1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



175 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



DO OUT- APIARIES PAY? 



"My bees have increased till I have more 

 than I think it profitable to keep in one place, 

 and I came to have a little talk with you about 

 moving a part of these colonies to a place 

 four miles away, where I think the location 

 fully as good as it is where I am. Do you 

 think such a course would pay me?" 



"Ho AT many colonies have you now, Mr. 

 Morgan?" 



" I have 300; and I thought if I could move 

 100 of them to the place I spoke of it might 

 be better to do so. I must either do this, be 

 overstocked, or sell a part of my bees. At 

 least that is the way I look at it." 



"Well, you should know your location bet- 

 ter than any one else. Mr. Alexander kept 

 700 colonies at one place, and did not think 

 his locality overstocked. There are possibly 

 some few localities where 500 to 700 colonies 

 could be keptwiih a profit, and there are 

 others where 100 colonies would be too many 

 to make a success. For myself, I should 

 consider from 100 to 200 colonies as many as 

 it would be profitable to keep in the average 

 apiary; and if 1 wanted to keep more I would 

 rather start an out-apiary than to sell all the 

 bees I had above that number." 



"That is just what I had hoped you would 

 tell me. Now, bow many colonies would you 

 use for an out-apiary?" 



"Fifty coloni*^s would make a good start 

 until you could be sure that more would do 

 as well. But this would depend somewhat 

 on how near your own or other bees the 

 apiary was to be established. Of course, if 

 you could go seven or eight miles from any 

 other bees, llie out apiary should do as well 

 as your home yard provided the pasturage 

 were the same. But as a rule I should think 

 100 colonies would be as many as would be 

 profitable, especially if the out apiary is lo- 

 cated wi hin four miles of the home yard." 



"Then, according to what you say, I could 

 divide the 100 which I do not think best to 

 keep at home, and tart two out apiaries; and 

 if I round that each yard of 50 did well, in- 

 crease them to 100 later on." 



"That would be my way of doing it." 



"Then that is wh 1 1 will do as there is a 



Elace four miles in a direction opposite my 

 ome, which, so far as I know, is as good as 

 the other But don't you think I had better 

 have some one to look after swarms during 

 the summer mont> s?" 



"If you are to increase your bees by nat- 

 ural sv*^ arming, this will be ne'^essarv ; but if 

 you work them as given in 'A Year's Woik 

 m an Out apiary ' you should not have swarms 

 enough to pay for the kt-ep of any one I 

 have not had anybody to look after the bees 

 in the <mt apiary for mor»- than ten years; 

 and so far as I know, only two swarms have 

 gone off in all that time. One colony became 

 strong in apple bloom before I put on the up- 



per hives, then swarmed; and the swarm got 

 away, as the queen in this case was ut. clip- 

 ped, and there was no one to give it a home. 

 Then I had another case where a colony had 

 swarmed several times before I was ready to 

 shake for the first time; and after shaking 

 they built queen-cells and swarmed, without 

 trying for any worker hrood. This they kept 

 up, evidently, till I went for the second or 

 final shaking for the year, when they swarm- 

 ed while I was there, thus telling their secret. 

 However, this was evidently a case of super- 

 sedure, as the queen did not lay to the amount 

 of two frames of brood af erward." 



"But if I stop all swarming, how shall I 

 increase?" 



"When you get home, turn to Chap. V. in 

 the out-apiary book, and that will tell you 

 how you can make all the colonies you may 

 desire, and that, too, with little or no cost to 

 you in honey." 



"Then, should I wish to continue out-api- 

 aries still further than the two, I could make 

 all the colonies I wish by what is given in 

 Chap, v., and not depend on natural swarm- 

 ing at all." 



' ' Certainly. The day of natural swarming 

 for increase has gone by, so to speak; for ii 

 I am right, few of our most practical apiarists 

 allow little if any swarming, whether at home 

 or in the out-apiary." 



"Well, should I conclude in the future to 

 run several out-apiaries how would you lo- 

 cate them?" 



"The amount of pasturage should be the 

 first thing to consult Next is the most con- 

 venient way to reach these out-apiaries. If 

 you are to use horses or the automobile as a 

 means of conveyance I would locate an api- 

 ary from five to seven miles from my home, 

 as near the four points of the compass as 

 possible, if the location would permit of my 

 doing this; and a fifth one in some good lo- 

 cation five miles away from any of these 

 four. I would have five out-apiaries if I 

 could possibly do the work, and in this way 

 I could attend to an apiary each working day 

 of the week, including the one at home." 



"When the home yard is located near a 

 trolley line it would be the greatest of fun to 

 locate apiaries at the best locations along 

 this line for in this way they could be reach- 

 ed at any half-hour. How much should I 

 pay as rent for the ground ? " 



"There can be no set price for this. In 

 one case I knew of, the man having a fruit- 

 farm, he welcomed the bees without making 

 any charge, considering that he was indebt- 

 ed to the apiarist for the good the bees did 

 as fertilizers of the blossoms of his orchards. 

 Most men. however, want from $5. 00 to $10. 00 

 a year. And now may I let you into a little 

 secret? Whatever the price agreed upon, 

 when the end of each honey season arrives, 

 make the person whose land you occupy a 

 present of from twenty to thirty pounds of 

 nice honey; and if your experience proves 

 like that of mine you will have a fast friend 

 for all time, with no complaint of the bees 

 being a nuisance, even should they be some- 

 what troublesome at times." 



