Vol. XTIT. 



APRIL 1, 1889. 



No. 7. 



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OUT-APIAHIES, NO. IV. 



HOW MANY COLONIES IN EACH OUT-APIARY? 



Tip (JAIN we have a question to which no one is 

 2|»^ aDle with any positive assurance of correct- 



I$m ness to give an answer. I think, however, 

 ■*™- the drift of opinion, of late years, has been 

 toward a smaller number than in former 

 years was thought possible. On page 905, Glean- 

 ings for Dec. 1, 1887, in reply to the question, most 

 of the respondents agree on somewhere from 50 to 

 10U, a good share of them having had no actual ex- 

 perience. Of those who have had experience, the 

 answers show considerable diversity of opinion. 

 Geo. Grimm says, "About 100 colonies." Dadant 

 & Son say, " We do not want to exceed 100 colonies 

 in any apiary." James Heddon says, "I keep 

 about 200 colonies, spring count, in each of my 

 apiaries." K.Wilkin says of Southern California, 

 " About 300 colonies, provided no other bees are 

 within three miles of you." E. France says, "We 

 think our location will work 80 colonies, spring 

 count, in each yard, profitably." There, you can 

 read over those answers and then guess what will 

 be right for you. P. H. Elwood says, " We keep 

 from 70 to 100, spring count. Our neighbors crowd 

 us some. Fifty would suit me best for best results, 

 three miles apart, but we can't always put them 

 just where we want them." Capt. Hetherington 

 writes, " Our practice is to put 70 first-class stocks 

 in an apiary— in a few cases 80, spring count. We 

 find an advantage in about this number, as a man 

 (with perhaps an assistant) will drive to such an 

 apiary, complete the necessary work, and return 

 the same day. With a larger number he could not 

 do it; with less there is waste of time on the road." 

 You see, Capt. Hetherington very wisely does not 

 reBt his decision entirely upon what may suit the 



bees alone, but makes an important factor of the 

 convenience of the apiarist. 



Let us plan a little. Suppose you settle upon 70 

 as about the right number for a full day's work, 

 and that you think there ought not to be more than 

 100 in one apiary. You have, only one out-apiary, 

 and a total of 200 colonies. You might put 70 colo- 

 nies in the out-apiary, but then that would leave 

 130 at home— too many. Put 100 in the out-apiary 

 and the 100 at home will be all right. You go to the 

 out-apiary to-day and go through 70 colonies, leav- 

 ing 30 that you must go and finish to-morrow. 

 Manifestly, you might just as well go in the oppo- 

 site direction to do those 30 to-morrow. So in gen- 

 eral, whenever you have more than enough colo- 

 nies to make a full day's work in each out-apiary, 

 the best thing will be to start another apiary. 

 Where you have the 200 colonies for your three 

 apiaries, it is somewhat a question of convenience 

 whether to keep 100 at home and 70 in one and 30 in 

 the other out-apiary, or 100 at home and 50 at each 

 of the others, or to divide the 200 about evenly be- 

 tween the three apiaries. If it makes no difference 

 as to convenience of work, the last plan is probably 

 the best. Please bear in mind, that although 100 

 may do well in one locality, 70 may do a little bet- 

 ter, and 50 a little better than 70. "But," you say, 

 "if there is clover enough to give 100 colonies all 

 and more than they can do, how could a smaller 

 number do any better? " Well, the clover doesn't 

 last all the season. If it did there would be no ob- 

 ject in having less than 100 in a place. Although 

 the main crop of honey depends on a very few 

 sources in one locality, as clover, linden, and per- 

 haps buckwheat, yet there are a great many other 

 sources from which bees get a little, from some 

 more, from some less. This varies throughout the 

 season, there being a very short time, if indeed 



