THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



121 



If the bas.swood locution is favorable for 

 fall flowers, the bees may remain where they 

 are. Take off all sections suitable to crate, 

 and extract tlie iiartly filled ones. Extract 

 from the body of the hive but not as clean 

 as at first, as usually a few days or weeks i^ass 

 before the fall flow commences. Extracting 

 from the body of the hive gives the queen a 

 chance to lay, and there will be a large force 

 of workers to close up the season. 



The fall flow often yields as much section 

 honey as clover and basswood combined. 

 The colonies become very populous and do 

 an immense amount of work, and they 

 must have room or tliey will fill the hive 

 and then refuse to do any more work for the 

 season. This programme is only for a favor- 

 able season. If the season is poor, and the 

 location a fair one, it is better to make no 

 change. 



Some objections to this migratory system 

 ought to be considered. To take advantage 

 of the last flow of honey, the bees must be 

 left on the ranch until (juite late in the fall. 

 The work of preparing ihe hoi.ey for market 

 may so absorb the bee-keeper's attention 

 that the bees will be left until too late before 

 moving them to winter (lujirters ; and when 

 moved late, they do not winter so well. ( )ne 

 year, when practicing this migratory plan, 

 thirty colonies were brought home early, 

 and every one lived through the winter. A 

 month later, thirty more were brought in; 

 cold weather came on immediately, and they 

 had no chance to fiy until -January. Every 

 one of tliese late-moved colonies died before 

 spring. The sixty colonies were all packed 

 alike out of doors. Some bees from the 

 same j'ard were placed in a cellar and they 

 wintered poorly. 



We have nmch less trouble in wintering 

 since giving up this migratory system. Some 

 might say there is too 311 nch work about tltis 

 method. If work brings honey, the honey 

 will bring money, and that is what we keep 

 bees for. 



If the bees could be wintered at the fall 

 location it would suit me. The liives are 

 likely to be very heavy in the fall, wilh too 

 many bees to carry safely. 



East Saginaw, Mich. July 21, 188ii. 



Locations Differ and Change — Two Mammoth 

 Migratory Exploits, with Widely Differ- 

 ing Results — A tip top Article. 



E. T. FLANAGAN. 



, Y!()T L( )NG after I had taken the "bee 

 fever" "right bad" I increased my 

 bees to such an extent that I found 

 my locality overstocked. I took 

 down the county map, which gave all the 

 land in cultivation in ilistinction from the 

 uncultivated, and selected a part where there 

 were several snuiU lakes and considerable 

 bluff laud. I took the cars and visited the 

 locality, and found considerable land in pas- 

 ture and al)Ounding in white clover. I se- 

 cured from a worthy family the privilege of 

 keeping my bees in their orchard, and mov- 

 ed thirty-two colonies there. The result was 



that I secured over .'jj.'iOO pounds of comb 

 honey, considerable extracted honey and in- 

 creased my bees to seventy colonies in good 

 condition for winter. I kept bees there sev- 

 eral years, with results exceeding those of 

 the home-apiary : and I would yet have bees 

 there were it not that localities may change 

 i)i honey production. The lakes have been 

 drained and the white clover pastures turned 

 into cabbage and })otato fields. The apiary 

 ceased to furnish surplus, and I moved the 

 bees away. 



Shortly after the removal of the bees, as 

 given above, I went South, and, in connec- 

 tion with another party, purchased 100 col- 

 onies of bees near New ( )rleans. The pur- 

 chase was made early in February, and, by 

 the 15th of the same month, they began to 

 swarm. As increase was my object, I en- 

 couraged it : and, by April 2,5th, we had 300 

 strong colonies, eighty, good three-frame 

 nuclei with laying queens. 200 pounds of 

 beeswax, and 2„')00 pounds of extracted, 

 white clover honey. The bees were then put 

 on board a steamboat and taken in safety to 

 East St. Louis, where the greater part was 

 sold at once and the rest put in four different 

 apiaries where they did well. 



Our success encouraged us to further effort. 

 We reasoned that, if we did so well with 100 

 colonies, why not with four times that num- 

 ber? So preparations were made, cars pro- 

 cured and an able bee-keeper, who has writ- 

 ten considerably for the papers, put in 

 charge. Our plan was to start from East 

 St. Louis the last of September after the fall 

 crop was secured, go direct to our old apiary 

 near New (Jrleans. where unbounded fall 

 forage would enable the bees to get a large 

 surplus, keep them strong through the short 

 winter by stimulative feeding, secure a large 

 crop from willow and white ciover in the 

 spring, then, late in April, take the bees to 

 our home apiaries in Illinois. From there, 

 as soon as the white clover season was over 

 (June 20), we would take them to the white 

 clover region of northern Illinois and to the 

 basswood regions of Michigan. After the 

 white clover and basswood season of the 

 North was over, the bees were to be brought 

 back to our home apiaries in Illinois for a 

 heavy fall crop, then South again, if all went 

 well. Quite an extensive programme, wasn't 

 it? I may, sometime in the future, give all 

 the reasons why it was not a grand success, 

 but I will say hero that the plan was, in a 

 great measure, carried out ; and, but for un- 

 foreseen, and, at the time, unavoidable ob- 

 stacles and accidents, it would have proved 

 as profitaljle as the venture of the previous 

 year. I will say further, that one reason 

 why it was not the success it might have 

 been, was the poor season. Not enough 

 honey was secured at New Orleans to keep 

 the bees alive, and barrels of sugar were fed. 

 The season in northern Illinois was nearly a 

 failure, and, in Michigan, where we sent a 

 car load of bees, white clover and basswood 

 failed entirely. In the fall we secured only 

 half a crop at the Illinois apiaries. 



Do I think migratory bee-keeping can be 

 made a success'.' Yes, and no. Yes, if the 

 conditions are all favorable, and the right 

 man takes hold of it and manages it in the 



