130 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



IS BEEKEEPING PROFIT- 

 ABLE. 



By T. F. Arundell. 



My attention being called to the 

 article headed, "Is Beekeeping Prof- 

 itable" (page 64, March No.), I will 

 answer it to the best of my ability. 



The answers to questions i and 2 

 depend simply on the annual yield 

 of honey per colony, and the suc- 

 cess attained in wintering. Should 

 a surplus of 100 lbs or more be ob- 

 tained from each colony (spring 

 count), together with a moderate in- 

 crease in bees and with little or no 

 loss in wintering, success would be 

 assured; but, should the average 

 yearly surplus amount to no more 

 than 40 or 50 lbs. coupled with se- 

 vere losses in wintering, the business 

 could not prove otherwise than a 

 financial failure. 



No. 3. In this section one man 

 can properly manipulate at least 150 

 colonies and their increase, make the 

 extra hives, and extract all the honey 

 from them, excepting possibly, a very 

 few days when honey is stored more 

 rapidly than usual. 



As to tools wearing out with use, 

 I will say that I have extracted 40,- 

 000 lbs. (20 tons), in the last two 

 summers with a four frame "Novice" 

 geared extractor with no appreciable 

 wear, and my honey knives are as 

 good as when first bought. A well 

 made hive should last a lifetime, so 

 that the depreciation in value of uten- 

 sils is more imaginary than real. 



No. 4. Given d, properly arranged 

 hive and appropriate tools a man can 



extract from 120 to 140 lbs. per 

 hour, say 1200 lbs. per day. 



In four successive days last July I 

 extracted and filled into cans 5,200 

 lbs. of honey, working about eight 

 hours each day extracting and filling 

 cans from the tanks mornings and 

 evenings. Hives in my apiary av- 

 erage about 40 lbs. each extracting. 



No. 5. In regard to the number of 

 colonies an apiarist could oversee, 

 it depends more on the talent and 

 genius of the overseer than upon the 

 number of colonies possessed. While 

 one man can direct and control hun- 

 dreds of employes, another cannot 

 even manage his own labor to lead 

 to the best results. 



At some future time I would like 

 to describe, in your Journal, the best 

 and speediest methods of extracting 

 honey in large apiaries as practised 

 in this country. 



Santa Paula, Cal. 



INSTRUCTIONS TO 

 BEGINNERS. 



By the Editor. 



There are, properly speaking, two 

 systems of keeping bees : the one 

 adapted to the needs of the expert 

 and specialist who keeps a large 

 number of colonies and devotes his 

 entire time and attention to the pur- 

 suit ; the other adapted to an api- 

 arist who keeps bees in connection 

 with some other business, either for 

 the pleasure and recreation, or for 

 the purpose of adding another source 

 of income. 



The latter class constitute the ma- 



