116 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



They were pretty fair gatherers but they 

 did not breed true for me; hybridized too 

 easily, and took to swarming. They were 

 good winterers and built up well in spring 

 though. 



Well, friend H., if your subscribers all 

 accept your invitation to write a long 

 letter, you will be swamped sure: but 1 

 trust not too many will, and in conclusion 



1 wish to thank you for the Review, and 

 for your good wishes and good cheer ex- 

 pressed therein. 1 like your writings 

 about the bees in Northern Mich., only it 

 makes me want to come up there and do 

 likewise, which 1 guess may never be. 

 So, I wish all yours a happy and pros- 

 perous New Year. 



Denison, Iowa., Jan. 2. 1907. 



-,%^ti^A^<r*=^ 



A Sheltered Location May Double the 

 Pofits of an Apiary. 



HARRY LATHROP. 



T TAKES years and decades to learn 



some lessons in bee-keeping; and 



some are not so situated that they can 



ever settle some questions by means of 



comparison or other experimentation. 



One of the things that I was slow to 

 learn was that there is a great advantage 

 in having an apiary located in a sheltered 

 place. One occupying such a location, 

 for instance, as one of the little pockets 

 so common in the hill country of Southern 

 Wisconsin, may work on for years, not 

 realizing the immense advantage he has 

 over his neighbor whose apiary is situated 

 on the summit of a windy ridge, perhaps 

 only a few miles distant. 



Some valley situations are not good on 

 account of a draught causing a passage 

 of wind along certain channels. But a 

 pocket opening into a sheltered valley, 

 and having its opening to the south, 

 makes a very fine place for the location 

 of an apiary. Then, if this sheltered spot 

 furnishes natural pollen in plenty for 

 early spring, and water is handy, the col- 

 onies are nearly sure to build up rapidly, 

 even if they are only mare nuclei at the 

 close of winter. 1 know, for 1 kept bees 

 in such a place for 1 7 years, and only 

 realized the advantage after 1 had estab- 



lished another yard in a place not so 

 favored for shelter, but having just as 

 good sources of honey during the white 

 clover and basswood season. The apiary 

 situated on the high and unprotected 

 ground, never increased. The other in- 

 creased so rapidly that it always bothered 

 me to know how to keep down increase 

 or what to do with my surplus stock. 



There is one balance that I have been 

 unable to strike however, and that is to 

 know just how much of the prosperity in 

 the sheltered location was due to the fact 

 that it furnished honey from the autumn 

 flowers, having much low ground on the 

 field, while the other yard lacked in this 

 respect, and the colonies were very apt to 

 be idle during some weeks preceding the 

 end of t'.ie season. 



In a level country the best means of 

 providing protection is, of course, by 

 planting groves or belts of trees, or leav- 

 ing such portion of the natural forest as 

 will be necessary. Even with these, 

 tight board fences are an advantage as 

 furnishing nearby protection and making 

 sun reflectors. 



In our Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' conven- 

 tion last week. President France advised 

 the members to protect their colonies by 



