396 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



BEEKEEPING IN NEW YORK 



Impressions of the Empire State After a Journey of Hund- 

 reds of Miles through Its Principal Beekeeping 

 Territory — By Frank C. Pellett 



Big apiaries are the rule in the buckwheat region. R. V. Cox has 4i;n colonies in this yard. 



IT is probably safe to say that New 

 York has more commercial honey 

 producers than any equal area on 

 the American continent. The census 

 shows that several States contain 

 more bees within their borders, but 

 New York has more beekeepers who 

 number their colonies by hundreds. 



There are some important advan- 

 tages enjoyed by the beekeepers in 

 this region, the greatest of which is 

 the world's best market. VVithin a 

 small area of a few hundred square 

 miles, is concentrated a population 

 greater than is to be found in sev- 

 eral whole States in the Mississipni 

 Valley or the Far West. The west- 

 ern beekeeper finds that the price ot 

 his product is likely to be t^xed by 

 the price at which honey is selling in 

 New York. From his receipts he must 

 deduct a high freight rate sufficient 

 to carry his crop to the eastern mar- 

 ket. The New Yorker sell:< at his 

 door and pockets that much additional 

 change. Again, there are fev/ places 

 within our borders where it is possi- 

 ble to keep as many bees in one yard 

 as in the buckwheat region of New 

 York. Our cover page shows the Al- 

 exander apiary, at Delanson, which 

 has long been famous because as 

 high as 700 colonies have been kept in 

 the one location. The writer has of- 

 ten heard the opinion expressed that 

 beekeepers in this region would se- 

 cure much larger crops with smaller 

 yards. However, those who have kept 

 bees in the buckwheat region fv>r 

 many years have not found this to be 

 the case. R. V. Cox, of Sloansville, 



has 460 colonies in one yard. Mr. 

 Cox tried dividing his bees into 

 smaller yards, but found that he did 

 not secure more than 10 per cent 

 more honey than when he kept them 

 all in one place. This small increase 

 in production was not sufficient to pay 

 the increased cost of operation, so he 

 has since kept them in one yard. 



October 



E W. Alexander wrote in 1906 that 

 he considered a place which would 

 furnish a harvest for 35 days suffi- 

 cient for a colony of Italian bees to 

 store 100 pounds of surplus honey, a 

 good location. He wrote also that he 

 knew that his location furnished just 

 as large crops per colony with 750 

 colonies in the one yard as it ever did 

 with a less number. However, Alex- 

 ander fed freely in early spring to 

 insure brood rearing sufficient to 

 build up his colonies. Buckwheat was 

 and is now the principal source of 

 surplus in this region. To support 

 such lai-ge apiaries a location must 

 not only have an abundance of plants 

 which furnish the surplus yields, but 

 there must also be a great variety of 

 sources of nectar and pollen to sup- 

 poi't the bees during the remainder 

 of the season. There are many places 

 which would support large apiaries 

 during the principal flows, lacking in 

 natural pollen for much of the season 

 before and after this flow. In such 

 locations only as many colonies can 

 be kept as can find support during the 

 rest of the time. 



Buckwheat yields best with cool 

 nights, followed by bright days, with 

 little wind. It requires a humid cli- 

 mate and is not important as a source 

 of nectar in regions where the atmos- 

 phere is dry. It is possible, however, 

 that altitude and temperature may be 

 the important factors, since it is re- 

 ported as yielding in northern Ne- 

 braska, where the altitude is above 

 1,800 feet, even though the air is dry. 

 Other Sources of Honey 



The buckwheat region of New York 

 is more widely known than other sec- 

 tions because the large apiaries give it 

 a peculiar distinction. However, only 

 a comparatively small portion of New 

 York is in this region. White and al- 

 sike clover probably furnish the 

 greater part of the surplus honey go- 

 ing to market from this State. The 



I'urple Loosestrife gri'ws higher than a man's head in the wet lands along the Hudson Kivcr. 



