A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$1,00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HnTCfilHSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL, Xi, FLINT, MICHIGAN, OCIOBER 10, 1898. NO lO, 



NORTHERN iMICHIGAN. 



Its Advantages and Disadvantages as a Hon- 

 ey Producing Country Viewed Through 

 the eyes of Experience. 



BYRON WALKKR. 



EDITOR Review:— Had I stopped to 

 consider a moment when I promised 

 you an article for the October Review, 

 to appear in connection with the cut of 

 my home-apiary, I think I should have 

 felt compelled to decline the honor. I 

 have been suffering greatly from ill health 

 for several years, as you are aware; while 

 all this time my work has been as great 

 as several well men ought to undertake. 

 The care of a half dozen apiaries located 

 from six to sixteen miles distant from 

 the home yard, including the manage- 

 ment of a rather large supply business, 

 and a still larger trade in comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, re(juiring about nine 

 months of almost continual hard labor 

 the present season, ten entire nights 

 moving bees, with a large correspondence 

 incident to the accumulation and dispos- 

 al of the goods, ought to furnish reasons 

 enough for declining to perform any 

 literary work. In addition to this, when 

 I consider how little I can offer that will 

 be interesting to your readers I am the 



more fully persuaded that I made a mis- 

 take iji granting your request; but, as it 

 is too late to back out, I will do the best I 

 can, and trust to the charity of your read- 

 ers to make proper allowances. 



You have asked me to tell the readers 

 of the Review something of the advan- 

 tages and disadvantages of my present 

 location, as compared with my former 

 one in St. Clair Co., in the Southeast 

 part of the State, where I kept bees for 

 nearly twenty years; and I will try and 

 do so, as I am having quite a few letters 

 from bee-keeping friends in Southern 

 Michigan who write me they will have to 

 sell their bees or move further north. 

 Besides, the advantages for locating 

 apiaries in the Northern part of our State 

 have been set forth from time to time bj' 

 different writers in our bee journals in 

 somewhat glowing colors. 



My location in St. Clair Co. could 

 scarcely be regarded as a typical one for 

 that section of the State; as, aside from 

 Alsike clover, which was sown to a con- 

 siderable extent, I had little to depend 

 upon except fall flowers — boneset, fire- 

 weed, asters etc., which commonly cover- 

 ed a large area of an immense swamp 

 that lay within easy reach of my apiary, 

 and which could commonly be relied up- 

 on to furnish a good yield of honey, 

 which I was usually able to dispose of in 



