7b 



e (5)ee- 



\eepeps' jAeViecu. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tlqe Iqterests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HUTCHlNSOIl, Editop & Ppop. 



VOL, IV, 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, DEC. 10, 1891, 



NO, 12. 



The special topie of this issue is 



Remedies for Poor Seasons. 



That of the next issue ixiill be 



Writing for tine Bee Journals 



Poor Seasons, Their Lessons and Remedies. 

 Alfalfa Not a Success in Illinois, i | 



J. A. GREEN. 



HE sul)ject for 

 I discussion this 

 month is one that 

 dt^serves the most 

 t irnest and care 

 till attention from 

 all whose income 

 is wholly or largely 

 ili-rived from bee 

 keeping. Especi- 

 ally to the former 

 the experience of 

 the past four years 

 has brought home the hard fact that if this 

 sort of thing is to continue or to be often 

 repeated, he must make a change. Every" 

 one of these seasons was a poorer one than 

 I ever knew in the years preceding this 

 period, and no doubt the majority of bee 

 keepers have had the same experience. 



Now, if we can learn the causes responsi- 

 ble for this state of affairs, we may be able 

 to find a remedy. Or, if there be no remedy, 

 we may learn how to make the best of it. 



In the first place I believe that climatic 

 conditions over which we have no control 

 have been the principal cause of the failure 

 in honey secretion. It begins to look possi- 

 ole that the amount of rainfall may be in- 

 fluenced by man. Even if this be done — 

 and I must confess to considerable skepti- 

 cism — I think we must go further. 



There have been seasons when I thought 

 that too much rain, or a lack of it, was the 

 cause of failure. But iu this locality the 

 past season was neither unusually wet nor 

 dry, and our principal honey plants blos- 

 somed freely, yet almost totally failed to 

 secrete nectar. 



I have laid it to the unusually cool summer, 

 yet I may be mistakeu iu this. It is worth 

 remarking that during this period of scarcity 

 the winters have been unusually mild and 

 open, and it is possible that this may have a 

 bearing on the case. 



Undoubtedly there are many localities 

 where bee keeping has ceased to be profit- 

 able, and must continue to grow less so. 



In nearly every locality, and especially in 

 the prairie countries, the number of honey 

 producing plants is continually decreasing 

 as the land is brought more and more under 

 the subjection of man, and better methods 

 of farming prevail. 



To a very considerable extent the interests 

 of the bee keeper and the farmer are opposed 

 to one another. 



Here the basswoods have been cut down 

 and their places occupied by fields of grain. 

 In the stubble fields and among the rows of 



