American Bee Journal 



^ND GAZETTE. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Vol. II. 



m:ay, is6'7'. 



No. 11 



Bee-Culture in Cottage Hives. 

 No. 11. 



There are some sections of the globe wholly 

 unsuited for bee-culture — such as the northern 

 and southern polar regions; and in these the 

 honey-bee is not found. Almost everywhere 

 else that insect is met with, and wherever it is 

 found existing in a wild state, bee-culture may 

 be prosecuted with success, to a greater or less 

 extent. 



This may be regarded as a fundamental 

 principle, though it must be conceded that in 

 all parts of the temperate zone the poorer honey 

 districts are more numerous and extensive than 

 those of prime quality. The particular system 

 to be adopted, or the mode of management best 

 adapted to each section, is consequently a sub- 

 ject of investigation and study. Yet it does not 

 seem practicable to classify the various districts 

 rigidly as some writers, such as Palteau, Mor- 

 lot, and Magerstedt have attempted to do. The 

 three classes which they have arbitrarily as- 

 sumed could only be characterized in general 

 terms, and a slight examination shows that each 

 of them may again be subdivided into rangesof 

 various degrees of importance. It is obvious 

 likewise that what is said of any one of these 

 classes, holds true in reality of onlj^ a very cir- 

 cumscribed area, determined by the location of 

 the apiary, as the radius of the bee's tlight for 

 profitable honey-gathering does not extend be- 

 yond two miles. The lioney product, more- 

 over, of the same district, even of the best 

 class, differs greath' in different j^ears, accord- 

 ing to the crops which happen to be cultivated 

 there. It is also affected to a very great ex- 

 tent by the differences of seasons, late frosts, 

 continued rains, protracted drought, the occur- 

 rence or non-occurrence of honey-dews — all of 

 which seriously interfere with the labors of the 

 bee and the secretion of honey. Hence it is 

 not so much simply the abundance of honey- 

 yielding plants on which the excellence of a 

 district depends, as on the mildness of the cli- 

 mate, the equableness of the season, and the 

 proximity and duration of forage. 



However abundant the natural sources of 

 honey may be, if the climate be rough and un- 



genial, the bees will rarely be able to avail 

 themselves thereof to any appreciable extent 

 beyond what their own wants require. 



Without attempting therefore to set up any 

 arbitrary classification, we shall merely specify 

 some of the leading characteristics by which the 

 chief districts are distinguished. Poor districts 

 are those in which bees, when left to their na- 

 tural instincts, seldom swarm, and never yield 

 any surplus honey — such, in fact, in which they 

 barely subsist, and in which nothing but intel- 

 ligent culture on a scientific method can pi'o- 

 duce compensating results. 



This unpropitious condition is caused chiefly 

 by late springs, high winds, and cold, wet wea- 

 ther prevalent in May, and not uufrequently 

 even in June. An elevated position, too, or a 

 location where converging narrow valleys form 

 a channel for chill currents of air, is an unfavor- 

 able site for an apiary, especially in the vicini- 

 ty of lofty mountains from which the snows of 

 winter slowly disappear. In such situations, 

 bees generally derive small benefit from the 

 early blossoming shrubs and plants, nor even 

 from orchards, which, somewhat later, present 

 their boundless blush of mingled blossoms. A 

 jioor honey district may hence be designated as 

 one in which we cannot always feel assured that 

 prime swarms will be able to secure adequate 

 supplies of honey for the winter. A medium 

 district, on the other hand, is one in which 

 prime swarms are usually sure of lieing able to 

 provide for their wants during the entire year. 

 The difference between these two commonly 

 arises from the single circumstance that, in the 

 latter, certain spring crops arc cultivated and 

 allowed to mature their seeds, so that when 

 propitious weather finally succeeds the winter, 

 which has been long "liugeriugin the lap of 

 May," ample and protracted pasturage is pre- 

 sented to the now liberated denizens of the hive. 

 But the crowning grace is found where, in ad- 

 dition to this, white clover abounds as a natural 

 growth, and buck-wheat is cultivated as a fall 

 crop, though these are not included in the cus- 

 tomary rotation of crops which constitutes the 

 agricultural curriculum of the district. The 

 difference is therefore to be regarded rather as 

 casual and accidental than as permanent. 



