May 5, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



327 



season opens than they will rear on the let-alone plan, where 

 they are tucked up warm and have an abundance of stores. 

 But in careful hands there likely is some gain. I have al- 

 ways estimated about 10 to IS percent, but to be on the safe 

 side we will place it at 20 percent gain in very careful 

 hands. Now I am ready to talk about the extract above, or 

 that part that reads, " the honey that they consume." Now 

 isn't it a fact that large colonies during breeding up in 

 spring, also during summer, to some extent, consume more 

 honey than a moderate-size colony ? I think that we will 

 all agree that this supposition is correct. If so, would not 

 50 colonies consume just as much honey breeding up a force 

 of 50,000 bees each, or 2,500,000 all together, as 60 colonies 

 would to breed up the same number? And more, isn't one 

 bunch equal to the other, as extracted honey producers ? 

 After examining these figures, will the ordinary bee-keeper 

 be in any wise nervous about a " few more bees " (in this 

 case actually the same number) consuming all the surplus, 

 so there will be no profit to the bee-keeper ? 



About all the extra expense (in honey) would be the 

 extra amount the 10 extra colonies consume during winter, 

 say IS pounds each, or 150 pounds all told. 



In the spring of 1901, when I moved up here to Mecosta 

 County, from Clinton County, my home yard was left be- 

 hind, and was worked from here, SO miles away. This yard 

 consisted of 85 colonies in 1901, and 72 colonies in 1902, 

 spring count. Now, with eight visits we harvested 15,000 

 pounds of extracted honey that sold for 8 cents a pound, on 

 the cars there, or $1200 for the two years. This yard was 

 one-third of a mile from any house, and there was no one 

 there to hive swarms or do any work between these four 

 visits a year, with the exception of twice each year a neigh- 

 bor bee-keeper looked them over, and added upper stories on 

 top where needed. These bees were packed in chaEf the last 

 of September or first of October, then there was nothing 

 done to them until the first of the following June, when 

 they were unpacked and the upper stories given. This was 

 an eye-opener, and I wondered what I had been at these 

 years. 



While the spring management of all my yards is the 

 same as above, all the yards near home are visited once a 

 week during the honey-season. This is all that is neces- 

 sary, and it gives one time to get a crop of honey from sev- 

 eral yards instead of putting one's time all on one yard. 



We have a honey-house at each yard, and everything 

 that is necessary to run it with. Especially do I aim to have 

 upper stories enough to hold the crop in an ordinary season, 

 thus putting our whole time to securing the crop during the 

 flow. Then in a week or ten days after the flow stops, we 

 commence extracting. With this management we get a 

 grade of honey that brings the top of the market, and is 

 usually all spoken for before it is ofif the hives. 



After these experiences can you wonder that I say. Stop 

 fussing with your bees ; start out-yards instead ; scatter 

 them over the country, enough in a place so they will bring 

 you a good, fair amount of surplus, as your share ? With us, 

 if we get 7500 pounds of surplus honey per yard we are satis- 

 fied. 



As one man can do all the work of six yards, as long as 

 his supply of combs last, isn't this much better than fussing 

 with one yard, and trying to double the yield of that yard ? 

 Or, in other words, the aggregate has been much greater 

 since we discarded the old, intense system for the new, 

 up-to-date method. Mecosta Co., Mich. 



starting Apiaries— Priority Rights. Etc. 



BV I.. V. RICKETTS. 



ON page 167 (1903), in answer to the inquiry of Mrs. Hoff- 

 man, as to starting an apiary. Miss Wilson says : "Is 

 the ground fully occupied by other bee-keepers ? If so, 

 it would be transpassing for you to start another apiary." 



Now suppose that this lady is the owner of say 80 or 160 

 acres of land, producing alfalfa. Then if she should start 

 an apiary, so as to have her bees gather the nectar from this 

 alfalfa, she would be a trespasser, eh ? What right has the 

 bee-keeper, who has for eight or ten years, been getting the 

 use of this alfalfa field as a bee-pasture, to say to this lady 

 that she shall not, or at least should not, start an apiary ou 

 her own land ; and if she does, that she will be considered 

 a trespasser? Has he, his heirs, or successors, a perpetual 

 right to all the nectar within gathering distance of his bees ? 



Then, again, suppose that at the time this bee-keeper 

 started his apiary, the land that this lady now has in 

 alfalfa was a barren desert, producing no nectar at all ; 



and as soon as her broad acres of alfalfa should have begun 

 to yield nectar, that she then wished to start an apiary. 

 Would she not then have a moral right to do so ? There are 

 scores of similar cases arising every year in the West. 



On page 346 (1903), in writing on the subject of over- 

 stocking a locality, Mr. Hasty concludes by saying ; "The 

 crowding bee-man comes much nearer to being a hog, pure 

 and simple." Then, again, on page 105 (1904), he says: 

 " Furthermore, let us require it of every man, that he re- 

 spect such rights, else be considered, inside the fraternity, 

 as an Ishmaelite and a scamp." Are such expressions be- 

 coming to one occupying the high position among the 

 fraternity that he does, to say nothing of the spirit that 

 prompted him? A man or a woman, owning and having 

 possession of a tract of land, has a moral and legal right to 

 start and maintain an apiary on it, unless for some valid 

 reason it is proven to be a public nuisance. 



There has been quite a lot written on this subject of 

 late, by different writers, and nearlj- all have tried to show 

 that it is at least a moral wrong for any one to start an 

 apiary in a territory occupied by other bee-keepers. With 

 the exceptions of bee-keepers in Idaho (page 196), who say 

 three miles, none of them have said what shall constitute a 

 bee-keeper's territory. 



On page 473 (1903), Dr. Miller says : " Bees have been 

 known to go as much as seven miles, but probably not with 

 profit more than two or three." 



On page 6, Mr. G. M. Doolittle says, in substance, that 

 he has had tons of basswood honey stored from the tops of 

 the heights seven or eight miles away from his apiary, dur- 

 ing the past 30 years. 



Now let us calculate a little : If bees go 8 miles in one 

 direction from their home to gather nectar, of course they 

 will go 8 miles in the opposite direction, provided there is 

 nectar there, and other things being equal. Then we find 

 that Mr. Doolittle's bees are able to occupy an area in the 

 form of a circle, whose diameter is 16 miles. The area of 

 this circle is 201 square miles, or 128,640 acres. This is suffi- 

 cient land to provide homes of 160 acres each for 804 fami- 

 lies. Now the question is. Shall these 804 families be re- 

 fused the right to start an apiary on their own land, just 

 because some one has an apiary already established in this 

 area, with bees enough to gather all, or nearly all, the nec- 

 tar therein ? Of course, this is a larger area than would 

 generally be considered as being occupied by the bees of 

 one apiary. Yet who shall determine the size of the terri- 

 tory occupied by the bees of one apiary ? Shall each apia- 

 rist be the judge as to how far his bees go to gather, and how 

 near to them another bee-keeper may start an apiary, with- 

 out being an "Ishmaelite," a "trespasser," a "scamp," 

 and a "hog?" Does a man having one or more apiaries 

 have the same prior moral right for each of them as he does 

 for his home apiary ? If so, what a vast domain Mr. Cog- 

 shall must have. (If my memory serves me right, it is he 

 who has about 3000 colonies). 



On page 789 (1903), Mr. H. H. Hyde says: " We have 

 about 1100 colonies of bees, located in 10 apiaries from 7 to 9 

 miles from home " — another large domain. Shall all others 

 nearer to these honey-kings than twice the gathering dis- 

 tance of their bees, be perpetually restrained from starting 

 an apiary, or producing any honey, even though there may 

 be tons of nectar secreted by the flowers on their own lands ? 

 The starting of an apiary by a man in his own dominion 

 is a right that belongs to every man, and I believe that 

 most men will be slow to relinquish this right. Dr. Miller 

 to the contrary notwithstanding (page 183). If such a bill 

 should become a law it might not be held as constitutional 

 when put to the test. Whitman Co., Wash. 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3 >^x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we have used it ourselves. 



Pricks, prepaid— Sample copy free; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

 for 40 cts.; 50 for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; SOD 

 for $4.00 ; 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free 

 at the bottom of the front paice, on all orders for 100 or 

 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



See Langstroth Book Offer on another page of this 

 copy of the American Bee Journal. 



