104 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



quite different from that in Michigan. 

 Bees fly nearly every day of the year 

 and gather pollen almost every month 

 of the year, with a little nectar com- 

 ing in sometimes during the winter 

 months. The spring flow of nectar 

 commences in February and contin- 

 ues with intermissions from that time 

 until the main flow closes in August 

 or September. 



The sources of nectar in the order 

 of yielding are as follows: fruit 

 bloom, mostly plums, in February, 

 then peaches directly following the 

 plum blossoms. In March the first 

 good flow comes from willow and rat- 

 tan. Sweetgum, persimmons, muska- 

 dine, wildgrape, cotton wood and spe- 

 cies of vines together with many va- 

 rieties of the wild pea yield quite a 

 little nectar when conditions are fa- 

 vorable. Thorny locust and touch-me- 

 not bring the flow into July, which 

 is thought to be the best honey month. 

 This year, however, conditions were 

 unfavorable and the bees consumed 

 nectar rather than store it. 



The dry summer of ninteeen four- 

 teen was generally unfavorable and 

 some colonies were consuming honey 

 from July until the present time. 



Bees keep strong all year and one 

 should he on hand to divide the col- 

 onies in March, as the two halves 

 would have time to build up for the 

 main flow. 



Swarming may connmence in Feb- 

 ruary, but usually occurs from March 

 or early April through to June. 



New increase soon build un into 

 strong colonies and where one is run- 

 ning for increase alone a colony may 

 be divided into several parts. 



Colonies need about forty pounds 

 of honey to keep them over winter, 

 and all surplus combs must be kept 

 over the colonies all winter to pre- 

 vent the wax moth larvae destroying 

 them. 



While the address of Mr. Pease was 

 very enjoyable, most of the Michigan 

 beekeepers seemed to be satisfied that 

 the Wolverine state off'ered more at- 

 tractive conditions than those enjoyed 

 farther south. 



"The Future of Beekeeping" was 

 the next subject. Mr. E. D. To\vn- 

 send. North Star. Mich., is running 

 about eleven hundred colonies at the 

 present time and with almost forty 

 years' experience in beekeeping, the 

 convention listened with much inter- 

 est when he took un his subject. 



In speaking of the future one can 

 only judge from the past and pres- 



ent indications. Mr. Townsend re- 

 viewed conditions of nearly forty 

 years ago when the bee gum or box 

 hive was almost the only hive in 

 which bees were kept, and when all 

 surplus honey was stored in caps. 

 These caps gradually decreased in 

 size until a box or cap, holding about 

 six pounds was used. Many beekeep- 

 ers thought these were too small for 

 the bees to work in, and prophesied 

 failure for those progressive beekeep- 

 ers who used them. However, the size 

 of the caps or supers were gradually 

 reduced until the one pound section 

 used today gradually came into gen- 

 eral favor. 



Mr. Townsend also watched the ex- 

 tractor come into general use in his 

 early beekeeping days. Disease among 

 bees was unknown; but as modern 

 hives came into use, some form of 

 winter protection was found to be nec- 

 essary and the chaff or double walled 

 hive or the bee cellar became neces- 

 sary. 



After a while disease appeared and 

 this together with several successive 

 hard winters played havoc with those 

 beekeepers keeping from one to twen- 

 ty colonies but who seldom paid the 

 bees much attention. The speaker 

 stated that the same process is at 

 work today and the beekeeper, who- 

 ever he may be, who does not post 

 himself on methods of management 

 and the knowledge of the treatment 

 of bee diseases, is fast following those 

 who have lost all their bees. Disease 

 and hard winters will eventually get 

 the careless or ignorant beekeeper. 



The weeding out of the poorer bee- 

 keeper is proceeding and the day will 

 soon come when the great bulk of 

 honey will be produced by the bee- 

 keeper who is willing to make a study 

 and business of beekeeping. 



From present indications Mr. Town- 

 send believes that the future will see 

 fewer beekeepers but more colonies 

 kept. Beekeeping will enter the field 

 of specialties and one will have to 

 specialize and keep many colonies in 

 order to successfully compete with 

 others and to assure a livelihood for 

 himself and family. 



After a short recess the program 

 was continued and before calling on 

 the next speaker. President Morse 

 on behalf of the convention thanked 

 Professor R. H. Pettit for his kind- 

 ness in providing the members with 

 the convention badges. These were in 

 gilt and white and looked very at- 

 tractive and were much appreciated 



