36 



FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



colonies. Rememher that the surpkis is the smaller part 

 of the honey gathered by the bees. Adrian Getaz com- 

 putes that at least 200 pounds of honey is needed for 

 home consumption by an average colony. So far as en- 

 thusiasm and interest are concerned, I do not believe 

 my stock is any less of those commodities than it was 

 fifty years ago. A born bee-keeper never loses his enthu- 

 siasm. 



Fig. 10 — Colonies Intended for Out-Apiaries. 



TOTAL CROP RATHER THAN PER COLOXY. 



Some one may possibly ask. "If you can do so much 

 better with 67 colonies, why not restrict yourself to that 

 number?" But I can't do any better; at least not in an 

 average season. For it is not the yield per colony I 

 care for, unless it should be to boast over it ; what I 

 care for is the total amount of net money I can get from 

 bees. In the year 1897 my average per colony was 71^ 

 pounds, only about three-fifths as much as in 1881. but 

 as I had in 1897 239 colonies, my total crop was 17.150 

 pounds, or more than twice as much as in 1881. 



