188(5 



LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



and I saw a queen running around oit top of the 

 hive where the cell was laid. She was caged, and 

 further seai-ch resulted in finding two more cells in 

 which the queens were pushing the caps up so with 

 their heads that I had to hold the caps down until 

 I got them caged. Thi-ee queens hatched within 

 three minutes. E. E. Cuoss. 



Kacine, Meigs Co., O., Nov. 26. 1885. 



Friend C, this matter has been up be- 

 fore, and I believe quite a number of the 

 friends have been usinj? Simplicity hives in 

 the upper story of a chaff liive. Ileddon's 

 slatted honey-board would probably help us 

 entirely over the difficulty of having- the up- 

 per and lower frames built together; in oth- 

 er words, enable us to lift out the upper sto- 

 ry at any time without trouble. You will 

 need to take into account that you thus re- 

 duce tlie capacity of the upper story of the 

 chaff hive. Instead of having 80 sections to 

 till, you have only ryii sections, and a strong 

 colony will very likely lill the whole hO 

 about as quickly as they would the 56. 



FEW OR MANY COLONIES: WHICH? 



SHALL WE HAVE A FEW 1JEE.S IN MANY HIVES, Oil 

 MANY BEES IN A FEW HIVES? 



'HILE reading the quotations from Peter 

 Henderson's " Gardening for Profit," found 

 on page 783 of Gleanings for 1885, I fell to 

 wondering If a lesson could not be drawn 

 from it for many of us who think we are 

 on the right road to successful apiculture. There 

 seems to be a growing tendency of late to multiply 

 our number of colonies, rather than see how good 

 results can be obtained from a few. In other words, 

 we are using four acres of land, and expending 

 more labor, to produce the same results which Pe- 

 ter Henderson's man achieved on his one aci'e. The 

 question which arises is, Can or can not the bees be 

 worked on the same plan, so that 50 colonies will 

 produce as good results, with less laboi-, than is got- 

 ten from 200 worked in the way many apiaries are 

 worked? 1 believe they can, and think the day is 

 not far distant when one colony will be made to 

 produce as good results as two are now doing, if 

 they do not equal four. I have carefully watched 

 the papers for the past few years, and I find it not 

 uncommon to find where .50 colonies of bees are re- 

 ported to have produced 5, 6, 7, and even 8000 lbs. of 

 honey, while I have yet to see a report quadrupling 

 such where four times the number of colonies were 

 kept. I oftener find that 200 colonies give but little 

 If any better results than do 50, while I know that 

 more work is required to care for 200 during a year, 

 than is required for .50. To this work we have to 

 add the extra expense of hives, sections, etc., to- 

 gether with the large amount of honey it takes to 

 feed those extra 1.50 colonics. This last, in my opin- 

 ion, is wherein lies the main trouble in making a 

 large number pi-oduce as many pounds per colonj' 

 as do a few. From careful experiments and obser- 

 vations I am led to believe that it takes at least 60 

 lbs. of honey to carry one colony of bees through 

 fhe year; hence if we get only 30 lbs. from a colony 

 (an average yield that some bee-keepers say they 

 are satisfied with), we get only one-third of the hon- 

 ey our bees gather,to pay us back for all our labor 

 and capital invested ; and also one-third of the prod- 

 uct only, of pur field- This product of the Seld can 



not bo overlooked, as 1 have every reason to be- 

 lieve, from the past season's experience. 



A few years ago 1 was enabled to get an average 

 of 166 lbs. of honey from each of 67 colonies of bees, 

 as the average result of a single season. This caus- 

 ed a great excitement in my neighborhood, and 

 many went into bee-keeping, until I could count 

 over 50J colonies of bees within a distance of two 

 miles of my house, the result of which was a gradu- 

 al lessening of the surplus honey per colony, so 

 that little more honey in the aggregate was obtain- 

 ed from the 50.) colonies than I obtained from the 67. 

 The past winter reduced the number of bees by 

 about three-fifths; and the result was, that during 

 the past season my average per colony was about 

 120 lbs. of surplus, and the aggregate amount of 

 surplus about tlie same as from the 50(J. At 60 lbs. 

 of honey as food for a colonj% it will take 30,000 lbs. 

 for .500 colonies. To this add a surplus of 15,000 

 lbs., which is about what was obtained where the 

 500 were kept, and we have 45,000 lbs. as the product 

 of our field, two-thirds of which was consumed bj' 

 the bees. This season wo had but about 200 colonies 

 on the same field, which consumed only 12,000 lbs. 

 for their wants, leaving 33,000 lbs. as surplus. As 

 the 290 gave about 120 lbs. each as surplus, or 24,000 

 lbs., we have 90"0 lbs. going to waste for lack of 

 gatherers, thus giving 250 colonies as about the 

 right number for our field, providing that 120 lbs. is 

 set down as a surplus with which all should be sat- 

 isfied. But I claim that our bees can be so work- 

 ed that 200 lbs. can be secured as a surplus from 

 each old colony in the sjjring, in which case 175 colo- 

 nies would be sufficient for our field. Now, I can- 

 didly ask the reader if wo had not better keep the 

 number in our field at 175, thus securing 35,C00 lbs. of 

 the 45,000 as a surplus, rather than keep 500 colonics 

 and get only 15,000 of the 45,000 as pay for our labor, 

 letting the bees consume the rest. In other words, 

 can we not make a few bees do for us what the mar- 

 ket gardeners of the large cities make a small piece 

 of land do for them; namely, get as much profit 

 from an acre of land as some of our c unty people 

 do from their tens of acres? I know this line of 

 reasoning can not be nuide mathematically correct, 

 yet there is in this thing a large and unexplored re- 

 gion well deserving of our best thoughts and ef- 

 forts. Who will be the first to work it out for us 

 practically? G. M. Dooi.ittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Dec, 188.5. 



Friend D., I agree exactly with you in 

 this matter. The mania for rapid increase 

 is oftentimes a very sad one, and beginners 

 often seem to thiiik it is a great thing to be 

 able to say they are the owners of 100 or 200 

 colonies. Over and over again have I seen 

 men wdio could winter 25 or 50 colonies, al- 

 most without loss, get demoralized, and fail, 

 when they got up into the hundi-eds. It is not 

 a very difficult matter to go over 25 colonies 

 and put each and every one of them in the 

 best possible shape for winter; but when it 

 comes to undertaking to do the same thing 

 with 100 or more, even the best of us are lia- 

 ble to get demoralized, as it were, lose our 

 energy, and fail. IJy looking over the back 

 numbers of Gleanings, especially the de- 

 partment headed Reports Encouraging, we 

 lind reports without number wdiere some 

 one, comparatively new at the business, has 

 secured surplus in astonishing quantities 

 frona a small number of stocks. These same 



