BEES. 903 



6 by 30 inches, and re-cut it the 5-inch way ourselves. We cut the same as in a mitre-box 

 that is, have a box fixed with regulating screws, so that you can cut the glass just exactly 

 five inches every time. Have your cutting stick fastened to the box so the glass will go 

 under it; shove up the screws and cut; leave a drop of two inches under, and touch the glass 

 so as to break off where cut and drop down; shove up and cut again, breaking off as before. 

 Thus you can cut very fast and be sure every glass is right. 



Sell your honey, if possible, rather than ship on commission, for the returns rendered by 

 the commission men are not always satisfactory. Always ship your honey in warm weather 

 (the first half of September) if possible, as it will go much more safely than in cold weather. 

 If you can sell your honey at home, do so, but the most of us cannot so dispose of a large 

 quantity. If we prefer to have our buckwheat and fall honey stored in boxes, we leave them 

 on the hive; otherwise it is best to take them off, for the bees daub them badly with propolis 

 at this season of the year. A &quot;good way is to take off the boxes and put in frames in place 

 of the side boxes, having them filled to store away for feeding purposes. Bees will build 

 comb very fast in the body of the hive during a good buckwheat yield.&quot; 



Profits of Bee Keeping. Under proper management, bee-keeping is a very profita 

 ble business, as will be seen from the following testimony from some of the most successful 

 apiarists of the country. Mr. G-. M. Doolittle, the authority previously quoted, says: 



&quot; Commencing a certain season with sixty hives, I had a hundred colonies to go into winter 

 quarters, having obtained in box honey 2,909 pounds, and 572 pounds of extracted, making 

 3,481 pounds in all, or 58 pounds per stock as an average yield. This is the lightest yield I 

 have had during seven years, with the exception of one year when the average yield per 

 colony was only 50 pounds. For the past seven years (and it is only by a number of years 

 experience in any business that a true result as regards the profit or loss can be obtained) the 

 report of our apiary stands as follows: At the end of the first of the seven years report, the 

 average yield in honey was eighty pounds per colony; the second year, a fraction of a pound 

 less than 100 pounds: the third, a little over 106 pounds; the fourth, 50 pounds; the fifth, 

 a little less than 167 pounds; the sixth, just 71 pounds, and the seventh, 58 pounds, making 

 an average yield for the past seven years of a little over 90 pounds per stock. Upon looking 

 over my diary I ascertain that this honey has been sold at an average price of 21 cents per 

 pound, the highest price being 28 cents, and the lowest lOf cents. From past experience, 

 I believe a thorough, practical man can do all the work required to be done with 100 colonies 

 of bees, and judging from the above, he would obtain for an average term of years 9,000 

 pounds of honey annually, which, at 21^ cents per pound, would bring him in a yearly 

 income of $1,912.50.&quot; 



Mr. D. A. Jones, the owner of one of the most extensive apiaries in the country, if not 

 in the world, has Kis bee farm located near Beeton, Ontario, Canada, his four bee yards 

 being situated at the angles of a square which embraces several square miles of country. 

 During the current year Mr. Jones has already taken, at the last of July, 50,000 pounds of 

 honey from 620 colonies of bees, and, judging from yields of previous years, calculated the 

 total yield for the year to be 70,000 pounds, in which case the total net profit would be 

 between $7,000 and $10,000. 



Mr. W. L. Hutchinson, of Michigan, says: &quot; There is no question in my mind that, if 

 properly managed, there is money in bees, as during the four years that I have been engaged 

 in the business I have never made less than $15 per swarm, clear profit, each season; this 

 season realizing $25 per colony.&quot; Mr. J. G. Taylor of Austin, Texas, reports thus: &quot;I com 

 menced in the spring with seven colonies; up to June 20th I took 968 pounds of surplus honey, 

 and increased to twenty good colonies.&quot; 



Mr. J. F. Meyer of Wyandotte, Kansas, makes the following statement: &quot;My market is 

 at home, retailing at from 15c. to 17^c. per pound. My honey crop this year is 2,200 pounds 

 from thirty full colonies. I sold in the spring twenty-five colonies.&quot; 



We thus see that it is no uncommon occurrence for a colony of bees to produce seventy 

 pounds of honey or more during a single season, when under proper management. In fact, 

 a good strong colony of bees located in a region of country producing an average quantity 

 of honey-producing flowers, will, with careful management, produce 100 pounds of surplus 

 comb honey, and still allow another strong colony to be made from it. The extra colony 

 will amply pay all expenses for the labor performed. This, with a fair price for honey, will 

 net $20 to each colony. Much better results than this are frequently realized by our 

 most successful bee keepers. An active man, who understands the business, should be able 

 to attend to from one hundred to two hundred colonies. 



