568 
LOCALITY 
he has found a suitable location, for the 
foundation of success in beekeeping is the 
location. Many of the manipulations rec¬ 
ommended for one locality will not answer 
for another. The same hive under differ¬ 
ent conditions may give very different re¬ 
sults. The length of the flow and the time 
it begins must receive careful considera¬ 
tion. If the honey flow is short and rapid, 
as in the basswood regions where the honey 
is mainly white, it is, as a rule, more profit¬ 
able to produce comb honey than extracted 
honey. But a slow honey flow extending 
over three or four months may render the 
production of comb honey impracticable 
since the combs will be travel-stained and 
will not command the highest market price. 
Locality also exerts a great influence on 
the treatment the bees should receive. If 
no honey is stored after the middle of July, 
and the beekeeper lives in a State where 
snow falls in winter and cold weather pre¬ 
vails for five or six months, he will not en¬ 
courage brood-rearing till September when 
he will feed to stimulate and to provide 
sufficient winter stores. If, however, he 
has a fall flow he is fortunate to get the 
colonies in the best possible condition for 
winter. If the beekeeper is located in the 
South the bees will require a much lar¬ 
ger amount of stores than in the North, 
for in a warm climate the bees are more 
active and consume more honey in brood¬ 
rearing. The bees in the northern States 
are likely to perish from cold; in the south¬ 
ern States from starvation. 
Some localities are so cold that only cel¬ 
lar wintering is practicable. (See Winter¬ 
ing in Cellars.) South of these extreme¬ 
ly cold places outdoor wintering in double- 
walled hives or packing cases is prefer¬ 
able. 
Some regions of the country are favor¬ 
able for the propagation of European foul 
brood mainly for the want of early flows 
to build up the colonies in the spring. 
Many inquiries have been received as to 
the best locations for beekeeping. So many 
factors enter into this question that a sat¬ 
isfactory reply is difficult to give, and often 
the beekeeper can remain at home to ad¬ 
vantage. The value of a locality depends 
on the personality and methods of the bee¬ 
keeper, as well as on the honey flora. “The 
poor quality reported for many regions,” 
says Phillips, “is probably due to poor bee¬ 
keeping. In many sections adequate trials 
of commercial beekeeping have not been 
made. The prevalence of foul brood is not 
a serious drawback to a* genuine beekeeper 
and there are advantages in choosing a lo¬ 
cation where it has cleaned out competi¬ 
tion.” 
Beekeeping is only moderately successful 
in New England, but the bee pasturage of 
this section might be greatly improved by 
more commonly planting alsike clover in¬ 
stead of red clover. Excellent results have 
been obtained in the Champlain Valley, 
Vermont, where there are limestone soils 
and the surplus comes from white and al¬ 
sike clover. Other good locations are 
Aroostook County, Maine, the Berkshire 
Valley, Massachusetts, and portions of cen¬ 
tral Connecticut. 
In the production of honey New York 
leads the eastern States. On the glacial till 
soils of St. Lawrence and Jefferson Coun¬ 
ties the clovers yield an immense amount 
of white honey. A second white clover 
belt extends from Buffalo to the Hudson 
River, which includes a large number of 
apiaries located among the Finger Lakes, 
Cayuga County, and around Syracuse, 
Onondaga County. The southern portion 
of the State, especially the southwest cor¬ 
ner, is the great buckwheat country, where 
this plant is usually a reliable source of 
honey. Another important center for bee 
culture is found in the eastern part of the 
State in Schenectady County where the 
clovers, buckwheat, and basswood are abun¬ 
dant. 
Southeastern Pennsylvania is in a very 
high state of cultivation and few follow 
beekeeping as a vocation. Along the north- 
central border and in the northwest corner 
thousands of acres of buckwheat are 
grown. Within the mountains there are 
many fertile valleys with limestone floors, 
where the clovers flourish and yield well. 
Southwestern Pennsylvania in the region 
of the great steel mills and oil fields affords 
little pasturage for bees. New Jersey, 
Delaware, and Maryland are not consid¬ 
ered beekeeping States from a commercial 
point of view and the average surplus per 
colony is low. 
Thruout the southern States many of the 
colonies are still in “gums,” but beekeepers 
