AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



how much of the cost is labor, and how 

 much capital. Maybo he is oxtravaRant 

 wiMi labor. 



Not loiif^ si MOO, if I remomber cor- 

 rectly, he gave it us a reason why he 

 preferred a hive whos(\ frames requircHl 

 liandlinK to one which could be hiindled 

 in two sections, to accomijlish the sil^^(^ 

 l)iirp()sc, that he enjoyed handling the 

 franics^that he got his pay in fnii. Jt 

 may b(< that Mr. Doolitth-, and some 

 other bee-keepers, may grow fat on fun, 

 but 1 am i)retty sure tliat our wives and 

 children will not grow fat on tlie fun 

 that we alone enjoy. 



We may well enquire, too, whether lur 

 ligures in this kind of labor to nuiki^ up 

 the \'A cents cost, and so is contriving to 

 get full pay from (iacli of two sources. 

 At all cv(uil,s it reiiuiri's no argument to 

 show that it- would not do to permit the 

 cost of honey to r(sich 18 cents per 

 pound. If it were a necessity to permit 

 it, but few of us would remain in th(>. 

 business. 



There is no one but will admit that wr 

 should keej) the cost down to the lowest 

 possible* point, and all would b(5 glad to 

 know wluit that point is. Of course 

 there must be no extravagance in build- 

 ings nor in supplies, a-nd th(U'e miisfi be 

 no loss of valuable time. 



I have made and submit tentativ(dy 

 soiiui estima.t(!S which uuiy at least serve 

 as a stimulus to furtluu- calculations, as 

 well as a conclusion to the suggestions I 

 a,m making. For juy iigures I have ta- 

 ken 150 coionicis as perhaps the average 

 number that could profitably be k('i)t in 

 one place. The expense is mad(i up of 

 what may b(^ calhul llie (ixed charges, 

 i. r. , those that are the same whe.th(>,r 

 tiie crop is large or small, and the varia- 

 ble charges, which are made up of those 

 expenses which vary with the amount of 

 the crop. Tlu) larger the cro[) the less 

 of course the cost per pound, and my 

 ligures are made so as to bring this out 

 somewhat in d(>tail : 



I estimate the value of the necessary 

 plant as follows : 



Shoi) and collar if :!()() 00 



Tools, cases and e.xt.ras l.'>0 00 



1 .".() colonics V)oes at ^:> V.'iO 00 



Total ffl, •]()() on 



So my table will stand thus: 



KIXKU CaiAKdKS. 



1 interest, aixl wear and (.e;ir on phiiil, at 



10 per vvul $120 00 



One man six weeks (luring' lioney 

 harvest ". -JT) 00 



TakiriK' beosint-oand out.oC ciillar .". 00 



Other nianipulalionH .". 00 



Total *17r) 00 



VAItIAnr,K CHARORS. 



Cost per each l,r)00 pounds of sur- 

 plus, being an average of lO |)Ounds : 



5.000 seet/uma $ 7 00 



Konndation 10 00 



Fasleiiinn' in foundation 1 00 



I'uM.lnR u]) secMona I 00 



(^rat(>s for packinR honey •. . 10 00 



I'acklnn- -1 00 



Com missions and I'roiKht 17 00 



Total 9M) 00 



Total cost of a crop of 10 pounds on 

 the average, or 1,500 pounds, .*f?22r). 



l<'or each additional average* of 10 

 pounds there must he added $r)0,whenco 

 we get the following results : 



AveraKO i)(ir A({K"'i'K'it,(' AftKroKato Cost 



colony -lbs. Ilis. post. per lb. 



10 l.!".()0 $2*35 .15 



'.iO :J,0()0 275 .0010 



:iO 4,500 ;125 .072 



40 0.000 H75 .0025 



50 7,500 425 .056 



(iO 0.000 475 .052 



70 to, 500 525 .05 



Taking 15 cents as the market price, 

 a furth(>r step gives us the net prolit in 

 ea(di case, as follows: 



Total crop Prl<!0. Total Total Net 



Mis. value. cost. proflt. 



l..^)(>0 15c. $ 225 $225 



:(,000 15c. 450 275 « 175 



4, .")()(.) 15o. (f75 :i25 :{50 



(1,000 15c'. nOO 375 525 



T.r.OO 15c. 1.125 425 700 



0.000 15c. 1,:{50 475 875 



10,500 150. 1.575 525 1.050 



These figures are far from discourag- 

 ing, but they speak |)owerfnlly for keep- 

 ing expenses down. In an average* loca- 

 tion, one who spcuids 3(55 days in the 

 year on 150 colonies, cannot expect to 

 get rich ; but by making six or seven 

 w<*eks do, he can make his investment 

 pay w<dl, tlie dill'erenco in the niimlxn' 

 of colonies in dilTerent apiaries, the 

 preseuicf* of l)ui](lings or cellars tluit can 

 be used witlioiil- expeuise of ina,king 

 spcieial buildings and celhirs, and the 

 dilTereuuM! in av(*rag(* yields in dilTiu-euit 

 localities makes a great dilT(*reuce in tlu^ 

 net cost of honey ; yet though our cir- 

 cumstances vary greatly in many ways, 

 we I'.aii, nevertheless, by severa.lly cal- 

 culating the cost in our resp(>ctive cases, 

 assist one another in putting the busi- 

 ness on a more stable, l)a.sis than it has 

 hitherto occupied. 



]{. i:. Tavi.oii. 



FIK'ST DAY -KVKNiNd iuossi<)>f. 



W. Z. Hutcliiuson read llie following 

 essay on 



Trying' Now Tiling's. 



I{e(*-ki'epers ai'e consideu'abiy given t-o 

 tlu! trying of new things. A n(*w hive 



