324 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



even if it's only a little. So far as my own 

 experience goes, I must confess that I am 

 utterly in the dark as to the cause of the 

 failures here. The season of 1891 was better 

 than the average of the last few years, 

 giving something more than thirty pounds 

 of surplus per colony. 



And yet a great part of the season was a 

 dead failure. Everything looked promising 

 at the start. At the opening of the clover 

 harvest the hives were full of bees, and I 

 never saw clover in greater plenty. I had a 

 good supply of sections all ready to put on 

 the hive, but there was such a remarkably 

 abundant prospect that I ordered an addi- 

 tional stock. The bees did not commence 

 storing with such a rush as I thought I had 

 reason to look for, but I expected to see 

 them commence doing so, day by day. But 

 day by day the flood of honey seemed to be 

 put off. Linden came, and I think they did 

 a little better, although I never thought 

 there was enough linden to amount to much. 

 Then about the first week in July robbers 

 began to trouble. But I didn't despair, for 

 I had known the same thing to occur in pre- 

 vious years, and then a fresh harvest to 

 come. Besides, there were more than 400 

 acres of cucumbers coming nicely in bloom, 

 and surely they ought to yield quite a harvest. 

 But they didn't. Clover remained abund- 

 antly in bioom, but the sections didn't fill 

 up, and the harvest was over. I have no 

 kind of an idea why. It didn't seem too dry. 

 It didn't seem t^o wet. The honey just 

 didn't come. 



Years ago I held the ground that no one 

 should make honey raising his exclusive 

 business till he had enough ahead to suppoi-t 

 him in idleness one full year. Then I 

 changed it to two years, and at present I 

 don't know just how many years. Possibly, 

 to make it entirely safe, he ought to have a 

 life annuity sufficient to meet all his reason- 

 able wants. 



But we are not sure about the future. It 

 is entirely in the range of possibilities that 

 we may now have a succession of years of 

 abundance. Why not ? 



In the meantime, what is the remedy for 

 bad seasons ? Is there any ? There may be 

 a remedy in some cases, providing enough 

 can be done to bring in other plants, but 

 what good will that do if no plants yield ? 

 You mention the difficulty of giving up the 

 business where a man has invested in it, and 

 is making it his exclusive business. Very 



true, but that's the very man that will be 

 first frozen out. The man who makes bee 

 keeping a side issue can keep on at it indefi- 

 nitely, no matter how unprofitable, but the 

 one who has no other business must succumb 

 to the years of failure or starve. 



One discouraging feature in the case is 

 that the scarcity of the product doesn't seem 

 to have the effect on the price that it seems 

 it ought. Still there is some improvement. 

 I think I'll stick it out a little longer, and if 

 the bees don't yield me a living, my remedy 

 for poor seasons will be — now, really, I 

 don't know what it will be. 



Marengo, 111., Nov. 11, 1891. 



The Apiarist in a Poor Location Must Engage 

 in Something Else, or Seek New Pastures. 



.7. H. liAKKABEE. 



"n nj^^ ^^^ keeper 

 T^ who is satis- 

 fied that his local- 

 ity is no longer 

 profitable for 

 honey production, 

 and who, laying 

 aside all senti- 

 mentalism, is in 

 the business for 

 the bread and but- 

 ter for wife and 

 " kids," has before 

 him but two alternatives, he must engage in 

 something that does pay, or move to a better 

 honey location. 



I have very little faith in the bee man's 

 ability to change a poor to a good locality. 

 To be sure man's aid has often done this 

 very thing, but has the apiarist a finger in 

 the pie 'i Very seldom ; he is too poor to 

 build pickle factories or stills for flavoring 

 extracts. He may sow buckwheat or alsike 

 or other less valuable honey plants, or he 

 may scatter the seeds of sweet clover or 

 epilobium in waste places, but he won't 

 make a naturally poor honey locality into a 

 good one. R. L. Taylor well expresses the 

 true state of affairs in the Review for 

 March, 1888. 



Which of the alternatives spoken of above, 

 the unfortunate apiarist shall adopt, each 

 must decide for himself according to his 

 circumstances and opportunities. I will 

 only attempt to give a few hints that I hope 

 may aid him in making his choice. In the 



