540 



June 21, 1906 



American Itee Journal 



a suitable person. I would have him add yards just as fast 

 as his experience will admit. I do not think there are many 

 in the business who would be capable of adding more than 

 one yard each year, while many would better not try to add 

 more than one every other year, until the necessary ex- 

 perience is attained in managing out-yards; then this can 

 "be kept up until the desired number is reached. The writer's 

 practice is to establish about 3 yards near home, then go 

 to another location where the pasturage is of an entirely 

 different nature, and establish more yards, so that if one 

 locality should fail to produce he will be quite likely to get a 

 crop in the other locality. This puts the business on a sound 

 basis. To be sure, the honey produced in the yards some* 

 distance from home costs a little more to produce, but the 

 assurance of having a crop in one or the other location 

 every year amply pays for the little extra expense in rail- 

 road fares, etc. 



Then there is another point of importance, and that is, 

 if you like you can keep bees with a profit anywhere in 

 Michigan, so that if one is located where the territory is 

 occupied, all he will have to do is to take a train and go 

 where there is unoccupied territory, and establish yards in 

 this way. One does not have to change his place of resi- 



E. D. TOWNSEND. 



-dence for the sake of keeping more bees. The writer has 

 kept a yard of bees of less than 100 colonies 50 miles from 

 home for 2 years with only 8 visits during the 2 years, 

 and harvested $1,200 worth of honey during that time, 

 and at present has 200 colonies in Kalkaska County, 105 

 miles from home, that have been worked successfully for 

 the past 2 years, so what I write is from a practical bee- 

 keeper's standpoint. 



In the above I admit I have wandered somewhat from 

 the main subject, and will excuse myself by saying that I 

 am going to tell you how many bees I shall keep under 

 the conditions named above, for you will understand that 

 under some other conditions one might keep more or less 

 "bees as circumstances would admit, and now for the num- 

 ber of colonies I shall keep. 



Here at Remus, where white clover and fall pasturage 

 is the source of our honey crop, we have 3 yards of 100 

 colonies each ; this is all we are planning to keep here ; 

 then in Kalkaska County, where red raspberries is the 

 source of our surplus, we have 200 colonies ; these will 

 be increased to 3 yards, and it looks now as if this Kal- 

 kaska locality will support more than 100 colonies in one 

 yard. In this case our 6 yards may contain 700 or 800 colo- 

 nies, although our number now is only about 500. With 

 this number of colonies in two locations, where the honey 

 source is of an entirely different nature, one feels quite sure 

 in depending upon the bees for a living, and a little extra 

 for a rainy day. without burdening himself with many more, 

 as some are doing. E. D. Townsend. 



Mr. Hilton— I am interested in the paper by Mr. Town- 

 send, because he is practically a neighbor of mine, living in 



an adjoining county, a man I am very well acquainted with, 

 and a man I very much admire. He has had experience 

 without apiaries, and so have I, and his experience with my own 

 experience, with which I am familiar, I can readily come to the 

 conclusion that very much depends upon the environment 

 of the man, as to how many out-apiaries he shall keep, or 

 how many bees. Mr. Townsend's environment is of a 

 character that he can give his unlimited and unstinted time, 

 if necessary, to his apiaries and to his business of bee-keep- 

 ing. Mine are of that character that I can hardly leave 

 home for 24 hours. In fact, in the employ of the Government 

 as I am, I am not permitted to be absent from my office 

 to exceed 48 hours without permission from Uncle Sam. 



Now the question of these out-apiaries depends upon the 

 environment of the man, and the ability of the man as a 

 bee-keeper. Most of those within the sound of my voice 

 are very naturally adapted to the business, or you would not 

 be here ; and those of us that are adapted to the business 

 of bee-keeping can take it up to a successful issue if we can 

 apply ourselves to it. In the first 15 years of my experience 

 as a bee-keeper I made quite a success of the production of 

 honey in home and out apiaries. As other conditions bound 

 me tighter to my office and home surroundings, my bee- 

 keeping outside of my home became less remunerative, until 

 I was actually obliged to abandon my out-apiary. The only 

 bees that I have to-day are those in my little home-yard 

 in connection with my home and garden, and the other 

 things around my immediate family surroundings. So that 

 the question to be answered, as I see it, must depend very 

 largely upon the man and his ability to manage and his man- 

 ner of management. 



Now, the paper will strike some of you as very strange 

 when Mr. Townsend says he has kept bees 50 miles from 

 home for 2 years and has only seen them 8 times. Mr. 

 Townsend does this, and successfully. I never did it — I 

 never knew enough to do it — and I give Mr. Townsend credit 

 for knowing a great deal more than I do, because he does it. 

 Just how he does it I am not in a position to state. That 

 he intends to do more of it there is no question of doubt. 



Mr. McEvoy — Is it all extracted? 



Mr. Hilton — No, sir. He produces both. 



Sec. Hutchinson — That yard managed that way was all 

 extracted. 



Mr. Hilton — I think it was. Mr. Townsend says we are 

 not obliged to change our home surroundings to keep out 

 apiaries, provided they are of such a character that we can 

 give the necessary attention to the out-yards when it is 

 necessary. So that we can take into consideration one fact, 

 that if we are the right person, and if we can adapt our- 

 selves to the right localities and conditions, we can have 

 about as many out apiaries as we want, provided we know 

 how to manage them. 



Dr. Miller — I don't think there are very many who fol- 

 low the advice of the writer, but it is worth while for us 

 to know what an exceptional man can do in an exceptional 

 way, and so I value the paper. 



Mr. Baxter — I take for granted this paper was intended 

 for the specialist — the man who makes bee-keeping his sole 

 occupation — and I don't see any reason why a person in that 

 capacity, if he has the necessary ability, could not manage 

 an apiary like that and make money out of it. 



Mr. McEvoy — I don't think he tells you in the paper just 

 how he manages the business to control it so. 



Dr. Bohrer— -I think the ground was pretty well covered 

 by Mr. Hilton. I found I could keep as many as 100 colo- 

 nies and upwards in one yard in Indiana, but my immediate 

 neighbors did not have as many of them. There are prob- 

 ably not 500 colonies of bees in the county where I live 

 now, and I might keep 1,000 or 2,000, but if each neighbor 

 on each side of me was to start up with so many colonies, 

 we probably would exhaust the resources. We don't know 

 what it will be in our country. Alfalfa is becoming more 

 abundant every year, so that it is not a settled question, and 

 cannot be at any time, yet I am willing that all of my neigh- 

 bors, if they will take good care of their bees, should keep 

 a few colonies to get honey for their home use. If they 

 do not intend to take care of them, and will allow foul brood 

 to get in amongst their bees, and will keep a low grade of 

 stock at that, I do not think they ought to be allowed to 

 keep any. The scientific bee-keeper will always find elbow- 

 room in such portions of the country as are adapted to the 

 production of honey. The specialist has to look out for a 



