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AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL, 



Nov. 14, 1901. 



No. 2.-APICILTIRE AS A BUSINESS. 



Some Colorado Conditions— Averag-e Yield- 

 Prices and Outcome. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



IWAXT till' fill- of :U1 apiarists who arc in apiculture lo make 

 it a buslnpss. I know tliore aro a great many who have a few 

 colonies to obtain honey for their own tables, others for 

 recreation, and yet others who keep bees as a side-issue to 

 some otlier business. Those who are playing with the bees 

 need not read this discussion, but those whose motive is for 

 either home consumption or for market.surely should consider 

 the cost. I shall write mainly for Western conditions, and. 

 for several reasons, principal among which are, 1st. I am 

 more familiar with conditions here: '2d, more people in tlie 

 West make a special business of honey-production; and. Sd, 

 the Western apiarist has more difficult problems to solve. 



As indicated in No. 1 , not even in Colorado, where alfalfa, 

 sweet clover, and cleome abound, do we have a sure crop. 

 Every Eastern apiarist thinking of coming here to get the 

 advantage of a field where he can have a honey crop every 

 year, would better stop and learn if his ideas are right. My 

 field, and the county in general, as well as other counties and 

 localities in the State, have both alfalfa and sweet clover in 

 sufficient quantities, so that either will give some surplus 

 honey should it yield freely. 



The trouble"with alfaffa is this: Being in growth similar 

 to sweet clover, a strong, rank plant, though not so large as 

 the latter, if allowed to mature to the extent of getting into 

 full bloom or any ripe seed upon it. the stems become hard 

 and woody, so much so that stock will not eat these coarse 

 stems unless forced to do so by very scant feeding: hence, the 

 rule is to cut for hay just as the bloom begins to appear. In 

 this latitude and altitude, spring is a little later than south- 

 ern Iowa, central Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, probably about 

 two weeks. The southern parts of this State will be from 

 2 to 3 weeks earlier than here, and lower altitudes in the 

 same latitude will be earlier. 



Alfalfa delights and grows rapidly in a moist but not wet 

 soil. A big rain or an irrigation that" fills the soil with mois- 

 ture puts it in prime condition for rapid growth in hot. sunny 

 days. Our altitude — 5.00U feet here— causes cool nights, 

 many nights in April coming close to frost, even in May being 

 quite cool. The fact is. that, as a rule, all the year tiirough 

 we have cool nights, and. often, some frost appears in places 

 almost evei'y month. However, while the nights are cool the 

 days are warm, the rapid and extreme changes in tempera- 

 ture between midday and midnight being much greater than 

 in lower altitudes. In May and June the days become quite 

 hot. and then the alfalfa " gets a move on it" and grows rap- 

 idly. In my locality it comes into bloom sufficiently to begin 

 vielding nectar averaging the date of June 15. ranging from 

 the mth to the 20th. 



About the time the first blossoms begin to appear on tlu' 

 alfalfa, then begins haying. On account of the large acreage 

 haying continues for three to four weeks, and by the time the 

 last fields are cut they have attained just' about full bloom, 

 hence we have had from one to two weeks of fair honey-flow 

 from this source — the only bloom and source at this season. 

 1 say /a2>7?oze/— alfalfa seems to be a spare yielder. I have 

 never known it to give the rapid yields obtained from white 

 clover and basswood. especially the latter. This slowne.ss of 

 the flow and the limited time of its duration, often find us 

 with the brood-combs filled and possibly just a start in the 

 supers, and also the swarming-fevcr on, when the first flow is 

 about over. So far as the great and vast acreage of alfalfa is 

 concerned, you see it has gone into hay, a very small percent 

 of it ever maturing to sufticient bloom to yield any nectar. 

 As soon as the first cutting of hay has been finished, the 

 mower begins where it started first." for in June and July the 

 growth is so rapid with favorable sea.sons I have known the 

 second haying to be done in 30 days after the first, though 

 usually a longer time intervenes. Unless delayed, the far- 

 mer never lets his Aaj/ alfalfa bloom. 



But there are the fence-rows, ditch-banks and here and 

 there scattering strips and plants that continue in bloom. 

 Al.so. there are fields of alfalfa sod broken and put to wheat. 

 The heavy, tough alfalfa roots are very hard to cut with a 

 plow, and usually enough of these escape the plow by slipping 

 by it. in S])ite of three and four horse-power, to make quite a 

 growth of alfalfa in the wheat-fields. This wheat-field bloom 

 is necessarily scattering, a field here and there, and thin in 

 the field, so our flow from this is seldom at all free. 



The last of July and the main part of August is wheat 

 harv<'st here, more being harvested in August than in July: 

 liut. bear ill mind that these dates vary with latitudi' and alti- 



tude, but in relation to each other and general application to 

 apiculture, the principles and facts apply. In some localities 

 and some seasons there are variations that make different re- 

 sults, in some places there is quite an acreage of alfalfa 

 run for seed-crop, and this, of course, must be allowed to 

 mature its bloom and seed, and happy indeed is the apiarist 

 who gets such pasture for his bees, for from the beginning of 

 the bloom to the maturity of seed is several weeks, ripe seed 

 and bloom being on the plant at the same time, more so than 

 red clover, but not so much as sweet clover. 



You see. under these conditions we watch anxiously for 

 the beginning of alfalfa nectar June 15. and hope and wish 

 for a scarcity of grasshoppers and for favorable nectar-secret- 

 ing weather' and hope the farmers will not push haying too 

 rapidly. 



Right with the first alfalfa flow comes swarming. The 

 colony that swarms during the first two weeks of the flow is" 

 almost sure to do so before the first super is full, many before 

 it is even started. Now see the drooping hopes of the apia- 

 rist — super work only just getting started, bees swarming.and. 

 worst of ail, the blooni and source of nectar rapidly falling 

 before the mowing machines. 



It will be about July lo — one month from the beginning 

 of alfalfa bloom — before sweet clover comes on. Having 

 failed of any paying surplus from the first flow (and this is 

 common), we wiitcli anxiously for a strengthening or contin- 

 uance of tlie flow from the sparse, scattering alfalfa in 

 the corners and wlieat-fields, and for the opening of sweet 

 clover. If the scattering alfalfa has kept up a slow flow that 

 requires the most strong and vigorous colonies and careful 

 management to obtain at all fair results in finish of coml> 

 honey, we are fortunate, and then if sweet clover comes on 

 with a fair yield added to the other, we may get supers filled 

 at the rate of about 13^ to 2 pounds daily — say a super every 

 two to three weeks on very strong colonies, and one in three 

 to six weeks on the more medium colonies. Contra.st this, if 

 von will, with getting a hundred pounds surplus in a two to 

 four weeks" flow, and any experienced apiarist knows such 

 conditions will not give good finish, and satisfactory and 

 profitable yields, without the best of management. For ten 

 years 1 have had just such experiences almost constantly. 

 "slow and intermittent flows, in duration from about June > 5 

 to August 15. and in quantity from a li '-pound surplus to 

 almost a hundred-pound yield. I recall from memory such 

 yields as H '. 20. 25. 40". 75 and 80 pounds — an average 

 yield for 10 years of about 40 pounds. 



Here I must state that such yields have not been obtained 

 where swarming and much increase have been allowed. My 

 yields for my locality, as herein given, have been far in ex- 

 cess of the average bee-keeper in this vicinity, or even in this 

 county and adjoining ones. 1 do not allow swarming, 

 nor much increase of colonies by any method. The 

 average yield for the past ten years in this county, in the 

 hands of "any but those having more than average knowledge 

 of the business and necessary facilities. I think has not e.x- 

 ceeded 2' > pounds surplus. Now let us see where this places 

 the investor. 



I have in mind a lady who has recently purchased a lot 

 of bees at S ■> a colony. Ten percent interest on this capital 

 stock is 50 cents a colony. We will put taxes and interest 

 both at 50 cents. In tliis county, sections, and foundation 

 for the same, cost a cent a pound and upwards on the pro- 

 duct. Let us see if I am correct. Sections in large lots — 2li.- 

 OOO to 50.111 — may be laid down here at about K of a cent 

 each: foundation ordinarily at close to 50 cents a pound in 

 25 pound lots, and one po'und supplies full sheets for 100 

 sections. It costs something to put foundation into the sec- 

 tions, say, on an average, one person with another will put 

 up about 1 ,000 sections a day, and at from one dollar to two 

 dollars a day, let us call it J^ of a cent. There is always a 

 slight breakage in the sections, but the greatest shriiika"ge is 

 the unfinished sections at the close of the season. It is, in- 

 deed, a careful management and bottom prices that will pro- 

 duce s<'ction-lioney so that the cost of the sections and foun- 

 dation is kept witiiiu a cent a pound. I buy sections, founda- 

 tion and cases cheaper than does the average apiarist, yet I 

 never estimate for these items less than 2 cents a pound as 

 the cost per pound on cased comb honey aside from the labor 

 of scraping, and with many apiarists "it costs 23^ cents a 

 pound, easily. 



Let us take the average price of comb honey here for the 

 past ten years. One year I got $1.-15 a case, again $1.75. 

 still othei- times such "prices as %i. §2.25. 82.30. $2. HO. and 

 $2.75. This makes an average of $2. 1+ a case. The past 

 ten years the average has not been far from %'l.'JX) for No. 1 

 honey, and 2.t to 30 cents less for No. 2. Now. the lady who 

 has purchased bees at $5 per colony is not an expert — is not 



