6 BEES. 
expensive reverses that the bee keeper is able to manipulate properly 
to save his crop. Anyone can produce honey in seasons of plenty, 
but these do not come every year in most locations, and it takes a 
good bee keeper to make the most of poor years. When, even with 
the best of manipulations, the crop is a failure through lack of nectar, 
the bees must be fed to keep them from starvation. 
The average annual honey yield per colony for the entire country, 
under good management, will probably be 25 to 30 pounds of comb 
honey or 40 to 50 pounds of extracted honey. The money return 
to be obtained from the crop depends entirely on the market and the 
method of selling the honey. If sold direct to the consumer, extracted 
honey brings from 10 to 20 cents per pound, and comb honey from 
15 to 25 cents per section. If sold to dealers, the price varies from 
6 to 10 cents for extracted honey and from 10 to 15 cents for comb 
honey. All of these estimates depend largely on the quality and 
neatness of the product. From the gross return must be deducted 
from 50 cents to $1 per colony for expenses other than labor, includ- 
ing foundation, sections, occasional new frames and hives, and other 
incidentals. This estimate of expense does not include the cost of 
new hives and other apparatus needed in providing for increase in the 
size of the apiary. 
Above all it should be emphasized that the only way to make bee- 
keeping a profitable business is to produce only a first-class article. 
We can not control what the bees bring to the hive to any great 
extent, but by proper manipulations we can get them to produce 
fancy comb honey, or if extracted honey is produced it can be care- 
fully cared for and neatly packed to appeal to the fancy trade. Too 
many bee keepers, in fact, the majority, pay too little attention to 
making their goods attractive. They should recognize the fact that 
of two jars of honey, one in an ordinary fruit jar or tin can with a 
poorly printed label, and the other in a neat glass jar of artistic design 
with a pleasing, attractive label, the latter will bring double or more 
the extra cost of the better package. It is perhaps unfortunate, but 
nevertheless a fact, that honey sells largely on appearance, and a 
progressive bee keeper will appeal as strongly as possible to the eye 
of his customer. 
LOCATION OF THE APIARY. 
In choosing a section in which to keep bees on an extensive scale 
it is essential that the resources of the country be known. Beekeep- 
ing is more or less profitable in almost all parts of the United States, 
but it is not profitable to practice extensive beekeeping in localities 
where the plants do not yield nectar in large quantities. A man who 
desires to make honey production his business may find that it does 
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