TSE 6EE-ktit]PERS' REVIEW. 



325 



past, anyone and everyone has been advised 

 to take up bee culture without regard to 

 locality or adaptability. As a result there 

 are many bee men who, while waiting with 

 commendable tenacity for a "good year," 

 are turning their hands to other branches of 

 business. As a rule this other branch of 

 business is not taken up with the energy and 

 interest it would be were it the only issue, 

 and as a result neither brings very profitable 

 returns, and the poor hopeful lives from 

 " hand to mouth." 



Therefore, to those who have good oppor- 

 tunities outside of bee culture, I say, don't 

 hesitate to improve them, for the energy 

 necessary to success with the bees will gen- 

 erally bring fair success in other callings. 

 If the ties of home and loved ones are strong, 

 another incentive is added to keep the bee 

 keeper from migrating. 



Bee culture has sprung up with a mush- 

 room like growth, and as a paying industry 

 it has not yet attained its balance. Poor 

 localities are often overstocked with bees 

 while tons of honey go to waste in places 

 where bees are not kept, but would pay well. 



If you are bound to keep bees, are satis- 

 fied that your own locality is not profitable, 

 and are quite sure you know of a place where 

 they would pay, load up your bees and move 

 there. But if you mean to be honorable and 

 fair, don't move into other people's territory 

 already occupied, and, laying aside the moral 

 aspect, it would not be policy to be obliged 

 to enjoy (?) half of some other fellow's 

 field. 



Wr at constitutes a good locality for honey? 

 Well, judging by my observation and experi- 

 ence I should say that in the Eastern and 

 Central States, a locality where seventy-five 

 colonies will average forty lbs. per year for 

 ten years would be very good. But if, on the 

 other hand, half of the ten seasons should be 

 practical failures, and the other half indif- 

 ferent successes, I should say it was not a 

 proper place for bee culture to flourish. 



Mr. Hutchinson has brought up the point 

 that localities once profitable are so no 

 more. This Is true, and it is equally true 

 that no reasonable cause for this state of 

 affairs has been assigned, in all cases. 

 Whatever the cause, the fact remains, and 

 the more we talk this the sooner will we be- 

 come satisfied that such is the case and act 

 accordingly. 



In some localities, transient causes pro- 

 duce, for a year or more, oceans of bloom. 



Fires or floods or the clearing of land or 

 cultivation of special crops, and even drouths 

 cause certain locations to be for a time very 

 profitable, and it is one of the rising ideas to 

 hold one's apiary in readiness to migrate to 

 these favored fields. It is becoming more 

 and more evident that such opportunities 

 often occur, and that we should know and 

 watch the pasturage for miles about our 

 apiaries. 



As our country grows, and its industries 

 develop and its character is changed by the 

 hand of man, new conditions are present 

 that often present golden opportunities to 

 the bees. Chief among these is the growing 

 of alfalfa in the West under irrigation. 

 Then there are the basswood forests of Wis- 

 consin, the sage and filaree of California, 

 the mesquite and cactus of the Southwest, 

 the orange and mangrove of Florida, fur- 

 nishing honey to large and paying apiaries, 

 and with which the apiarists of the poorer 

 fields of the Northern and Eastern States 

 have largely to compete. 



After all, this question of remedies for 

 poor seasons is one that each man must set- 

 tle for himself, according to his ambitions 

 and abilities. 



Ag'l Col., Mich., Nov. 15, '91. 



Atmospheric Conditions Affect Nectar Secre- 

 tion. — Scattering Honey Plant Seeds. — 

 Overstocking. — Plant Your Guns 

 and Stay by Them. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



( ), Bro. Hutch- 

 inson. you 

 can't rightfully 

 credit our late poor 

 seasons to any 

 changes in the sur- 

 face of the earth, 

 whether natural or 

 irtificial. You 

 liave given one 

 reason, when you 

 said that six sea- 

 sons were all good, 

 and then down goes the ax and chops 

 squarely off four very poor seasons, right in 

 succession. Another fact which presents it- 

 self on our side of the argument, is that 

 after you have carefully considered the 

 changes in the cultivation and clearing of 

 your location, from the good to the poor 



