

 mountains ; hence near the close of 

 the season, when the bees are 

 obliged to go to the top of the 

 mountain to forage, the increase of 

 honey in the hives is much less 

 than when they can get it at a 

 much less distance. 



Basswood is the best honey plant 

 we have here and 1 am sure that 

 were it not for basswood, bee- 

 keeping would not receive much 

 attention in this part of Vermont. 



P. S. My experience is that 

 young basswoods are much more 

 sure to hive and grow after trans- 

 planting than are fruit trees. 1 

 find them very hardy. 



Bristol, Vt. 



For the American ApicuUuri^t. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT. 

 J. E. Pond. 



Upon the management employed 

 in early spring in the apiary, will 

 depend almost entirely the question 

 of whether we shall gain or lose in 

 the business. One thing we must 

 constantly bear in mind, viz., that 

 we can't obtain a large crop of 

 honey, and a large increase of bees, 

 at the same time, and consequently 

 we must determine early whether 

 it is bees or hone}^ we most desire, 

 as the management for a honey 

 crop is in some respects different 

 from that required for an increase 

 in colonies. 



Whichever is worked for, the 

 early management will be the same. 

 To get an increase at the least ex- 

 pense requires a large force of for- 

 agers at the exact time when honey 

 can be gathered freely, and not to 



