THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



very nearly so. From this it is 

 obvious to iill Low last I was get- 

 ting rich at that time from tlie act- 

 ual prolits, with honey selling at 

 27^ cents per pound. But with 

 1877, prices fell so that but few 

 3'ears elapsed before my honey did 

 not net me after paying shipping 

 expenses, etc., enough to pa^^ my 

 figured cost of production. I now 

 began to ask myself wliat was to 

 be done. Must I work for less 

 wages tlian others of no better a- 

 bilit}^ were receiving, at otlier em- 

 ployments? or should I give uptlie 

 bee business and go into something 

 else? It looked as if I must do 

 one or tlie other. At about that 

 time I saw that there was another 

 way out of the difficult}^ and began 

 asking myself if I was producing 

 honey at the lowest minimum cost. 

 I soon saw that I was not, and be- 

 gan figuring as to how 1 could lessen 

 the cost of production ; and here 

 are some of tlie plans I have adopt- 

 ed looking toward that end. 



First : 1 was in the habit of going 

 througli each colony as soon as bees 

 could fly in the spring and taking- 

 out each frame from the hive, not- 

 ing the exact condition of the 

 colony, amount of stores, age of 

 the queen, and cleaning out all 

 dead bees from the bottom of the 

 hive. Of all this I kept a record 

 which cost me much time. I often 

 found that in less than a month 

 from that time the condition of 

 many of these colonies had so 

 changed that tliis early work and 

 record were of little value, so was 

 a needless cost. What do I do 

 now? I substitute a movable bot- 

 tom board for the permanent one, 

 go to a hive, lift the cover, set it 

 on the ground, lift the hive, set it 

 on the cover, clean the bottom 

 board with one or two strokes of a 

 broom, set the hive back, lift the 

 cushion and quilt and run my eyes 

 over the top of the frames for 

 sealed honey, when the cushion and 



quilt are dropped in place again, 

 cap put on and a little flat stone 

 dropped on the cover of the hive 

 to denote that this operation has 

 been performed, and also to tell 

 the amount of stores it contains 

 by the position the stone occupies 

 on the cover. In this way I do all 

 that is necessary with four colonies 

 in the time I used to spend on one. 

 They are now left for a montli (un- 

 less some must be fed) for I have 

 found that early overhauling of 

 bees can be a positive damage to 

 them. Years before, during this 

 time I was trying to spread the 

 brood (if there was an}' to spread) 

 contract the hives of all colonies, 

 etc., so that here I make a great 

 saving of time. 



Again : weak colonies up to this 

 time rear very little brood at best, 

 no matter how closelj'- their hive is 

 contracted ; and what little they do 

 rear costs the life of ten bees to 

 where one is hatched, hence spring 

 dwindling is only accelerated. I 

 next go over each hive, rapidly 

 looking for the queen to clip her 

 wings if she is not clipped and 

 while doing this, turn the brood- 

 nest inside out, so that the frames 

 having the most brood in them are 

 on the outside, and those having 

 the least on the inside. In this 

 way I perform two operations at 

 once or "kill two birds with one 

 stone," thus saving time, and I find 

 that this change in the brood-nest 

 never causes any chilling of brood, 

 while in no way can greater stimu- 

 lation to brood rearing be given. 

 One more change of the brood-nest 

 in about three weeks is all that is 

 made ; so that as a whole I do not 

 now (as I used, when the estimate 

 above was made) spend over one- 

 fourth the time up to swarming on 

 the bees ; yet accomplish equally 

 good results. 



When swarming time arrives, I 

 simply exchange the brood in the 

 hive from which the swarm issued 



