186 



TjBE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal ] | 



Extra Profits of a Hive ef Bees. | 



I 



Extracted with a macliiiie 190 lb. 



Box honey 60 lb. 



250 lb. 



Number 1. 



I.arge profits of a hive of bees, belonging to a 

 man in the dairy region of Kane connty, Illinois. 

 Increase of stocks, ten ; making eleven, count- 

 ing the old hive, jdelding twenty-five pounds of 

 box honey, and leaving enough in the hives to 

 winter the entire stocks. Six hives of empty 

 combs were used in makii;ig tlie new swarms. 

 This experiment by a beekeeper having only 

 twelve mouths' experience, shows partly the 

 value of empty combs. Wliat will mechanics, 

 arts, and science do, when beekeepers cease the 

 sale of wax? It is worth at least quadi-uple as 

 much to the beekeeper as he gets for it after the 

 combs are melted into wax ; that is, if he has or 

 will acquire tlie knowledge of using comb 

 properlj^ 



Value of stock liive $25 00 



Cost of 10 hives, for swarms, $3 80 00 



One set of boxes 30 



Value of set of empty combs, if melted i 



in wax, 6 K) @ 40 cts 2 40 i 



Feed in spring, 30 lb sugar @ 20 cts 4 00 I 



Time in management, 40 half-hours, or 



2 days®. $3 G 



$67 70 



Value of Present Stock. 



The one hundred orighial stocks and one hun- 

 dred increase gave 3,000 lb of honey extracted 

 by machine, and 3,000 ft) box honey as surplus — 

 total, six thousand (6,000) pounds. 



Number 4. 



A hive of bees sent last spring to Cook county, 

 Illinois, increased two. The old one and two 

 new ones gave Itfty pounds extracted honey as 

 surplus. 



A Hint worth knowing. 



Use pure beeswax in preparing for sei-vice all 

 wooden ware tliat is used in the dairy, aud all 

 pails for drinking water. Put in a lump, then 

 use a hot iron to melt the wax and diive it in 

 the pores of the wood. Thus your milk pails, 

 butter bowls, churns, and "water pails wiU be 

 kept from absorbing moisture or impmities. 



Profits of Buckwheat. 



The bees in our farm apiarj', in the vicinity of 

 buckwheat fields, liave done better than those at 

 our home apiary. Twenty-two stocks increased 

 to forty-six ; and gave seven hundi-ed and fifty 

 pounds extracted iioney and one tliousand and 

 sixty-four pounds of box honey — total eighteen 

 hundred and fomleen (1814) pounds. 



J. M. Marvin. 



St. Charles, Ills. 



11 hives of bees, $20 $220 00 



25 lb surplus honey, @ 30 cts 7 50 



$227 50 i 



Balance, or profit, one hundi-ed and fifty-nine 

 doUai-s and eighty cents, ($159 80). 



Number 2. 



A hive of bees sent to Mnnesota has increased 

 to tU'tj^-four in three years, besides one sold the 

 fii-st year and eight lost the second winter by 

 trying to winter them on their summer stands. 

 The yield of honey should have been and proba- 

 bly was large, as frequently there was too much 

 of it in the hives for the bees to do extra well. 

 This is doing well for a beginneiV and a woman ; 

 and shows "the value of "the American Bee 

 Journal that gives the knowledge to get large 

 profits. 



Nu:viber 3. 



A hive of bees sent to Chicago, increased to 

 four ; and gave forty pounds of box honey as 

 surplus. They were managed by a new begin- 

 ner. 



Extra Yield of Honey. 



Amount of honey taken from one stock hive 

 in an apiary of one hundred inci-eased to two 

 hundi-cd : 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Blossoming of Trees and Plants at 

 Carthage, Indiana, in 1869. 



Soft maple, February 12 ; red elm, April 2 ; 

 \\illov»', April 3 ; water elm, April 4 ; lombardy 

 poplar, April 5 ; ground i-sy. Apiil IG ; sugar 

 maple, April 23 ; peach, April 23 ; pear, April 

 25 ; goosebeny, April 27 ; red currrants, April 

 28 ; buckeye, April 29 ; apple, May 2 ; tulip pop- 

 lar. May 28 ; linden or basswood, June 30. 



The above constitute most of our bee trees and 

 plants. The date of the blossoming of white 

 and red clovei', I neglected to note. My Italian 

 bees worked freely on the second crop of red 

 clover. Not much buckwiieat is seen in this 

 connty. 



My 'first swarm issued May 15; my last one 

 August 18. 



I have my hives so arranged that I can re- 

 move my bees from one honey location to 

 another, in the hottest weather. I move them 

 on spring wagons. I removed twenty-five hives 

 of my bees twenty miles, to a poplar grove, on 

 the 26tli of May, and brought them back on the 

 26th of July. I obtained a little over twelve 

 hundred poimds of liquid honey from them 

 during that time. 



P. W. McFatridge. 



Carthage, Ind. 



