May 15. 1915 



413 



liis operations. Tlio point at wliich to stoi> 

 increasing: will again be shown by his fig- 

 nres if he has kept his accounts carefully. 



Such a set of books ought to show whotli- 

 er the beekeeper is making any return on 

 the capital invested. Of course, where he 

 lias only one or two luuulred dollars in bees 

 and eijuipinent, a normal protil on the in- 

 vestment would not be more than a week's 

 wages, but still an accurate set of books 

 oug:lit to show it. Particularly wheie a man 

 is keeping' bees on his own land, he is liable 

 to forget tliat there is due him besides liis 

 wag"es something which he can call rent. 

 He would receive rent if he let some one 

 else use it. So rent as well as labor and 

 some return on the equipment ought to be 

 looked for in the final balance. 



Many a beekeeper never realizes he is 

 not making money until he finds himself 



short of cash. lie becomes disgusted, when 

 ])erliaps at that very moment his profits are 

 good. He is short simply because he has 

 been running for increase or buying hives 

 and machinery. On the other hand he may 

 find himself with more cash than he ever 

 had before, and pat himself on the back for 

 his ability in the bee business. At the same 

 time effective accounting would reveal that 

 tlie outlay for new but necessary equipment 

 will lake more than he has on hand. 



To go back to fundamentals, present-day 

 competition in all lines is driving out the 

 inefficient. 'J'he beeman with modern busi- 

 ness methods will crowtl on to the shelf his 

 inellicient competitor. To keep his business 

 from falling into the hands of the large 

 commercial apiaries, the individual must be 

 economical in his operations. Accounting 

 is the soul of economy. 



BLACKS VS. ITALIANS 



BY W. C. MOLLETT 



A few years ago I wrote something about 

 the ditference in the honey-gathering, hardi- 

 ness, and other qualities of the common 

 brown or black bees as compared with the 

 Italians. On page 175 I note what the edi- 

 tor says as to the black races of bees, and 

 also on page 181 I notice that Mr. Doolittle 

 says that, as to gathering nectar from bass- 

 wood and clover, he has never been able to 

 see any difference between the two races. 



Now, this is a subject to which I have 

 given a great deal of attention without 

 making a very definite conclusion. I still 

 have both races, and so far I cannot rate the 

 ordinary Italians much ahead, as a great 

 many beekeepers do. 



A short time ago Dr. Miller said he 

 thought that not many beekeepers of the 

 present time ever saw a case of " roping " 

 or hanging down from the comb in a rope- 

 like cluster. I have had the blacks do this 

 time after time, and sometimes it is a great 

 advantage, as the bees are very easily shak- 

 en from the comb. This is usually veiy 

 difficult with the Italians. 



When I began kee])ing bees I secured a 

 very gentle strain of Italians which were 

 highly recommended as honey-gatherers. 

 After I increased them to about half a 

 dozen colonies, I thought I was sure of a 

 fair crop of honey; but imagine my sur- 

 prise when they began to swarm about the 

 first of May, and ke]>t it up until the season 

 for storing honey had passed. Of course I 

 had not had enough experience then to 

 know how to manage them to the best ad- 

 vantage, or I might have secured some hon- 



ey, anyhow. Since then 1 have learned how 

 to manage them better; but I still feel that 

 I do not know all there is to be learned, 

 since I sometimes meet witli surprises. 



Tor the past five years 1 have had two 

 apiaries about three miles apart — the one at 

 home of Italians, the other of the commoii 

 black variety, and so I have had a fair 

 chance of comi^aring the two races. With 

 Mr. Doolittle I find no practical difference 

 in the honey-gathering of the two; but in 

 other I'cspects I find considerable difference 

 between them. The blacks do not rear 

 brood quite as early as the Italians, which 

 is an advantage here, as the nectar flow is 

 usually rather late. The blacks swarm later, 

 and generally not until they have filled one 

 super with honey, while the Italians will 

 often swarm before they have worked in 

 the supers at all. The blacks seem to econ- 

 omize their stores better in wintering, as I 

 often have to feed the Italians, when the 

 blacks, with exactly the same management, 

 will winter without any feeding at all. As 

 to the gentleness of the two it is a rather 

 open question. Often 1 find colonies of 

 almost pure Italians that are as cross as 

 any bees could be. Smoking the blacks soon 

 stops them from stinging, while 1 have 

 found some Italians that were very hard to 

 control with smoke. For color 1 prefer the 

 Italians. Taking every thing into consider- 

 at_i(jji I find that the Italians are often over- 

 rated. I can get just as much money from 

 the blacks as from the Italians. 



Stonecoal, W. V. 



