THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



263 



we think is the correct method of pro- 

 ducing- extracted honey on a large 

 scale; / e, by keeping more bees, and 

 doing less labor per colony. Remem- 

 ber, we have never said that one could 

 not make colonies build up a little 

 faster by stimulative feeding, and 

 spreading the brood during the spring, 

 but we do say that the same labor be- 

 stowed on a good many more colonies, 

 scattered over the country, enough in 

 a place to gather what honey the local- 

 ity will supply, will, in the aggregate, 

 prove very much more profitable. 

 Then, again, any ordinary bee-keeper 

 can work the let-alone system, but it 

 requires the most skilled and careful 

 man to feed, and spread brood, during 

 the uncertain weather of spring. With 

 our system, one skilled apiarist, with 

 a few willing hands, that are not 

 afraid of bees, to assist, can manage 

 almost any number of yards, while 

 with the old, intense system, it would 

 need one skilled hand with each yard. 

 We make our bread and butter out of 

 the bees. We have no other source of 

 income; and it is quite a little consola- 

 tion to think that we are very sure of 

 getting a crop of honey from some of 

 our yards every year. Scattered 

 around the country, as they are, they 

 have never failed, during the six years 

 we have been specialists, to produce 

 enough, in some of the yards, so that 

 we have made a good living; and some 

 seasons a little to spare. We have 

 heard it argued that there was nothing 

 gained by having the yards widely 

 distributed, with the idea of getting a 

 crop at some of the 3'ards every year. 

 They argue something like this: That 

 300 colonies in one vicinity will pro- 

 duce, say 30,000 pounds a year for two 

 years, which would be 60,000 pounds. 

 If the third year were a failure, this 

 would be the actual crop for three 

 3^ears. Now, with the yards quite a 

 distance apart, there would probably 

 be no complete failure, but working on 

 this same theory, there^ought to be one 



yard fail each year, so there would be 

 no gain in the end; or, in other words, 

 either plan would produce 60,000 

 pounds in three years. Admitted. 

 But this is one of the cases where fig- 

 ures and actual experience vary. We 

 all ought to have a system of spending 

 our income, just the same as we do in 

 producing our crop of honey. The 

 question is, do we do it? It is doubt- 

 ful if man3' of us make it reach the 

 whole year, to say nothing about a 

 failure, making it necessary to lap 

 over tivo years. This is a matter that 

 must be decided by the individual him- 

 self. If you are ahead, say, having a 

 little bank account, or having an in- 

 come from some other source, to help 

 tide over a failure, that is quite sure 

 to come, perhaps it would be better to 

 locate your out-yards as near home as 

 you can conveniently; but the great 

 majority better locate a yard or two 

 some little distance from the home- 

 yard. Try to get them where the 

 pasturage is of a different nature than 

 your home-yard, and, take my word 

 for it, some of these years, when your 

 crop at home is short, you will be har- 

 vesting a nice crop away from home, 

 that will tide you over in nice shape, 

 thus putting your business on a firm 

 footing, so that you can depend upon 

 it for a living every year. Our Clin- 

 ton County yard is in an alsike clover 

 and basswood location; these here at 

 Remus, have white clover, and, then, 

 in August, we have the asters, which 

 usually produce quite a nice surplus; 

 then, in the spring, we will locate a 

 yard in the red raspberry district, in 

 Kalkaska County (see frontispiece). 

 Now, a good crop from any one of these 

 five sources ought to produce enough 

 honey to keep an ordinary family a 

 year. With this prospect ahead, does 

 any one suppose that we are worrying 

 about where our bread and butter will 

 come from in the future? 



Remus, Mich., March 11, 1904 



