114 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



There were four rows just far enough 

 apart for a person to pass between them, 

 and the barrels, boxes and gums were 

 as close the other way as they would go 

 together. He did not have a single bee- 

 hive in the outfit ; and then, to show his 

 practical way,he allowed over 70 turkeys 

 to roost every night on these bee-gums, 

 as he calls them, and you can judge how 

 they looked. He had lost, during that 

 year, 60 swarms of bees, by not having 

 their queens' wings clipped. 



I asked him how much honey he 

 generally got, on an average, per colony, 

 and he told me from 8 to 12 pounds. 

 I said to him : " You should get at least 

 100 pounds of comb-honey each from 

 all good colonies, and of extracted-honey 

 at least one-third more." 



"Well," he said, "I wish I knew how 

 to make them do that." 



I took some little pity on the old gen- ■ 

 tleman, and explained to him what 

 changes he should make — simply gave 

 him the very best advice I could — and 

 that was all the good it ever did, for he 

 runs them the same way now, excepting 

 that he has -another brood of turkeys to 

 roost on them. 



My friends, it is this kind of honey- 

 producers who injure us by selling their 

 combination so much less than we can. 

 I have spoken about this for the purpose 

 of showing that it does make some differ- 

 ence how a hive is placed — whether 

 down on the ground, and half covered in 

 the grass, or out by itself, and up where 

 the air can circulate and the sun strike 

 it easily. 



My ideas with regard to bees are just 

 about the same as with all other things 

 — that each one will do the best in its 

 own element. For instance, take the 

 horse, the cow, the sheep, or, in fact, 

 all, and give them a good pasture, with 

 plenty of nutritious grass and good, 

 fresh water, and they will thrive and do 

 well, and please their owner. So, on the 

 other hand, if we expect to succeed with 

 the bee business, we must start aright, 

 and give them all the advantages that 

 we can. 



The question is asked, what consti- 

 tutes a good location for bees? That is 

 just what I would like to know, and see 

 whether it beats my way. My idea of a 

 choice for a location would be a piece of 

 ground gently sloping to the south of 

 east — sloping enough so that it may be 

 readily drained of all water, as low, 

 damp, and wet ground is very detrimen- 

 tal to bees — and care should be taken 

 not to place them on ground where the 

 water is liable to stand in small pools in 

 the early Spring, although bees use a 



large amount of water in their domestic 

 affairs, and especially in brood-rearing, 

 and it would be well to see that good 

 water was provided for them. They 

 should also have some kind of protection 

 on the north and northwest, to shelter 

 them from the severe storms that often 

 come from those points. : 



For convenience, this location should 

 be as smooth a piece of ground as pos- 

 sible, on account of being kept nicely 

 mowed oS, which will be necessary, es- 

 pecially throughout the swarming 

 season, and still more if one pretends to 

 keep their queens' wings clipped, as it is 

 a very perplexing job to find a queen- 

 bee in grass and weeds from 6 inches to 

 one foot high. 



There are still other things that are 

 very necessary, combined with the 

 above, to make this location desirable, 

 and the most important among them all, 

 is pasturage for the bees. Before I 

 would locate an apiary, I would satisfy 

 myself as to these advantages, for with- 

 out pasturage within their reach, it 

 would be impossible for the bees to 

 realize the expectations of their owners. 

 And among some of the most important 

 to have is the basswood, white clover, 

 sumac, buckwheat, balm, ox-mint, rasp- 

 berry, golden-rod, and button-ball. 



Dozens of other honey and pollen- 

 producing plants, not mentioned here, 

 would assist in making a desirable loca- 

 tion for bees ; and while speaking of 

 these honey-producing trees, shrubs, 

 vines and plants, I would especially 

 advise every farmer who keeps bees, 

 either for pleasure or profit, to increase 

 the sowing of buckwheat, and let it be 

 of the Japanese variety, which will give 

 you a much heavier yield per acre, and 

 surprise you as to the amount of honey 

 it produces. 



I wish all farmers would try sowing a 

 piece of land to alfalfa clover. Those 

 who have grown it claim that 3 or 4 

 good crops of hay can be taken from it 

 during each season. This being the 

 case, it would pay farmers to grow it, 

 for at the same time it is called one of 

 the best honey-producing plants known, 

 and by its production is our only hope of 

 competing with the large honey-pro- 

 ducers of California, where thousand of 

 acres of alfalfa clover are grown. It 

 also makes one of the finest pasturages 

 known, never drying out after being 

 once well seeded. 



We all can make our locations more 

 desirable day by day, with a very little 

 trouble, by having a supply of different 

 kinds of seeds of honey-producing plants 

 in our pockets, such as alsike clover^ 



