very reliable. A beekeeper at Mayville reports that in 40 years there has been only one year in which he secured no surplus, and that feeding for winter has never been necessary. In addition to buckwheat and fruit bloom the honey plants are the maples, locust, white clover, alsike clover, sumac, basswood, and goldenrod. The yield from buckwheat varies. In some years it is heavy, in others very light.

On a belt of land south of Lake Ontario and east of Lake Erie is the most dense area of fruits in the United States, and more than nine million fruit trees are reported in the counties of Oswego, Wayne, Monroe, Orleans, Niagara, Genesee, Erie, and Chautauqua.

Apple trees are by far the most abundant, and comprise the largest acreage; Niagara has 23,000; Wayne, 35,000; Monroe, 17,000, and Orleans, 19,000 acres. In Chautauqua County there are 24,000 acres of vineyards which apparently do not yield nectar. Fruit bloom is a valuable source of nectar in Wayne, Monroe, Orleans, and Niagara counties. If the weather is fair a gain of 20 pounds per colony is sometimes obtained during apple-bloom; but in New York bees get little-more than a living from this source four years out of five. At Macedon, Wayne County, near the swamps along the Erie Canal, the apiaries range from 20 to 40 colonies. Near the city of Rochester there are some 20 commercial apiaries which will average 100 colonies. In a good year a surplus of 120 pounds may be expected. In a radius of five miles there are 75 small yards of about a dozen colonies each. As high as 200 pounds of comb honey has been secured per hive from 25 colonies. In Niagara County commercial apiaries do not exceed 100 colonies. The honey plants are white clover, alsike clover, sweet clover, basswood, goldenrod, dandelion, boneset, catnip, Canada thistle, and buckwheat.

Long Island forms the northern extremity of the Coastal Plain. The flora growing on its sandy hills will not support more than 40 or 50 colonies of bees in a single apiary. The total number of colonies on the island does not much exceed five hundred.

The best locations for beekeeping in New York are very irregularly distributed, or, as a beekeeper aptly expresses it, “the good locations occur in pockets.” It is usually better to restrict the size of the apiary to 75 or 100 colonies. In the more thickly populated sections of the state there are few openings for new yards; but in the more remote regions there still remain unoccupied sites. Of the outlook in New York, Charles Stewart writes: “Men of wide experience are having good success; but there are many failures.”

PENNSYLVANIA

Total area, 45,126 square miles. According to its physical features Pennsylvania may be divided into three regions: A triangular open area southeast of the Appalachian Mountain system; the Appalachian Mountains, which traverse the central portion of the state from northeast to southwest; and the Alleghany Plateau, comprising the section west of the mountain ranges, or more than one-half of the state.

The southeast section is a picturesque country of rolling hills and well-watered fertile meadows, with a mild equable climate. A productive limestone soil covers the larger part of York, Lancaster, Berks, and Chester counties. Fruits and cereals, tobacco, potatoes, asparagus, cucumbers, muskmelons, and, near Philadelphia, flower-growing, occupy large tracts of the land, which is in the highest state of cultivation. Lancaster County has been called the “garden of the state.” A dense forest once covered this whole area; and of the nectar-bearing trees there still remain in greater or less abundance the tulip tree, hackberry, sweet gum, persimmon,