56 



THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



Article VII reads :- 



"Any member shall have the right to 

 vote by proxy on any subject, and at any 

 general meeting, provided that no mem- 

 ber present shall vote more than two 

 proxies," 



The Association is afilliated with the 

 National Bee-Keepers" Association; so 

 that by payment of SI. 00 annually a 

 bee-keeper may become a member of both 

 Associations. 



Besides its annual meeting in Decem- 

 ber, it will, in the future, hold a spring 

 meeting and another during the Minnesota 

 State Fair week, and the proceedings of 

 each meeting will be published by circular 

 to the members. 



In future '•Co-operation" will be the 

 watchword of its policy. 



Subscriptions should be sent to the 

 Secretary, Mr. Chas. Mondeng, 160 

 Newton Ave. N. Minneapolis, or to the 

 Treasurer, the Rev. J. Ridley, Monticello, 

 Minn. 



Specialty in Bee-Keeping Undesirable in a 

 Poor Locality. 



For years 1 have urged specialty in bee- 

 keeping- but not in a poor locality. If a 

 man is going to make a specialty of bee- 

 keeping, one of the special things for him 

 to do is to secure a good location. A 

 good location is the foundation upon which 

 to build the structure of specialty. With- 

 out this, better not build. These thoughts 

 come to me from reading a private letter 

 from a good friend of mine in New York 

 State. Among other things he says :— 



This has been a very poor year here. 

 From 175 colonies I took only 700 pounds 

 of surplus, and the bees went into winter 

 quarters in a very unsatisfactory condi- 

 tion 1 am working under a fearful disad- 

 vantage, and if things don't change be- 

 fore long, 1 must. 1 have been on this 

 place seven years, and, during that time 

 we have had four years that were nearly 

 failures; my crop being less than 800 

 pounds. I get as good crops as others 

 near here, so 1 know that it is not my 

 management. 



Ten to fifteen years ago there were 

 thousands of lofty basswoods within a 

 mile of this place, but, since then, I have 



seen a good acre of ground covered with 

 basswood logs two and three deep. It 

 just made me sick to look at them. 



In those days, too, farmers were rais- 

 ing alsike clover seed, and my bees could 

 reach 100 acres within a mile. That is 

 now a thing of the past. There is 

 almost no waste, or untillable, land in this 

 part of the country, and I have to keep 

 my bees in three different locations. This 

 year in four. 



Now, I believe that there are a lot ot 

 bee-keepers in just the same fix as my- 

 self. Extensive and intensive agriculture 

 have cut down the bee pasturage to an 

 unprofitable amount. 



If I had a location where 1 could get 

 even 25 pounds of honey per colony, on 

 the average, each year, 1 would increase 

 my bees to 500 or 600 colonies, and 

 soon have some money. With the proper 

 hives and fixtures. I believe I could care 

 for that many, even if they were 

 scattered, 100 in an apiary. 



In closing my friend says he beheves 

 that it would be a profitable thing for 

 him, or any man similarly situated, to 

 secure 100 acres of cheap land, and set it 

 out to catnip, sweet clover, alsike, etc. 

 The only objection that he sees to the 

 plan is that of some other bee-keeper 

 locating nearby, and sharing the harvest 

 with him. I have little faith in such a 

 scheme. In the first place, 100 acres 

 would be only a drop in the bucket, and 

 the interest on the investment, and the 

 labor, would eat up all the honey that 

 would come from a patch of that size. 

 To secure a crop of honey there must be 

 a large area of honey producing plants. 

 Few realize the vast amount of territory 

 covered by the flight of bees from a given 

 point. Going only two and one-half miles 

 from home, bees scour a territory of 

 12,000 acres. What is a paltry 100 

 acres ? If 1 were situated like my friend. 

 I would either quit bee-keeping as a 

 specialty, or else pull up stakes and seek 

 fairer fields. 



Don't Crowd. 



At the late Michigan State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Big Rapids, when 

 we were discussing the future of bee- 

 keeping in Northern Michigan, Mr. S. 



