152 



May, 1916. 



American ^ae Journal 



THE BUSY SEASON IN THE BERRY PATCH COMES DURING THE HONEY 



FLOW 



ties instead of those for which he has 

 contracted. 



If one starts an apiary in an un- 

 suitahle location the bees can be 

 moved with but little loss, but an or- 

 chard is permanent and if a mistake 

 is made in choosing the location or 

 the trees the resulting loss will be 

 heavy. Too much care cannot be 

 used in selecting a location of this 

 kind. If the owner has neither 

 enough bees nor enough trees to fur- 

 nish a sufficient support alone, he 

 should be very sure that his location 

 is favorable both for fruit growing 

 and for honey production. 



If one is not sure of his location 

 strawberries can best be grown as a 

 temporary crop. They yield well un- 

 der favorable conditions, come into 

 bearing quickly and since they must 

 be re-set frequently a change of lo- 

 cation will not result in serious loss. 

 When asked about the profits from 

 strawberries Mr. Baxter pointed to a 

 small patch of less than half an acre 

 which returned two hundred ' and 

 twenty-five dollars last year. Berry 

 growing Is much on the order of mar- 

 ket gardening. Quick returns and 

 good profits are to be expected, but 

 much labor is required. Unless the 

 location is such that plenty of assis- 

 tance can readily be secured for hoe- 

 ing and picking there is danger of 

 loss. 



Another serious drawback to berry 

 growing is the necessity for immediate 

 marketing. In case of necessity the 

 honey crop can be held for several 

 months without injury, while the 

 berry crop begins to deteriorate as 

 soon as picked and a few hours more 

 or less in the time of reaching mar 

 ket makes a great difference in the 

 returns. This condition holds good to 

 a greater or less extent for all fruit. 

 Apples if carefully handled can be 

 placed in storage and held for several 

 months but even if stored prompt han- 

 dling is necessary to get them moved 



in time. All fruits are sensitive to 

 both heat and frost. While careful 

 handling is necessary to prevent 

 breakage in comb honey and some 

 attention must be given to temperature 

 to avoid granulation, with proper 

 attention to these details there is less 

 loss from changes of temperature 

 with the honey than most other com- 

 modities. 



The extensive honey producer will 

 consider all these matters carefully 

 before starting into fruit growing al- 

 so. If only such fruits are grown 

 which are suited to his location and 

 which come at a time when work in 

 the apiary is not pressing, it will be 

 an excellent combination, since his 

 work can be more evenly distributed 



through the year and there is less 

 danger of failure all-round. If he 

 makes the mistake of selecting fruits 

 which ripen at the time of his honey 

 harvest, either fruits or bees are like- 

 ly to be neglected with a consequent 

 loss somewhere and unless both are 

 properly cared for he would be much 

 better off with one alone. 



Grapes are a very satisfactory fruit 

 to grow where good markets are at 

 hand. They yield heavily and con- 

 tinue to produce large crops for many 

 years if the vineyards receive proper 

 attention. Mr. Baxter harvested six- 

 teen thousand baskets of grapes in 

 one year from eight acres. These at 

 twelve cents per basket returned 

 about two hundred and forty dollars 

 per acre. His average however, is 

 only from one hundred and twenty- 

 five to one hundred and fifty dollars 

 per acre annually. In many localities 

 there is no honey flow at the time of 

 the grape harvest. 



In Mr Baxter's locality there are 

 frequent seasons when the honey crop 

 is short and in such a locality it 

 seems more desirable to combine bee- 

 keeping with some other pursuit as 

 he has done. He himself has about 

 one hundred and eighty colonies in 

 two yards. The writer was interest- 

 ed in knowing whether with a larger 

 number of bees he would not have 

 done as well or better to occupy his 

 entire attention with honey produc- 

 tion. No figures for a long period of 

 time were secured but the total sales 

 of honey for three successive years 

 when added gave a net return of about 

 seven dollars and seventy-five cents 

 per colony per year. Of course if a 

 longer period of time had been con- 

 sidered during which time some years 

 of failure occurred it would bring the 

 average somewhat below these figur- 

 es. However, Mr Baxter assured the 

 writer that the bees had paid better 

 for time and money invested than any 

 other crop which he harvested and 

 pointed to his fine home which had 



THE APPLE CROP IS HAkVESiEU AFTER THE HONEY FLOW IS OVER 



