10 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Th« same is true with bee-keeping-. 

 The bee-rang-e costs nothing- at all. It 

 is like the air we breath — the capital 

 invested is small. Nearly tiie whole 

 expenses are for labor. If, anywhere, 

 extensive management is to be recom- 

 mended, it is in this branch of agricul- 

 ture. 



If the field, as Mr. Doolittle supposes, 

 would support 50 colonies onl}', then 

 I would start another apiary of 50 col- 

 onies in another field. Mr. Doolittle 

 supposes that his 50 colonies give him 

 an average of 200 pounds each, or 

 10,000 pounds of honey. I will admit 

 that, by the "let-alone" plan these 100 

 colonies, in two apiaries, will give a 

 less average; we will say 150 pounds. 

 The bee-keeper will thus get 15,000 

 pounds, or 50 per cent, more than by the 

 manag-ement-plan. If we had to pay a 

 high price for a certain bee-rang-e, and 

 the labor would be ver3' cheap, then 

 the so-called "manag-ement-plan" 

 would probably be more profitable; but 

 as this is not so, and we can't expect 



that it will be so in the near future, 

 the extensive plan for bee-keeping is 

 the better paying one. 



There is still to consider another 

 point: The advantages of stimulative 

 feeding, spreading the brood, equaliz- 

 ing of colonies, and other manipula- 

 tions, are very much overestimated. As 

 I have said, stimulative feeding does 

 not stimulate as much as a light and 

 slow natural honey-flow. Spreading 

 the brood does many times more dam- 

 age than good. In a large hive with 

 large combs and a sufficient supply of 

 honey and pollen, an average colony 

 develops to the most possible strength 

 just before the main honey-flow with- 

 out any manipulation. This, at least, 

 is true in m}' locality, and I believe in 

 many other localities. The equaliza- 

 tion of colonies is inore profitably done 

 at the same time with artificial swarm- 

 ing, by giving to the weaker colonies 

 some capped brood-combs from those 

 which were shaken. 



Converse, Texas, Dec. 2, 1904. 



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BY S. A. NIVER. 



T OCALITY, is a word to conjure with 

 ^ in the bee business, whether pro- 

 ducing or selling. Give us the name of 

 the city, and we can "guess, " if north 

 of the Mason and Dixon line, or 

 "reckon" if south of it, what kind of 

 honey will sell best therein. If you 

 name Los Angeles, we would try sage 

 honey; Denver takes alfalfa; white 

 clover is the great and only in Phila- 

 delphia; while in some parts of Penn- 

 sylvania they prefer buckwheat honey 

 — strong, rich and black, thank you, 

 believing white [honey^ to be artificial 



honey; while Ole Olson is sure that 

 bees' honey is always yellow, because 

 he kept bees in Sweden and never 

 saw anything else there. Generally 

 speaking, people like best, the honey 

 they are most accustomed to, and the 

 best honey for the customer, is the honey 

 preferred by that particular person, no 

 matter what your preference may 

 chance to be. 



My first experience in canvassing to 

 sell extracted honey to private families, 

 was in Sayre, Penn. A railroad town 

 vrith one pay day per month. 



