GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HOW TO TAKE AN INVENTORY OF A BEE- 

 YARD 



Sending Honey by Parcel Post Not Satisfactory 



BY H. G. BRANT 



111 taking inventory at the close of the 

 season, Avhat value should be placed on 

 equipment in use — for irs'anee, hives that 

 are as good as new to the beekeeper, but 

 are one or more seasons old? 



What value should be plae?d on drawn 

 comb, full colonies, etc.? 



What form should tiie inventory take? 

 So many bottom-boards, so many bodies, 

 so maii'y covers, so many frames, etc., at so 

 much ? 



That the time is not yet ripe to ship 

 honey through the mail by parcel j^ost was 

 well illustrated one day last week at the 

 postoffice in this city where I am employed. 

 A sack was dispatched at Tomah, Wis., con- 

 taining a ten-pound friction-top pail of 

 extracted honey. Heavy sacks of mail piled 

 on the one in question caused the cover to 

 spring, and the contents smeared all over 

 the rest of the mail in the sack. Tlie pack- 

 age has not been perfected which will per- 

 mit the shipment of honey by ])arcel post. 

 Also, except in the local, first, and second 

 zones, the rates are too high to permit any 

 profit if the honey is to be shipjied in a 

 satisfactory container. I handle only parcel 

 post for eight hours every day, and see a 

 great many queer packages; but the one 

 last week is tlie first honey 1 have seen. 

 Eggs in considerable quantities are received 

 and shipped. These, however, are packed 

 in six-slatted carriers with a handle like a 

 pail. As a writer in a recent number of 

 Gleanings said, " A basket or pail with a 

 handle on that can not be thrown or laid on 

 the side is best." 



The fall flow this year was very poor, a 

 dry spell at the close of the clover flow 

 preventing secretion of nectar. The Avliite 

 clover was the best for several years. My 

 colonies averaged 100 to 110 lbs., and. one 

 gave 48 lbs. in nine combs with wide spac- 

 ing. This is the first season T have tried it ; 

 but all supers with nine combs spaced Avide^ 

 gave more honey than those with ten combs. 



St. Paul, Miiin. 



[In order to get at the valuation of second- 

 hand hives and parts of tlie same, it will be 

 proper to start ot¥ with the cost of each 

 item railed and painted, and laid down at 

 the apiary. The usual rule is to charge off 

 10 per cent a year on machinery and tools 

 or appliances. It is generally considered 

 that a tool, machine, or apidiance will be 

 worn out or h'come out of dale in ten years. 

 In figuring this we charge 10 per cent on 



the first cost of the article every year. To 

 be specific we will suppose that the hives in 

 the yard have been used five years. Ordi- 

 narily we would write off 50 per cent ; but 

 as lumber lias advanced in value so sharply 

 during the past few years, a second-hand 

 hive is beginning to be worth almost as 

 much as a new one, if not quite. See what 

 P. C. Chadwick says elsewhere in this issue, 

 ]iage 750. If a hive has been painted regu- 

 larly, say once in two or three years, and on 

 regular hive-stands so the bottom does not 

 come in contact with the earth, it ought to 

 be worth as much as a new one. As to the 

 cost of the bees themselves, that will depend 

 on their market value in the locality, whether 

 they are pure Italian stock, pure Carniolan, 

 or whether a mixture of several races. 



In some parts of the country bees are in 

 great demand, from the fact that a single 

 colony will very frequently save its first 

 cost in one season, and sometimes consider- 

 ably more. In other localities, especially 

 after a series of poor years, a colony of bees 

 will bring only a nominal price. 



There is another factor that must be con- 

 sidered in the cost of a colony, and that is 

 the queen. A queen whose bees far excel 

 any other bees in the yard in the production 

 of honey may be worth far more than the 

 average run of queens. It is not an uncom- 

 mon occurrence for a beekeeper to say he 

 would not take $25.00 for a certain queen. 

 A colony with such a queen Avould be ob- 

 viously worth $25.00 plus the value of the 

 hive and bees. A colony with daughters 

 from this queen will be worth more than 

 colonies having ordinary queens. 



Generally speaking, a colony of pure 

 Italians in a new hive, of a good strain, will 

 be worth anywhere from $7.00 to $10.00 in 

 the early part of the season. After the crop 

 has been secured, there will be a temporary 

 depreciation of probably 50 per cent for the 

 reason that their oAvner must feed them and 

 assume the risk of wintering. 



Another important factor in the valua- 

 tion of a colony is the kind of frame and 

 condition of the combs. If they are only 

 one or two years old, well wired, in well- 

 made factory frames, they are worth very 

 much more than crooked combs in home- 

 made frames. Good drawn combs one or 

 two years old are Avorth anywhere from 

 two to three limes as much as new wired 

 frames of foundation. The latter in a hon- 

 ey-flow do not begin to compare in value 

 with drawn combs. While foundation can 

 be drawn in from 24 to 48 hours, this draw- 

 ing-out necessarily absorbs a large force of 

 b'es from the field, and of course this would 

 mean a loss of honey. And this is not all. 

 The foundation may discourage the bees 



