For the American Bee Journal. 



The Past Seven Months. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



My bees went into winter quarters 

 well laden with honey and cider. We 

 had a large yield of the latter, and do 

 not suppose Novice would have given 

 25 cents apiece for our colonies. I had 

 no fears on that score however. The 

 winter was fitful, and the bees experi- 

 enced some cold weather interspersed 

 with days warm enough to fly every 2 to 

 4 weeks. My loss in colonies was so 

 small it is not worth mentioning— say 

 10 out of 400. I had all out-doors, with 

 a large proportion packed. I had about 

 48 colonies unprotected on their slim- 

 mer stands, and lost 1 of them. 



Having wintered well, of course there 

 was no loss in springing. Three hired 

 men and myself commenced work in 

 April, and, though we have worked fast 

 and long hours ever since, we can hardly 

 say we are up with our work yet. Had 

 not the season been about 3 weeks late, 

 we should have been much behind. I 

 mention this to give some of the newer 

 honey-producers an idea of the amount 

 of labor we find with 2 apiaries of about 

 200 colonies each. We never will make 

 our hives and other fixtures till we see 

 how many of our bees are wintered. 



I have tried cheap labor (with boys, 

 girls and women), but, with but few 

 parts of our work, do I find them 

 up to my idea of perfection of manu- 

 facturing our implements. I believe 

 there is more profit in men that are ex- 

 perienced, or at least physically and 

 mentally apt and reliable. I could give 

 such an one employment now. 



Seven days ago, over 100 colonies in 

 our out apiary did not have 1 pound of 

 honey in their hives on an average. I 

 rose in the morning (or night rather, 

 lor it was half past 3), to hasten about 

 mixing 2-50 lbs. of honey (all I have left) 

 with a barrel of sugar, to feed enough 

 to last these colonies a few more cold, 

 rainy days, when up came a bright sun, 

 and, as clover was plenty and in bloom, 

 I concluded to try another day of hope, 

 remembering that 



"After clouds, sunshine," 



When my hopes were no longer blasted, 

 but in three days the hives were heavy 

 and boxes glistening with honey. Many 

 colonies now have 30 lbs., or about % of 

 their surplus capacity, filled. 



Verily - L one extreme follows an- 

 other.'* In no time of mv experience 

 with bees did I ever see "blood tell" 

 more than during this struggle for life 

 and something to eat, through these 



darkest of all days, within my expari- 

 ence. At present this season 'bids fair 

 to be an average one. 



According to agreement, I will now 

 gi ve you a report of my out apiary for 

 1879 : After selling about 50 colonies 

 of the flower of the apiary (both as re- 

 gards stock and strength),! commenced 

 the season with 99 colonies, in good av- 

 erage condition. I closed with 225, 18 

 of which were taken up, leaving 207 in 

 shape for wintering. They nearly all 

 wintered well. The season for increase 

 was bountiful to a dread. For honey it 

 was as follows (we have 3, and only 3, 

 surplus crops) : 1st, clover and white- 

 wood ; never better. 2d, Basswood 

 (usually best of all) ; about % of a crop. 

 3d, Fall flowers (buckwheat, boneset, 

 golden rods, fire weed and asters) ; al- 

 most a total failure, for the first time to 

 my knowledge. 



Our hives, 5x6x2 sections, and in fact 

 every fixture, are just alike in this api- 

 ary. This makes the labor much less. 

 This apiary stands in what, I believe, 

 the best honey field I ever saw. We put 

 12 of these 5x6 sections in a case, which 

 averages 233^ lbs. net. That is " taring" 

 the case and " grossing " the sections. 

 (The cases are glassed, the sections are 

 not. We use no separators.) We sold 

 230 cases, at an average of about 18^ 

 cents per lb., or $4.35 per case; also 2 

 barrels of extracted honey at $30.05 per 

 bbl. net cash ; also about $5 to $10 worth 

 retailed, and no account kept. 



We hired one man then at $25 per 

 month and board, for 8 months ; the 

 other expenses amounted to about $250 

 more, making about $450 expenses in 

 all. This season I employ this man and 

 a boy, at a cost of $40 per month. The 

 apiary contains y> acre of land, worth 

 $100, a house, 16x24, worth $300, a barn, 

 18x30, worth $125, a honey house, 12x48, 

 double wall, cost $300. We use every 

 inch of this room, and the house and 

 barn are 2 stories high, and in tip-top 

 order. Probably the fixtures, tools, etc., 

 are worth $100, and the 200 colonies of 

 bees, in their present condition, and 

 hives, $8 each, or $1,600. This is about 

 double the capital of last year, a part 

 of which I reared, but most of which I 

 bought. I hope these figures— which 

 are very close in round numbers— will 

 answer many questions which I have 

 received in private letters from inquir- 

 ing friends in regard to capital re- 

 quired, and the income from bee cul- 

 ture. I shall this year put this locality 

 to a pretty thorough test, in the impor- 

 tant and little understood matter of 

 "over-stocking." 



The extracted honey spoken of was 

 taken from 5x6 sections not finished 



