1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



that lie pays more attention to "facts," and 

 does not indulge quite so much in flights of 

 "fancy." 



ISow this "modern improvement" has been 

 my pet theme, and I am sanguine enough to feel 

 that I have not labored altogether in vain, even 

 tliough ".John" fails to see it. One man that 

 carried out some of my suggestions, realized the 

 past season, on surplus box honey, over 25,000 

 lbs. from 315 hives. More than oiiB-quarter as 

 much as the 120 bee-keepers at Cincinnati from 

 5,051 hives. 



Allow me to suggest to "John" that, unless 

 he wishes to say something of which he is 

 ashamed, his real name would be more satis- 

 factory. 



M. QCINBY. 



St. Johnsville, N. Y. 



[For the Americau Bee Journa'..] 



Profit of Bee-keeping. 



Mr. Editor : — I received to-day, from the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, the following let- 

 ter : 



" Washington, Jamiary 9, 1S71. 

 Sir : — Will you be kind enoutih lo furnish me with 

 a detailed statement, from your own experieuce, show- 

 ini!^ the protit of bee-keepintr, embraciujr cumber of 

 swarms kept last year, cost of keeping, sales of 

 swarms and honey, ttc. 1 Such informatiou as you 

 may be able to give upon this subject, will be grate- 

 fully received. 



Respectfully, 



Horace Capron." 



I send you enclosed a copy of the report I 

 made in reply, which you may insert in your 

 valuable Journal, if you think it will interest 

 your readers. 



As this report seemingly contradicts some of 

 my former reports, I will add in explanation, 

 that the season of 1870 was an extra good one ; 

 that I got the largest amount of my surplus 

 honey from my outside apiaries ; and that even 

 in this extra good season, I had not over nine- 

 teen pounds surplus honey per stock, as an aver- 

 age yield, in my home apiary. The highest yield 

 of strained honey from any of my stocks was one 

 hundred and fifty (150) pounds; and the best 

 yield of honey in the comb, one hundred and 

 forty-six (146) pounds. 



When I can find time to do so, I will write 

 down ray views on over-stocking, for your 

 Journal. 



Respectfully yours, 



Adam Grimm. 



Jefferson, Win., Jan. 12, 1871. 



REPORT. 



Hon. Horace Capron, 



Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Sir : — It is with pleasure that I make the fol- 

 lowing report, in compliance with your request 

 of January 9tli : 



In consequence of the total failure of the 

 houey harvest of the season of 1869, the only 



one I experienced in twenty years, I wintered 

 safely only six hundred colonies out of six hun- 

 dred and seventy. These, ^yith the exception 

 of about one hundred, were in poor condition, 

 some of them containing only about a teacupful 

 of bees ; and I subsequently lost about a dozen 

 more of the number. Out of the remaining five 

 hundred and eighty-eight, I sold, at the begin- 

 ning of May, thirteen of the best colonies ; leav- 

 ing me five hundred and seventy-five living 

 stocks. These, however, did not contain more 

 bees than three hundred colonies contained the 

 spring previous. During the month of May, I 

 deprived thirteen colonies of their queens. These, 

 and eleven more queenless colonies, gave no 

 yield of honey or swarms, only a few more 

 queens were taken from them. About fifteen 

 more colonies were used to supply queen-raising 

 nuclei with bees and brood, and gave no yield 

 of honey or swarms — leaving, in all, five hundred 

 and thirty-six (536 1 colonies to produce the sur- 

 plus honey and the increase of stocks. 



From this number of colonies we saved three 

 hundred and thirty-eight young swarms, almost 

 all natural ones. No swarms went away, though 

 some united together, and were not separated in 

 hiving. I had, therefore, after the swarming 

 season, nine hundred and three (903) colonies. 

 But this number is greater than any one apiarian 

 can attend to, with such heliJ as I want to em- 

 ploy. I therefore united, in August, one hun- 

 dred and sixty-four (1G4) colonies; took the 

 honey out of the combs by the melextractor, 

 and saved the combs. The bees of nine colonies 

 were sold and shipped ofl", leaving seven hundred 

 and thirty (730) colonies for wintering in. In 

 counting my yield of surplus honey, the winter 

 stores of one hundred and seventy-three (173) 

 colonies, united and sold, are included. 



In common and good seasons the bees will 

 always support themselves. There is no outlay 

 for food, though hives and surplus honey boxes 

 cost considerably. New hives are only neces- 

 sary when the apiarian wants still to increase his 

 stocks. In my case, I have to get up a luimber 

 of stocks every year, to rei)lace those that are 

 sold. New hives with one set of houey boxes, 

 cost me about $2.50 each, counting my own 

 labor at $2 per day. 



My yield of honey last season was as follows : 



Box comb honey 11,500 pounds. 



Prime comb honey in frames 1,500 " 



Strained honey 7,725 " 



Honev in old combs, in frames 



andhives 1,720 " 



Used in family and given away... 280 " 



22,725 pounds. 



This amount would certainly have been 

 doubled, if my stock of bees had been in good 

 condition in the spring. 



This honey is not yet all sold. All the white 

 box honey, and all the white strained honey was 

 sold, and some of the dark and mixed for $3,180, 

 net. I have yet on hand 4,175 pounds, and in 

 the hands of commission merchants, remaining 

 unsold, 340 pounds of strained honey, making a 

 total still on hand of 5,015 pounds. This honey, 

 being mostly mixed and dark, will not bring 



