Migratory Bee-keeping 



It is seldom that one locality abounds in all of the honey-producting 

 plants that may be found by making short journeys in different directions. 

 A locality unequaled for early bloom may be sadly deficient in the clover 

 and basswood blossoming so profusely at mid-summer only a few miles 

 distant, while a few miles further on may be a swamp or river bottom that 

 is (.)f little value as a bee pasture until gorgeous with the purple and gold 

 of autumn flowers. It will be readily seen why some bee-keepers occasion- 

 ally find it profitable to move their apiaries once or twice during the sea- 

 son. Some notable successes in this line have been made in Florida, 

 where the hone)' from the orange-blossom comes in March ; then a move 

 uf perhaps fift\- miles allows the bees to enjo}- the bloom of the saw- 

 palmetto, and, later, another crop ma}' be secured by moving to the man- 

 grove region. After the harvest of sage honey is over in California, and 

 vegetation in the mountain canyons has turned drv and brown, a move 

 of twenty or thirty miles \\-ill, in some localities, place the bees among 

 thousands of acres of blooming bean-fields from which ma\- be gathered 

 a white honey of fine flavor. In Canada several bee-keepers make a good 

 profit each fall by moving their bees to buckwheat regions. In Europe 

 bee-keepers move their bees to the heather-fields, and then, later, to the 

 buckwheat : in fact, so many move their bees to the buckwheat that a train 

 is sometimes made up expressly for carrying the bees to these pastures. 

 Se\-eral years ago a younger brother of mine, who had not left home, 

 came to m\- place early in August and carried home with him twenty 

 colonies of my bees, as there was an abundance of goldenrod, boneset, 

 and willow-herb in his localit)- and none in mine. An emptv story filled 

 with empty combs was placed over each colony, and the top covered 

 with wire cloth. A hay-rack was covered with hay to the depth of about 

 l\\ri feet, the hives set upon the hay, and held together in a bunch by 

 passing a rope around them. The journey of twent\--five miles was made 

 without mishap. Those twenty colonies furnished 400 pounds of surplus ; 

 besides, they need no feeding for winter, while the bees kept at home 

 stored no surplus, and each colony required feeding, on the average, 

 about fifteen pounds. 



Had buckwheat yielded well, which, in this locality, happens about 

 nnce in a dozen years, nothing would have been gained b\- the move. 



