272 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 15. 



The American Bee-keeper gave due notice 

 that its name was not to be squeezed down into 

 the compass of three initials: but it takes so 

 much inl\ to write tlie whole of it that the edit- 

 or has begun to drop off the first eight letters 

 himself, and he uses mei'ely initials for the 

 names of other bee-journals. Say, A. B. K.. 

 you'll not be so very mad if I initial yon after 

 this, will you ? 



April 4 my bees were howling down cellar, 

 with the thermometer 72" outdoors. Opened up 

 doors at dark, and let a strong wind blow in all 

 night. Bees quiet as mice in the morning, with 

 thermometer in cellar at 50°. and stayed so, al- 

 though door was open all day, letting in full 

 daylight. Don't tell me bees need no ventila- 

 tion in cellar. Mind you, they had been con- 

 fined five months. 



Those who are anxious for fear the cells of 

 old combs may become so diminished in diame- 

 ter that the young bees hatched therefrom may 

 not be of normal size, should remember that the 

 chief part of the deposits left from cocoons are 

 at the bottom of the cell: and as fast as these 

 are left, the cell-walls are lengthened outward- 

 ly, from which it will be seen that, at the 

 mouth of the cell, the diameter must always be 

 the same. 



THE POSSIBLE AND ACTUAL COST OF COMB 

 HONEY. 



p. h. elwooi) cjuticises taylor's and hil- 



tox's estimates. and defends 



doolittle"s. 



Langstroth says it is an easy matter to make 

 calculations on paper almost as flattering as an 

 imaginary tour to the gold-mines of Australia 

 or California. The following calculation of 

 posfiihle profits from bee culture, taken from 

 Lydserff's Treatise on liees. published in Eng- 

 land in 1792, is a perfect gem of its kind: 



Suppose a swarm of l)ees at the first to cost Ids. 

 6d., and neither tliey nor the swarms to be taken, 

 but to do well, and "swurra once every year— bees 

 must be nanglity indeed if tliey dare to do otlier- 

 wise!— what will be the pioduct for fourteen years, 

 and what the profit If each liive is sold at 10s. 6d.V 



Yeai-. 



Hive^ 



Proliti- 



N. B.— Deduct Ids. 6d., what the ttrst hive cost, and 

 tlie remainder will be clear profit; sup[)osing- the 

 .second swarms to pay for hives, labor, etc. 



The modesty with whicli this writer, who 

 seems to have had as much faith in his bees as 

 in the doctrine that "' figures can not lie,'" closes 

 his calculation at the end of fourteen years, is 

 truly refresliing. No beekeeper on such a 

 royal road to wealth could ever find it in his 

 heart to stop under twenty-one yeai'S. by wliich 

 time his stock would have increased to more 

 than a million, when, prolxihhj, he would be 

 willing to close his bee-business by selling them 

 for over two and three-quarter millions of dol- 

 lars. 



the cost of honey, by the authoi; of 

 •'blessed bees." 



During the hundred years since the above 

 estimate of iiossiblc profits. I know of no one 

 who has been able to make a more favorable 

 showing tlian this except the author of "Tln^ 

 Blessed Bees." After very careful figuring and 

 verification of the same. John Allen (page 32) 

 makes one colony increase in fourteen ycsars to 

 over a third of a million. Oiu' Mr. Lydserff 



takes no account of honey, but derives all of 

 his profits from the increa.'^e of stocks. Mr. 

 Allen, on the contrary, gets over three-quarters 

 of his profits from the sale of comb honey, leav- 

 ing the multiplication of stocks, although more 

 rapid than Mr. S., quite a secondary affair. In 

 this centennial year, two more Michigan men — 

 Messrs. Taylor and Hilton step to the front, 

 and, in carefully prepared estimates on the cost 

 of comb honey, so far lowei' Allen's cost of oro- 

 ducing a pound of comb honey as to make it 

 seem quite unnecessary to mention the profits 

 derived fj'om the increase in stocks. Mr. Hilton 

 does indeed incidentally speak of the sale of 

 full colonies, but he makes light of it, and does 

 not mention it in his itemized account. Taylor 

 says nothing whatever aboTit it. as you might 

 naturally expect fiom a lawyer and politician. 

 Now. in an estimate of the possible reduction 

 in cost, we can not consent to the omission of 

 the smallest item from the account, even to 

 matches and smokewood. In this respect the 

 account of J. Allen is a model, for in it is found 

 such very small items as paint-brush, putty, 

 cord, postage-stamps, etc. As Mr. Hilton gives 

 his report for twelve years, and mentions thirty- 

 five as the smallest number kept, which must 

 have been the first year, his increase by the 

 comforting and carefully verified figures of the 

 author of " The Blessed Bees" would amount 

 to sonu'thing ovei' two millions of colonies. 

 But it may be that Mi'. H. is not as well posted 

 in this branch of his businesss as the college 

 president ali'eady referred to. and that, indeed, 

 he may be a full hundred years behind the 

 times, and. like Mi\ Lydserff'. but doubles his 

 stock yearly. Now, we can prove by a nuilti- 

 tude of common bee-keepei's that this increase 

 will bring as much if not more honey than a 

 lighter one. This would give him an increase 

 of only seventy-one thousand six hundred and 

 some odd stocks, and we will genei'ously allow 

 him all over the seventy thousand for winter 

 losses (surely he can not have lost more than a 

 hundred a year). If he has sold this increase 

 as he intimates, undoubtedly you will agree 

 with me in saying that, since we ai'e talking of 

 cost in an apiary run primarily for comb honey, 

 the amount received for them {i!!;:i50,0()()) should 

 be applied to reducing the cost of the .W.OCX) lbs. 

 of comb honey he has produced. This would 

 make his honey cost consjdcM'ably less than the 

 figures he names — in fact, quite a little less 

 than nothing per' pound. Yon will not fail to 

 observe that, the smaller the yield [ler colony, 

 the greater the profit per pound, which is di- 

 rectly contrary to the teachings of Mr. Taylor, 

 who stoutly defiMids the now exiiloded dogma 

 that, the greater the yield pei' colony, the great- 

 er the profits per pound. 



In the foregoing estimate, no alhtwance is 

 made for cost of hives, as it was supposed the 

 honey casually obtained from the inci-ease 

 would more than pay for them. But as we 

 have called for exactness, it will be best to 

 make a separate item for hives, which, how- 

 ever, will make no difference in the net result 

 unless it shall be to still fnrtlu'i' I'educe the cost 

 of production. 



In an article by Mr. Taylor in last Glean- 

 ings, just handed me. I notice he anticipates 

 me in my corrections on increase, for he says: 

 ■'It is possible he (Doolittle) intends these (the 

 extra 1.50) hives for swarms. If that be so. then 

 of course the apiary should have credit for the 

 swarms, which would make a further very 

 material reduction in the cost of the honey 

 crop." , , 



As we are discussing possibilities, and as Mr. 

 Taylor is dealing so largely in " futures," it 

 may be well to call his attention to the Hasty- 

 Hutchinson method of cheapening production 



