FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 33 



DISCOURAGEMENT. 



When the bees were ready to begin iipon the harvest 

 of 1881, there were 67 colonies left out of the 162 that 

 had been put in the cellar the previous fall. A loss of 

 59 per cent was additional proof that it is better for the 

 bees and their owner to spend the winter in the same 

 State. 



ENCOURAGEMENT. 



Beginning 1881 with 6T colonies, I took 7,884: pounds 

 of comb honey, and increased to 177 colonies. An aver- 

 age of 117-2/3 pounds of comb honey per colony, and an 

 increase of 16T per cent would be nothing so very re- 

 markable in some localities, but I consider it so in a 

 place where there is no basswood, buckwheat, nor any- 

 thing else to depend upon for a crop except white clover. 

 Certainly it is not the usual thing here, but remember 

 there were only 67 colonies, and if I were again reduced 

 to 67 colonies I think I might do a shade better now. 



AVERAGE YIELD DEPENDS MUCH UPON NUMBERS. 



In general, I suspect that the number of colonies in 

 a place is not sufficiently taken into account. I remember 

 at one time A. I. Root commenting upon the case of a 

 beginner with a very few colonies making a fine record, 

 and he thought it was because of the great enthusiasm 

 of the bee-keeper as a beginner. I think instead of 

 unusual enthusiasm it was unusual opportunities for the 

 bees. I can easily imagine a place where five colonies 

 might store continuously for five months, and where 

 a hundred colonies on the same ground might not store 

 three weeks. There might be flowers yielding contin- 

 uously throughout the entire season, but so small in 

 quantity that although they might keep a very few colo- 

 nies storing right along, they would not yield enough 

 for the daily consumption of more than ten to fifty 



