VoJ. XV. 



APRIL 15, 1887. 



No. S. 



TERMS : 81.00 Per AjrauM, IN Advance; I T? ..+rih7i <ih £>rl i-Vt 1 R7 R j Clubs to different postoffices, not less 

 •' Gopiet.foi$l 90- Sfoi$a.75, 5for$i.00; Hit^L'UjUvOO fLViX' l/rv J. O t (J . \ than 90 cts. each. Sent postp.aid, in the 

 '5ots. each. Single num- , r,,,,,^,^ .km.-monthlv bv -i .^.if^of tSl'unfve Ja vLr^l'^'niTn'^i 



To all countries 

 per year extra. 



. jr niorCy _ „ 



l>Li-, 5 cts. Adiiitions to clubs may be [ 



made at club rates 



bo sent to onf: postoffice 



to clubs maybe tries oi tne universal t 



A,.ovearealltoJ^^ /. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO. [S^T J'/t^JIf.'pfe^ct'^s? 



A PRACTICAL QUESTION. 



HOW FAli APART SHOULD APIAKIES BK L,<)t'AT- 



KD, SO THAT THE BEES OF ONE LCJCALITV 



M.W NOT INTKKFERE WITH THOSE OF 



ANOTHER? 



TF you have only from 10 to ."ill colonies of bees 

 (ML y'^ wouldn't give a blue button to know how 

 W far bees will work profitably, nor how many 

 "*■ can be kept in one apiary for greatest profit. 

 As you approach the number 100 or more, you 

 will most likely become intensely interested in 

 both these points. I want to say distinctly, in ad- 

 vance, that T have very little knowldge in this 

 direction that is either e.xact or certain. I don't 

 know how many colonies can be kept most profita- 

 bly in one apiary, and 1 don't know any one who 

 does know. It's a sort of " Will o' the wisp " affair, 

 ever eluding your grasp. But it is a subject that 

 »m(st be thought about; for although we may not 

 know the limit, we know most surely that there is 

 n limit beyond which every colony added will de- 

 crease the total surplus. I would give much to 

 know that limit. Of course, it varies in different 

 I)laces: and when you come to decide for your lo- 

 cality, you can do it only by comparing your crops 

 of different years and then doing some guessing. 

 1 f, one year, from UK) colonies you got a total crop 

 of .5000 lbs., and another year, equally good, from 

 130 colonies in the same apiary you get a crop of 

 mnre than ."KXK) lbs., it is pretty good evidence that 

 more than 100 colonies can be profitably kept in 

 that apiary. But how can you know that the two 

 years were equally good? Ay, there's the rub. It 

 must be largely guessing. Well, suppose you have 

 used your best judgment, and decide that Vih colo- 



nies is your limit for greatest profit, and suppose 

 that you have, altogether, 175 colonies, shall you 

 take half to an out apiary or keep your limit of 13."> 

 al home, and take away 50? I think I would cora- 

 [iromise, and take away perhaps 75; but it is hardly 

 a matter of great consequence. 



Now you must decide how far they should be 

 taken. Even if we had exact knowledge about 

 this, there will a)ways be local reasons that will 

 prevent us from following a fixed rule, because 

 thei-e may be a linden grove in a certain range, 

 or some house where we should like to locate, 

 which is a half-mile or so further or nearer than 

 we would otherwise locate. But it may be of some 

 use to talk about the general rule. For the pres- 

 ent let us suppose that 'A miles is the distance 

 which bees work from their home. How much in- 

 terference will there be it a second apiary is plant- 

 ed within 3 miles of the home apiary? If we rep- 

 resent the range of each apiary by a square field 

 measuring 3 miles each way from the apiary, or n 

 , miles across, the interference will be shown in 

 Fig, 1. 



In this case the shad- 

 ed part in the middle 

 shows the part of the 

 field that is doubled, or 

 occui)ied by the apiary 

 located at B as well as 

 by the apiary located at 

 Fig. 1. A. It is easily seen, 



that •')0 per cent of A's field is also occupied by B; 

 and according to the figure, if we want no interfer- 

 ence the two ajiiaries must be located 6 miles apart. 

 The square figure does not, however, properly 

 represent the area of bees' flight. As they fiy only 

 tliree miles in any direction, no bee will ever reach 



