264 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



September 



vogue and honey commanded twenty- 

 five cents per pound, how much were 

 we able to secure per colony as com- 

 pared with today? If an average of 

 twenty -five pounds per colony was ob- 

 tained it was considered a good one. 

 Today we are far in advance of that, 

 ^vith a price commensurate with the 

 outlay. 



The advent of movable frames and 

 comb foundation were at the time of 

 high prices, and those who first oc- 

 cupied the field enjoyed the golden 

 age of bee keeping. 



Today we are upon a better basis as 

 regards profits than when honey com- 

 manded 25 cents per pound. We can 

 produce at least three times the quan- 

 tity, and with factory made supplies 

 at a cost not exceeding the per cent- 

 age of former years, I am speaking 

 strictly in reference to houey pro- 

 duction. True the value of, and sale 

 of colonies was greater than today. 



The abundance of No. 1 clover 

 this season will doubtless have a ten- 

 dency to depress the market, espec- 

 ially as many who keep a few colo- 

 nies will sell their surplus at what may 

 be offered them, considering it clear 

 gain. Bee keepers should be firm in 

 their prices and be careful to offer 

 none but their best in the first or 

 fancy grade. This season will be one 

 to establish a superior grade which 

 must be attractive both as to quality 

 and style of sections. 

 .; Taking into consideration the down- 

 ward tendency of prices in all lines, 

 any compejision by further increase 

 of production would have a tendency 

 to l.ovver the -market still more. 



I^Ve cannot att'ord to increase our 

 product as to lessen the cost of pro- 

 duction, and as an illustration, the 



reason I am working to produce a 

 non-swarmer is to that very end. And 

 I tbink the trouble arid annoyance of 

 swarming is fully equal to all the 

 other work during the honey season. 

 Jackson, Mich. 



(From American Bee Journnl.) 



OVERSTOOKINGA LOCALITY WITH 

 BEES 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



This is a subject that has been much 

 discust among the bee keepers of the 

 East. Dr. Miller for years argued 

 persistantly and forcibly for such 

 measures, legal or moral, that would 

 give each bee keeper the exclusive 

 control of his territory, and free him 

 from the danger of others coming to 

 trespass — if we may use so harsh a 

 term — upon his domain and rights. 



Mr. James Heddon urged exclusive 

 possession on two grounds: The new 

 comer had no right, under the Golden 

 Rule, to inflict his presence upon the 

 one already established, and be- 

 sides this, it was supreme folly to do 

 this — the resources would not give 

 thrift to two parties in close prox- 

 imity, and it stood to reason that the 

 one in the field. would have the van- 

 tage ground over the new comer, and 

 while he would lose by the intrusion, 

 the other would surely go to the wall. 



In the East, no one denies the pro- 

 j)ositi(»n that a region may be over- 

 stocke.(i> withoi^t it b^e, one;of the for- 

 tune ones in the vast basswood forests 

 of Wjsciiusin, and no good bee keeper 

 , would; tluiik^to locate in, the immedi- 

 ate viciniry of a laige apiary. It has 

 been generally held that 100 colonies 

 of bees — about the n.umber that one 

 person can cure for well — were the 

 maxium quantity for the average lo- 



