T46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' RB,VIEW. 



mobile in malving tours among bee- 

 keepers, the same as be did years ago 

 ■\vitli ills bicycle. It is possible that 

 automobiles will yet be used by bee- 

 keepers in visiting their out-apiaries. 

 I suppose the engine might be rigged 

 to run the honey extractor. 



li^'U^^M^^^J^I 



SOME HINTS ON OVERSTOCKING. 



Overstocking, or deciding upon the 

 number of colonies of bees that may 

 be profitably kept in one locality, is a 

 difficult problem to decide. Dr. Miller, 

 in his new book, says: "SomcAvhere 

 there is surely a limit beyond which 

 one canot protitably increase the num- 

 ber of colonies in an apiary, but just 

 where that limit is can, perhaps, never 

 lie learned. If I were oliliged to make 

 a guess, I should say about 80 colonies 

 m one apiary is the limit in my local- 

 ity." Localities and seasons differ so 

 greatly that it will never be possible 

 to do more than approximate the num- 

 ber of colonies that may be profitably 

 kept in one locality; and a different 

 approximation must be made for each 

 locality. Not only this, but it will re- 

 (luire se\eral years of experience be- 

 fore anything like a correct estimate 

 can be made. There is still another 

 point: The honey producing resources 

 of a locality may change with the 

 years. To illustrate: Years ago the 

 basswoods of Northern Michigan pro- 

 duced iimnense crops of honey. It is 

 doubtful if there could be bees enough 

 (in any reasonable quantity) put down 

 in. one apiary, where immense forests 

 of basswood are yielding their best, to 

 overstock the locality. Lately I was 

 talking with Mr. S. I). Chapman, of 

 Northern Michigan, and he was tell- 

 ing of the great crops of basswood 

 honey he secured years ago. One time 

 Mr. Ileddon was visiting him, and. as 

 the bees in a large apiary were piling 

 into the hives with their loads of bass- 



wood honey, Mr. Chapman asked: 

 "About how many colonies do you 

 think would l»e recjuired now to over- 

 stock this locality V Mr. Heddon 

 thought a few moments and finally 

 said: "About one thousand." AVhile 

 he was probably correct, it should be 

 borne in mind that a liasswood harvest 

 does not last all of the year, and the 

 numlier of colonies that would not 

 overstock a locality during the heiglit 

 of a good basswood flow, might ser- 

 iously overstock it during the rest of 

 the season. 



By the way, the basswood Avas cut 

 off in the vicinity of Mr. Chapman's 

 apiary until bee-keeping was no longer 

 profitable. The country was new, very 

 little of it being cleared, and when the 

 liasswood was gone, there was scarce- 

 ly any bee pasturage left. There were 

 a few years when Mr. Chapman seri- 

 ously contemplated abandoning bee- 

 keeping, but, with the lumbering otT 

 of the hard timlier, the ground was 

 left so open that the wild red rasp- 

 berries sprung up in myriads, and last 

 year l."i() colonies furnished him .$L000 

 worth of raspberry honey, and he is 

 inclined to put at least 200 colonies 

 in one locality. 



In deciding this (piestion of over- 

 stocking, it must not be forgotten that 

 it costs more to manage bees away 

 from home than it does at home, and 

 that the average yield of the home- 

 api.-iry might be cut down considerably 

 as the result of an increase in num- 

 liers, before it would be profitable to 

 move some of the bees to a new loca- 

 tion. After once embarking in the out- 

 apiary business, the establishing of an 

 additional apiary is not so serious an 

 affair as was that of the first one es- 

 tablisluMl. For instance, if a team 

 was bought for use in visiting the first 

 apiary, it can be used in going to any 

 apiaries that arc^ subs(>(iuently started. 

 The starting of an out-apiary may ne- 



