OUT- APIARIES. 



817 



OL'T-AI'lAltlKS. 



circumstances warrant, will employ an at- 

 torney and fight the case to a finish. One 

 can not secure protection by joining tJie As- 

 sociation aftfT he gels into trouble. 



The General Manager's address can ]>e as- 

 certained in any of the bee-journals. 



OUT- APIARIES. —Within late years 

 this teini luis b;-eii used to apply to bee- 

 yards remote or distant from the home yard 

 by some two or three miles. It is a well- 

 known fact, that only a limited numljer of 

 colonies, conijiaratively, can be accommo- 

 dated in any one locality, different places 

 being aljle to sujjport widely different num- 

 ber.s of colonies. 



N'UMBEK OF COIvONIKS IS AX AI'IAJM . 



The number of colonies of bees that can 

 be profitably kept in one locality is limited 

 by the amount of pasturage. Of late years 

 quite a number of bee-keepei s have estab- 

 lislied one or more out-apiaries, for the sake 

 of keeping more bees than the home pastur- 

 age would support. Just how many bees 

 can be supported in a single locality ha« 

 probably never been ascertained, and it is 

 just as probable that it never will. One 

 field may sujjport five times as many as an- 

 other, and the same field may support five 

 times as many this year as last. Most bee- 

 keepers, however, think it inadvisable to 

 keep more than 7-5 to W) colonies in one api- 

 ary, while a few think their locations so good 

 that 200 or more can be profitably kept to- 

 gether. The man who has only a few more 

 colonies than he thinks best to keep in one 

 apiary may find it better to have his bees 

 just a littk crowded at home before he goes 

 to the extra expense of an out-apiary. In- 

 deed, it depends somewhat upon the rnan, 

 whether, having been successful with one 

 apiary, he will find any )»rofit in the second. 

 liut having gone so far as to have one or 

 more apiaries away from home, it is not 

 best for him to Iiave any crowding in the 

 least. If 100 c<^jlonies will do well in each 

 apiary, the probability is that 7.5 will do bet- 

 ter ; and while there is unoccupied territory 

 all about him he had better keep on the 

 safe side and have so few in each place as to 

 feel sure of not overstocking. His own con- 

 venience s'lould have much to do in decid- 

 ing. For instance, if he iias. in all. .%0 col- 

 onies, and thinks that UXi can find enough 

 to do in a place, but can get through the 

 work of only 7-0 in a day. then he will keep 

 the yOO in 4 apiaries of 7-0 each, rather than 

 in y apiaries of 100 each. For it will make 

 one less travel tf» have in eacfi apiary just 



what he will do in a day's work, if In; can 

 do ofJ in a day, then he may just as well 

 have 100 in two apiaries as in one. for in 

 either case he must make two tiips to get 

 through with them. 



DISTANCE BETWEEN' APIAKIES, AND LOCA- 

 TIO.V THEnEOK. 



A location for an out-apiary must, of 

 course, be far enough rlistant from the 

 home apiary not to interfere much ; but 

 just how far is best, it is not easy to decide. 

 Perhaps, all things considered, a good dis- 

 tance is something like three miles ajjart. 

 As the area of flight is a circle, the ideal 

 plan of locating out-apiaries so as t^j occu- 

 py fully all adjoining territory is to put them 

 in hexagonal form, in which case a circle of 

 six will surround the home apiary. 



In the diagram. A reinesents the home 

 apiary, and li. (', J). E, F, G, the out-apia- 

 ries, at equal distances from A and from 



each other. If more tlian seven are needed 

 then a sefxjnd series may be started, as at 

 K, M. L, indicated by the letters. The cir- 

 cles representing the area of flight from 

 each apiary are seen to overlap each other : 

 but this is at the outer parts, where the 

 ground is more sparsely occupied, and the 

 doubling on the same ground is compensat- 

 ed by the convenience of the shorter dis- 

 tance U) go from one apiary tfj another. But 

 this ideal i>lan, although a good thing to 

 work from as a basis, is not likely ever tfj be 

 fully carried out. Many reasf>ns will make 

 it desirable t^> vary. The roads may run in 

 such diref,-tions as to make a difference ; no 

 good place may be found for an apiary at 

 some of the points, etc. It may be remark- 

 ed tliat the area of flight is not always a 

 circle. An apiary placed in a valley lic- 

 tween two ranges of hills might have an 

 oblong area, the bees perhaps flying twic<^ as 



