1886 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



89 



who afterward fail to get like results from large 

 apiaries. Perhaps the work of beginners is apt to 

 be more fully reported than those longer in the 

 business: but, may not overstocking have some- 

 thing to do with the matter? T am not sure but my 

 ground would be overstocked at some time of the 

 year with any thing more than five or ten colonies. 

 There are from five to eight weeks during apple- 

 bloom and clover, when my bees have all they can do. 

 During the rest of the time they are comparatively 

 idle, although there may bo no day when some •bees 

 do not bring in something; but the ground is over- 

 stocked for perhaps twenty weeks. It may be, that 

 enough is gathered to keep busy five or ten colo- 

 nies, and I imagine that, with this number, having 

 six months to work in, T could nmke a pretty big 

 report. 



There is one point you makei Bro. Doolittle, that 

 can not be disputed. If a given field yields, say, 

 4.5,000 lbs., and each colony uses for its own support 

 t)0 lbs. annually (I suppose thej- would use more 

 than 60), then the fewer bees you can have to clean 

 the field, the more honey you will have as surplus. 



When it comes to having large numbers, addition- 

 al help must be obtained, and comparatively few 

 have the ability to superintend others successfully; 

 so, because a man makes a grand success with just 

 enough colonies so he can do all the work himself, 

 it by no means follows that he would be successful 

 with double the number, no matter how large the 

 field nor how much help he might have. But I'm 

 afraid I'm getting On the wrong side of the question, 

 and must return to the charge on Mr. Root. 



In 1881 I had the fewest colonies (67), and the 

 largest average yield (117 lbs.) I have had iu several 

 years. In 1884 I had the most colonies (200), and the 

 smallest average yield (54) in the same time. Now, 

 which was better for me ? It sounds better to say, 

 117 lbs. average than .=i4; but when H gave me a to- 

 tal crop of 2877 lbs. more than the 117, that settles it 

 iu favor of the many colonies and the small average 

 yield. It is, however, quite possible that the best 

 number lies somewhere between these two ex- 

 tremes, and that, with 17.5 colonies in 1884, I might 

 have had a larger crop than with the 200. Certain 

 it is, I do not care to have more than, if as many, as 

 lOO colonies in one apiary. Now, Mr. Root, don't 

 you see I don't need Bro. Doolittle's advice? and 

 don't you wish you hadn't "riled" me? 

 TWO CHIPS. 

 ' On page 4;? a statement passes unchallenged, that 

 / " moist air is heavier than dry air." Is this so? 

 My sub-earth ventilating pipe is 4-inch tile laid 3 

 or 4 ft. deep, and 100 ft. long. Much to my surprise, 

 I have pretty strong proof that a longer pipe would 

 not bring in air one degree warmer. 



C. C. Mti.ler, 179—340. 

 Marengo, HI., Jan. 21, 1886. 



No, friend iSI., I don't wish I hadn''t 

 "riled" yon, a bit; in fact, I wonld do it 

 again right off now, if I knew jnst how to 

 (lo it as well as 1 did the other time. I am 

 very mnch obliged for the facts in regard to 

 sub-earth ventilation, and I am surprised 

 also ; but I propose to use the information, 

 not only for ventilating bee-cellars, but for 

 making a greenhouse that will grow hardy 

 plants and vegetables all winter long, with 

 no artificial heat whatever. " Father Sun " 

 and ''Mother Earth "' are to do all the heat- 

 ing, anil you see if I don't get good results. 



Very likely I shall have to use shutters over 

 the "glass in extreme weather. — Now, in re- 

 gard to this matter of many or few colonies, 

 I believe, after all, you have considered the 

 matter about as thoroughly as myself or 

 Bro. Doolittle, and 1 think it will pay us al| 

 to read your article several times over. Ju 

 our business of selling bees and queens, we 

 make it pay to keep 40U or 500 colonies In 

 one location a part of the year, although we 

 have for several years back been reducing 

 them to about 200 each fall; but as we buy 

 something like 100 colonies from our neigh- 

 bors each spring, no doubt it "would pay uS 

 to winter over 300 ; so you see it makes a 

 difference whether a man raises honey alone, 

 or bees and queens as well as honey ; and 

 from our standpoint of view it seems to me 

 it would be a pretty good thing for you, 

 friend M., as well as honey-producers in 

 general, to be prepared to sell bees, at least 

 occasionally, when tlie season happens to 

 favor the production of bees rather than the 

 production of honey. See what our friend 

 Oliver Foster did, even in selling bees by 

 the pound, at a great deal less figure than 

 the usual prices. 



OLIVER FOSTER'S REPORT FOR 1885. 



HOW HE SITCOEEDEU, IN SPITE OF UNFAVORABLE 

 WE.\THER. 



E notice a marked variation in the reports of 

 the honey crop in Iowa for the past year, 

 which demonstrates that One year a feW 

 miles may separate good honey-producing 

 localities from poor ones, whereas the 

 next year these dividing lines may not exist, or the 

 blessings may fall in other fields. 



In this locality the past season has pi-obably been 

 the most unfavorable one of the ten in which I 

 have been engaged in bee culture. In the fall of 

 18811 packed in chaff, 280 colonies of Italians on 

 their summer stands, in three apiaries. About 50 

 of these were thi-ee and four frame nuclei, and a 

 large proportion of the others were made up of 

 united nuclei. 



After one of our severest Iowa winters, followed 

 by a very cold late spring, the first of last May 

 found me with 250 colonies in average condition, 

 and with a fair prospect of selling them all before 

 the honey harvest began, as per the editorial warn- 

 ing on page 601. I had bought 12,000 sections, and 

 was planning to have them filled; but as many of 

 the friends had lost bees heavily, and were anxious 

 to have more, I decided to leave the sections in 

 their boxes, run all three apiaries for increase, and 

 let them i/o, and they did go, many of them before 

 the increase came. By withholding advertisements 

 all orders were filled pi-omptly, except a few that 

 included dollar queens before they could be fur- 

 nished. We had no honey-yield worthy of mention, 

 until white-clover bloom. The clover had winter- 

 killed badly, except in sheltered places, and it 

 yielded about one-fourth of a crop. Basswood did 

 no better; many of the trees did not bloom at all. 

 Had it not been for a fair yield from late bloom, 

 many colonies would have been short of winter 

 stores. 



My account with the bees for the year foots up as 

 follows: 



