am 



GLEANINGS IN BEE OULTUKK. 



Sept. 



the bees. See Gleanings, page 976, 1886 ; also this 

 issue, pag-e 655. E. France. 



My locality is a very poor one, and the average 

 yield of section honey is less than 20 lbs. To part- 

 ly balance this, the spread of fall flowers and the 

 supply of spring pollen are so large that it seems 

 to make little difference how many colonies are 

 kept. Even in very had seasons there is pretty 

 sure to be some surplus; and with the yield as low 

 as 10 lbs. per colony one can get quite a pile of hon- 

 ey if he keeps colonies enough. It is a live man's 

 business to see just where his main chance is, in his 

 own location and circumstances, and go in on it. 



E. E. Hasty. 



Many thanks, friends, for the care whicli 

 you have given these reports. It did not oc- 

 cur to me before, that any tiling of so much 

 value could be put into so small space. I 

 vi^as especially pleased to see our jolly friend 

 C. C. Miller i»ut in that 31)^ lbs. I can imag- 

 ine a mischievous smile twinkling on his 

 countenance when he put in Uvdt half-pound. 

 Old fellow, why didn't you say 40 lbs., when 

 you came so near it ? I suppose you have 

 heard of the witness who, when asked how 

 far he stood f luin the parties who were fight- 

 ing, replied, •• Just 17 feet it inches." When 

 asked how he came to be so accurate, he 

 said he expected some lawyer or other blun- 

 dering fool would ask the question, and so 

 he took his rule out of his pocket and mea- 

 sured the distance exactly. Now, friend M., 

 I don't mean to say that of you, but I feel 

 glad that you sat down and took time and 

 pains to tell us exactly what we have a right 

 to expect, without any guesswork about it. 



How nitiny Poiimlts j'cr Colon// hni'r lu'vii Secured 



by our Ja.f/icrts. n ml Itoir iniieli (hiin Oner- 



stoehitifi .Ijf'ert tliesr He.siilts '.' 



Question No. ■>.— What is the largest yield (comb 

 or extracted) you have ever known in your locality, 

 from a single colony ? In your judgment, what is 

 the largest number of colonies that could have 

 been kept in that one place, that season, without 

 diminishing the yield of that one colony ? M. 



Two hundred and fifty pounds of extracted. Ten. 



Du. A. B. Mason. 

 1. 195 lbs. comb. 2. Perhaps 80. C. C. Mieler. 



1. About 450 lbs. extracted. 2. About 100 colonies. 



Dadant & Son. 



A single colony, spring count, 200 lbs. The old 

 colony, 130 lbs., and its swarm, 80 lbs. 



Mrs. L. Harbison. 



First, 309 lbs. comb. Second, .566 lbs. extracted. 

 Third, 150 colonies. The above yields were taken 

 by myself in 1877. G. M. Dooeittle. 



1. 303 lbs. The average of all was nearly 300 lbs., 

 and I think that, if there had been 500 colonies, the 

 yield would have been as much. It was the best 

 season I ever had. Paue L. Viaelon. 



To the first part of your question I will answer, 

 410 lbs., 48 of which were comb, the rest being ex- 

 tracted honey. The latter part of your question re- 

 lating to overstocking is one that has puzzled me 

 much, and on which my 18 years of bee-keeping, 

 most of which has been on an extended scale, does 

 not warrant me in attciiii)tiiig to answer. 



.).\MES Heddon. 



In 1887 my bees, 416 hives, at Sespe Apiary, yielded 

 me an average of 185 lbs. extracted. There were 

 about 1000 colonies besides these, within two miles 

 of mine. Localities where only a few were kept 

 yielded perhaps one-fourth more. We rarely keep 

 an account of the yield of a single hive here. 



R. Wilkin. 



In 1886 we had 13 colonies that averaged 164 lbs. 

 There were 61 colonies in that apiary. I never saw 

 a location yet where I would believe 100 colonies 

 could store as large an average yield of honey as 

 would a less number. We keep from 60 to 80 colo- 

 nies in a place. I think that enough for profit. 



E France. 



1 have never kept the honey of each colony by it- 

 self with sutticient exactness to answer the ([uery. 

 The year 1886 was the best season 1 over had, when 

 50 colonies stored 6800 lbs. of comb honey and 300 

 lbs. extracted. I tliink 100 colonies might have been 

 kept without lowering the yield pro rata very much. 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. 



I can not say. The largest net return I ever knew 

 from a single colony was $70. On several occasions 

 our bees have netted us $30 or over, per colony. I 

 should prefer not to have more than 100 colonies at 

 one place, though on certain years I believe more 

 could be kept with no loss. A. J. Cook. 



I worked my apiary as a whole, and not as so 

 many single colonies, and know but little about 

 yields from single colonies. The largest amount of 

 e.xtracted I know of getting from one colony was 

 375 lbs., and from another 160 of comb. Any answer 

 to the second part of the question would be pure 

 speculation. (). O. Poppleton. 



My own best yield is 143 lbs. of sections from a 

 colony and its increase. I can not at this moment 

 tell if my immediate neighbors have surpassed it or 

 not. Very likely one colony more would have de- 

 creased the yield some; but I do not think that a 

 hundred more would have decreased it more than 

 one-fourth. I agree with the prevalent opinion 

 about overstocking as to most locations, but my lo- 

 cation is peculiar (see last answer). In working on 

 basswood also, my bees have to go four or five 

 miles to reach it; and when they get there, there is 

 a good deal of it; so the number of colonies does 

 not seem to signify much. E. E. Hasty. 



These answers seem to indicate that but 

 little is known positively in regard to this 

 vexed (luestion of overstocking. I can im- 

 agine just how Dr. Mason straightened up 

 his portly form when he brought his fist 

 down, and declared that not more than ten 

 colonies could have been kept in the yard 

 with the one that gave 250 lbs. in one sea- 

 son, without affecting the result, and 1 am 

 inclined to agree with you generally. We 

 have had so many large reports from small 

 apiaries — that is, large compared with the 

 reports per colony from large apiaries— that 

 I do believe a small apiary will, as a rule, 

 give the best results ; but the question then 

 arises. Will it not pay us better to keep 100 

 colonies, even with a much smaller average 

 per colony, than to have our bees located m 

 so many different places V I don't l)elieve. 

 however, tluit it is best to increase to such 

 an extent that we get down so low as 10 lbs. 

 per colony on the average, as friend Hasty 

 puts it. 



