1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI<« 



755 



use no deception of any kind at any time or place. Treat 

 every one as you would treat your brother, or you would wish 

 any one to treat you. Remember that developing a market 

 for honey Is a lifetime. study, a lifetime work. 



If you want some easy, pleasant work for six months, or 

 a year or two, try politics, but stay out of the bee-business. 



As to maintaining a market after it is developt, I hardly 

 know what to add to the above. I will say, however, con- 

 tinue to do the same for 20 years, and after that, if you are 

 spared so long, for 20 years more. 



You will find some familes will tire of honey. To replace 

 their loss, try constantly to get new customers. Try by every 

 means in your power to keep all you get, and get more all the 

 time. 



My only fear is that the hearers will say, " It's just as if 

 we had askt him how to succeed and he should answer, " Why, 

 the way to succeed, of course, is to succeed." And it's true ; 



/ 



s.^ 



/ ■} 



y' 



Herman F. Moore. 



you must depend upon your own grit, and push, and origi- 

 nality. Think up new ways of reaching the people. Get out 

 of the old ruts. Follow these lines if its talies all summer, 

 and you will succeed. Herman P. Moore. 



Dr. Miller — I think that is one of the subjects which we 

 cannot very profitably discuss here. I think we can get as 

 much from those who have written the papers, and who have 

 had experience, as from those who are here. 



Dr. Mason — I would like to say I think Mr. Moore knows 

 what he is talking about. Several years ago he workt in 

 Toledo selling honey, and he knows just how to do It, and he 

 doesn't injure any bee-keeper who lives in the locality where 

 he works, either; in fact, I believe he helpt me every time he 

 came. 



Letters were then read to the convention from Messrs. E. 

 F. Holtermann, E. S. Lovesy, William Stolley, M. B. Holmes, 

 and others, regretting their inability to be present, and send- 

 ing greetings and good wishes. 



Secretary Mason then read a paper written by Editor H. 

 E. Hill, of the American Bee-Keeper, on 



Migratory Bee-Keeping. 



I am a firm believer in the philosophy of Mr. Newman, 

 who, with reference to convention papers, once said : " Small 

 sticks will kindle a fire, but large ones will put it out." It is 

 therefore unfortunate that our Secretary should have allotted 

 to me a subject of such limitless proportions ; and I earnestly 

 hope he will not shun his obvious duly to assume full respon- 

 sibility for whatever degree of disappointment that may be 

 occasioned by the presentation of this feature of the program. 



Perhaps no subject could have been chosen aflfordlng 

 greater scope for elaborate discussion, or capable of more 

 diversified application. If we should follow. In his prepara- 

 tory rounds, the bee-keeper of our arid Southwest, who, alter 

 the bloom of the valley has been blighted by scorching desert- 

 winds, seeks to gain another flow at greater altitude in the 

 mountains ; should we fall in with a French bee-caravan, in 

 its nocturnal march to the fields and gardens of the peasants ; 

 go with our Scottish friends in their annual tours to the 

 heather with bees ; review the experience of Perrine, Bald- 

 ridge, Flanagan, et al, on the Mississippi, and include the 



floating apiaries of the Egyptians, by means of which it was 

 sought to take advantage of the successive development of 

 the flora in the valley of the Nile, more than 2,000 years ago, 

 I fear the " fire " would be extinguisht. 



The title of our subject savors somewhat of romance and 

 adventure, but there is also a very practical side, as many who 

 have engaged in migratory bee-keeping stand ready, and 

 qualified, to attest. It is this practical side in which we are 

 more particularly Interested ; for of all the benign attributes 

 of our cherisht vocation — the beloved pursuit of bee-keeping 

 — the dollar which may accru3 is not the least fascinating to 

 the specialist ; if, indeed, it is to any, whether engaged in 

 bee-culture for profit or pleasure. 



As has been demonstrated by Innumerable instances, bees 

 may be transported with profit, under favorable conditions, to 

 distant pastures ; yet I believe heavy expense in moving for a 

 special flow which is anticipated, is rarely warranted, and 

 many cases might be cited to the discouragement of the prac- 

 tice. The advisability of the procedure in each case can bet- 

 ter be determined by the apiarist in charge, whose portion it 

 will be to abide the result. The uncertainty of nectar-secre- 

 tion, even when an abundance of bloom is assured, renders the 

 undertaking more or less hazardous, and especially so when 

 the supply is anticipated from a variable and uncertain 

 source ; as, for example, the linden. With the mangrove of 

 the South it is less uncertain, and in favorable seasons the 

 flow is equal In extent to that of the linden under like condi- 

 tions ; hence, with the advantage of natural water-ways to 

 facilitate moving, and where the apiary equipment includes a 

 commodious transport, and where, as a result of earlier ac- 

 tivity, a powerful force of workers has accumulated, which, 

 by enforced idleness, through lack of forage, become con- 

 sumers instead of producers of honey, all of which tend to 

 lessen the possibility of loss and reduce the chances of failure, 

 there-is a strong incentive to action. 



Impelled by visions of blooming fields known to exist 50, 

 100 or 200 miles up the coast, and a realization of the possi- 

 ble achievements of such an adequate force of workers, a move 

 determined upon is very hopefully or confidently undertaken ; 

 and in many Instances the results have justified the effort ; 

 occasionally the bee-keeper is handsomely rewarded for his 

 enterprise. In the history of American bee-keeping, as 

 chronicled in our journals, instances of such successful migra- 

 tion are now on record, to the credit of enterprising apiarists 

 in their operations of 1898. 



The minor details, with regard to the preparation for 

 moving and handling the product need not be reiterated 

 further. The Importance of ample ventilation, pure air, re- 

 stricted draft, water supply, subdued light, secure confine- 

 ment, space for the cluster, careful handling, etc., is well 

 known to every one competent to undertake the management 

 of any apiary, whether permanent or portable. It might be 

 well, however, to consider briefly the objects of migration and 

 the conditions which determine its success or failure : First 

 of the important requisites to success, is a thorough knowl- 

 edge, not of the care and management of bees, alone, but of 

 our fields of operation as well. With these, irrational moves, 

 incurring heavy expense, will not be made ; and with them, 

 opportunities are occasionally offered to materially increase 

 our product. Failure, to be sure, may, and sometimes will, 

 through causes over which the apiarist has no control, meet 

 the best of plans. But of what business enterprise may not 

 the same be said ? 



From personal observation in various parts of the coun- 

 try, I recall but one place the advantages of which I regard 

 as suB3cient to warrant the axpense which the undertaking 

 involves ; and while a continued practical test might disprove 

 my faith In this field and Its possibilltie.*, I beg permission 

 briefly to cite the circumstances and conditions upon which it 

 is founded : 



Permanently establisht in a certain locality of the South 

 are apiaries which, for nearly a score of years prior to the 

 freezes of 189i-95, have yielded annually (with but one or 

 two exceptions) an average per colony of not less than 185 

 pounds of honey. Here the flow comes In May, June, and 

 July. Distant 150 miles, and connected by navigable water- 

 ways, good crops are usually harvested each' year during the 

 winter and spring months. Other localities, as easily accessi- 

 ble, not Infrequently give a surplus flow through September 

 and October. 



If these " stationary " apiaries are a source of profit to 

 their owners, as they evidently are, why may they not be 

 made doubly so through the utilization of such natural advan- 

 tages ? 



When, through the great primary cause. Innate love of 

 our pursuit, which has inspired its true followers In their 

 noble work of founding the United States Bee-Keepers' Union 



