Or a Foreman.

If you are disabled for manual labor

foreman. Fore

Beekeeping Regions of the United States.

Not all parts of the United States are equally good for beekeeping, in your old occu- and it is advisable for one who contemplates making it his life work pation you can perhaps be trained carefully to consider the selection of a location. As a rule, it is not for the position of advisable to go too far from the country with which you are familiar. men are needed Bees may be kept with profit almost anywhere where agriculture is everywhere. The world needs men practiced, the returns depending largely on the care given to the bees. who not only The most widely known region for beekeeping is that of the northknow the processes because eastern quarter of the country, where white and alsike clovers yield they have worked nectar. Although these plants reach their highest yield in the northhave executive ern tier of States, they are also productive farther south. In the ability and who have been SO northern region bees get considerable quantities of nectar from basstrained that they can become lead- Wood, tulip poplar, buckwheat, sweet clover, and locust, and in some ers rather than localities from other plants of decided honey value. The buckwheat followers. region of southern New York and northern Pennsylvania is included in the clover region.

at them, but who

Think it over.

FIG. 12. An apiary in Seminole County, Fla., in the midst of the palmettos.

The second region in importance is that in which the bees get If you have not their nectar from alfalfa. This plant, which is now grown in all parts lost your head the of the country, does not yield much nectar except in the irrigated world is full of op

portunities for portions of the West and is therefore practically valueless for the beeyou by way of training. You keeper east of the Missouri River. The honey from this source is white have your head in the higher altitudes of Colorado and Utah, and amber in Arizona, or you wouldn't be here. What is New Mexico, and California.

it you wanted to be that you have The southeastern part of the country offers many opportunities to never been; that the beekeeper, but the business has not been so well developed there. you never had an opportunity to The nectar comes from numerous plants which are influenced by take training for? Think it over, and various soils, temperature, and other factors. The honey usually does then ask the rep not come in very rapidly and is often darker than other honeys, but Federal Board for since the plants yield for a longer period, the beekeeper is able to get cation to help good returns for his labor.

resentatives of the

Vocational Edu

you.

The semiarid region of the southwest produces many plants which secrete nectar in abundance. This region is subject to drought and there are years when the beekeeper has to feed his bees to keep them alive. However, taking a series of years into account, this region pays as well as any other.

The sage region of southern California offers great opportunities to the beekeeper. The honeys are chiefly white and secretion is abundant when there is sufficient rainfall. In this region also honey is obtained from blossoms of citrus fruits, which being irrigated are not so liable to failure as the plants growing in the desert. The chief problem in this part of the country is to strengthen the colonies in time for the nectar flow from citrus fruit blossoms. This may be done by application of proper care at the right time. In choosing the location for an apiary in the sage region, great care should be exercised to select one where the average rainfall is about 20 inches. Information regarding rainfall may be obtained from the Weather Bureau offices or from forest supervisors. Many of the best locations are in the national forests, where a location may be obtained at a small rental and other beekeepers will not be permitted to encroach.

FIG. 13.-An apiary in the Algeroba belt of Hawaii. The honey is much like that from alfalfa.

In addition to these chief regions, there are many localities where other plants are of sufficient value to make a good crop of honey. Such regions are the buckwheat region, already mentioned; the Spanish needle region of the Kankakee swamps of northern Indiana and Illinois and the Delaware River Valley; the willow herb regions of northern Michigan and Wisconsin, Maine, Washington, and Oregon; the sweet clover regions of Alabama and Kentucky; the blue thistle region of the Shenandoah Valley; the raspberry region of northern Michigan; the smartweed region of the Middle West (corn belt); and the bean region of southern California. There are many other restricted regions as valuable as those mentioned.

Variation in Seasons.

Train what you have left.

You will not then

All years are not equally good for nectar secretion, and some years the flow is so poor that feeding is necessary to keep the bees alive. miss what you Such years are of common occurrence to the poor beekeeper, while have left there. What you

over

they are rather a rarity to the good, highly skilled beekeeper. By this have left and are is meant that the good beekeeper is able to keep his bees in such condi- with you is pretty bringing home tion that they are able to take advantage of every hour of nectar secre- much all of you tion, while the poor beekeeper does not do this. In the best years every person owning bees will get some honey, but it is the person who studies the business who can make it pay almost every year.

Distribution of Bees in the United States.

The accompanying map shows where the bees in the country are mainly located. It indicates also the extent of the business in different sections and gives some idea, by the number of dots on the map, of the most successful territory for beekeeping. Care must be taken in drawing conclusions of this kind, for a field or territory may be overpastured, as it were, by bees as well as by cattle. Bees, however, travel many miles. Large apiaries should not be too close together, at least 3 or

that counts. You know that. Prove it to others by taking the training which Uncle Sam stands ready to give you entirely at his expense. He will pay for your instruction, and support you and your dependents while you are in training. Don't think about what Train what you you left over there. are bringing back home, and forget the rest.

FIG. 15.-The farmer's apiary will pro itably compensate intelligent attention and the bees will in turn increase the yield of farm crops, orchard, and small fruit by cross pollination of the flowers they visit. 4 miles apart. Although the honey flows of the South do not equal those of the North in intensity, yet, as will be observed from the map, there are more bees in the Southern States than in any other part of the country. Bees in the South can be purchased at small cost, for they are not appreciated and are poorly equipped, being hived largely in boxes and "gums" which are of course unprofitable. They may be transferred to modern hives, after which they may be managed for

extracted honey, which is the most profitable manner of handling bees in that section and the most effective way of avoiding swarming. The convenience of the modern hive and frame enables the increase of colonies by division.

Beekeeping Should Be a Specialty.

Frequently one sees articles advocating the keeping of a few colonies of bees so that one may have all the honey desired. This sounds rather well, but such advice does not work out well in practice. Only those

persons who study and devote themselves to the business are successful beekeepers. They make money, some big money. One Indiana man's 1918 honey crop exceeded $20,000. Success requires making beekeeping the chief vocation, for the person who does not rely upon it for his living is likely to be busy when the bees most need his care, and being constantly engrossed in other things he does not take the time to study the problems of the beekeeper. Beekeeping is preeminently a specialist's job, and it can not be recommended for the disabled soldier except as a specialty. To be convinced of the necessity for specializing you have only to visit farmers who have a few colonies of neglected and sometimes diseased bees, in some out of the way place, which never pay and are a menace to the success of all good beekeepers in the neighborhood.