THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW- 



321 



Theu wheu our yield is dependent upon 

 any one plant, see how a few hours of ad- 

 verse weather will put the producer into the 

 blasted hopes condition. If there are any 

 mysteries in nature tliere is not a greater 

 one than the atmospheric conditions neces- 

 sary for the secretion of nectar. There is no 

 sure method of forecasting the output of our 

 honey crop for the coming season, as there 

 is for grain or even dairy products. The 

 right conditions one season will result in 

 failure the next, and there is no product so 

 dependant upon atmospheric conditions, and 

 these conditions cannot be changed until 

 some genius learns how to bombard the 

 skies for nectar, as we now do for rain. 

 Add to the foregoing train of evils that of 

 uncertainty in wintering, and the causes are 

 enough to produce the ett'ect we often wit- 

 ness, of removal to a more genial clime. 



To increase a waning pasturage would 

 seem to be the first duty of the apiarist, and 

 of all questions before the bee keeper to-day 

 this is the most vital one. Many have real- 

 ized this, and have striven for a remedy. A 

 good housewife called attention to a large 

 bed of blue harebells in her front yard, and 

 said they were planted for the bees, they 

 seemed to get so much honey from them. 

 If the remedy could thus easily be found, 

 our troubles had ceased long ago. The rem- 

 edy is, however, herculean in its nature and 

 requires the agreement of hundreds of 

 people. To materially increase a pasturage 

 nearly every farmer in a radius of three 

 miles of the apiarist must be induced to sow 

 some honey i)roducing crop to the amount of 

 several acres. It was thought that Alsike 

 clover was the plant with which to work the 

 revolution, but while some farmers can be 

 induced to sow it others prefer the good old 

 red clover, and bar it out. -lapanese buck- 

 wheat is now helping out in many localities, 

 but the honey is unsatisfactory in quality 

 and price. 



My advice, then, to the young Eastern bee 

 keeper whose good honey harvests have di- 

 minished to one in live, and who cannot 

 work up a good pasturage, is to " seek pas- 

 tures new." 



I firmly believe that the great honey pro- 

 ducing region of the future is west of Den- 

 ver. From Denver to the Sierras irrigation 

 is reduced to such a system that there is no 

 (juention about good crops, the invigorating 

 water makes it a sure thing. In all this 

 region Alfalfa is grown extensively, and four, 



and sometimes live crops are cut. Add to 

 this in many localities sage and other plants, 

 and something of a honey crop is assured 

 every year. 



Here in California Alfalfa is not so much 

 thought of for honey, climatic influences 

 give the honey a dark or amber color. The 

 sage, however, revels here in all its glory. 

 An eastern man has no idea of the acreage of 

 honey producing Hora on these mountains 

 and in these wonderful canyons. To be a 

 week, as the Rambler has been, where 

 scarcely anything else could be seen, smelled 

 or tasted, will gradually produce the idea. 

 There may be other fertile valleys and less 

 unoccupied fields in the great basins east of 

 us, but for a balmy climate, and the capabili- 

 ties for beautiful homes, and where ten acres 

 of land in fruit is enough, theii California 

 stands at the head, as she does in all things 

 great. The great and only remedy then for ^ 

 the discouraged Eastern bee keeper is found 

 in the immortal words of Horace Greely, 

 "Go West, young man, go West." 



Sacbamento, California, Nov. 11, 18!)1. 



'Condition Powders" (1) for the Weather. — 

 Select the Best Location, Stay by It and -, 

 Tide Over Poor Seasons by Some- 

 thing Aside From Bees. 



B. L. TAYLOB. 



njHIS is the 

 j/ problem and 

 it is a problem. 

 Tf we knew the 

 cause of poor sea- 

 sons it would no 

 doubt be easier to 

 solve it, but who 

 can tell? If it 

 were a want of 

 honey plants, that 

 might be remedied 

 to some extent by 

 securing the production of alsike clover, 

 buckwheat, etc. But that seems to me not 

 to be the chief source of the difficulty. If it 

 could be settled otherwise the solution would 

 be at hand — simply move the bees to the 

 place where the honey plants are flourishing 

 and success would be secure. 



But more likely it is a lack of a flow of 

 nectar in the bloom we have. Who could 

 move bees to overtake that ? It is as facile 

 in its movements almost as the winds or the 



