158 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



erage yields have been less since more 

 colonies have come into the field. The 

 fact that an out-yard of 35 colonies, 

 having a field all to itself, gave a much 

 larger yield than the home yard, proves 

 nothmg. There is often times a great 

 difference in the yield of nectar in dif- 

 ferent localities that are apparently 

 equally good. I will give you a few 

 illustrations: Last season the second 

 crop of alfalfa in the vicinity of Boul- 

 der bloomed profusely, but yielded no 

 appreciable amount of honey. At 

 Bloomfield, fifteen miles distant, the 

 3'ield from that source was the main 

 crop. The same conditions were in 

 evidence in other localities of the state. 



POPULOUS COLONIES NEARLY ALWAYS 

 GIVE SATISFACTORY RETURNS. 



Some of my apiaries have the field 

 wholly to themselves, w^hile others 

 overlap on all sides, and I have only 

 noticed this, so far as the comparative 

 yields of honey are concerned: The big, 

 strong colonies (those that attain that 

 condition just prior to the commence- 



ment of the flow) in all of m}' yards 

 always give uniformly, satisfactory 

 returns, and the average yield of each 

 apiary, in a general way, is propor- 

 tionate to the average strength of the 

 colo>iies. 



I believe that overstocking is pos- 

 sible — there must somewhere be a 

 limit — but how many bee-keepers in 

 the United States have really tested, 

 in a scientific manner, the nectar pro- 

 ducing capacitj' of their fields? I ven- 

 ture to say the number is very few. I 

 will give you a genuine instance of 

 overstocking Some three or four years 

 ago there were kept within a radius of 

 one and one-half miles of Longmont, 

 Colorado, about 1,500 colonies of bees. 

 The yield dwindled to less than half 

 that secured at the yards four or five 

 miles away. More than half of these 

 colonies have been moved to other lo- 

 cations, and the surplus 3'ield in that 

 vicinity now compares very favorably 

 with the general average. But this 

 was an extreme case. 



Boulder, Colo., April 20, 1904. 



- ■ -°A ° 



DiKDirn 



W. L. COGSHALL thinks the square, 

 plain joint is better and more durable 

 than the dovetailed or mitered joint. 



Mrs. W. N. Berthe, of Winona, 

 Minnesota, has been appointed general 

 superintendent of the apiarian exhibit 

 at the St. Louis World's Fair. 



Ontario, Canada, according to the 

 government statistics, had, last year, 

 207,936 colonies of bees; an increase 

 over the previous year of 5,400 ool on ies. 



Stop Feeding the fire under the 

 locomotive boiler, and soon the train 



runs slower and slower — finally it 

 stops. What fire is to the locomotive, 

 advertising is to business. 



Dates for holding the National con- 

 vention at St. Louis have been set at 

 September 27, 28 and 29. It is propo- 

 sed that the lastda3' be an Internation- 

 al conventon. 



W. L. CoGSHALL owns manj' apia- 

 ries, and with four exceptions, so he 

 writes the American Bee-Keeper, each 

 apiary represents some one who be- 

 came discouraged with bee-keeping, 

 and Mr, Cogshall bought him out. 



