ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 29 



In the buckwheat regions of New York, not much dependence 

 is placed upon the early honey-flows for securing- a surplus. They 

 enable the bees to breed up, and, as a rule, finish their swarming, 

 before the buckwheat opens, when the main crop of the season is 

 gathered. A colony so weak in the spring that it would be nearly 

 useless in a flow from clover or basswood, has abundant time in 

 which to build up for the buckwheat honey-harvest. 



Then, again, there are localities near swamps, where the main 

 flow comes very late, from fall-flowers, asters, and the like. The 

 yield is often very abundant, but the quality is undesirable when 

 used for winter-stores. If the cold confines the bees for several 

 months upon such stores, they are almost certain to perish. The 

 only remedy is to extract the honey and feed sugar syrup; unless it 

 might be that of brimstoning the bees in the fall, and buying more 

 in the spring from some other locality, a course which has been fol- 

 lowed successfully, as the long season for preparation allows of the 

 building up of one colony into several. 



It would be an easy matter to use pages in giving illustrations of 

 the differences in localities, but it is unnecessary; the thing for the 

 bee-keeper to remember is that if he changes his locality he must 

 leave behind him many of his old notions and methods, and seek the 

 advice of his new neighbors who have been successful. The veteran 

 bee-keeper from the verdant hills of old Vermont would make a flat 

 failure were he to bring his apiary to Colorado, and manage it the 

 same as he has been accustomed to doing. A bee-keeper can not 

 know his locality too thoroughly. Some men succeed in localities 

 where the majority fail, and one reason is because their more 

 thorough knowledge of the locality enables them to adopt methods 

 more perfectly adapted to the peculiarities of that location. Above 

 all things, know your locality. 



