1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



308 



AVERAGE YIELD FROM 200 COLONIES. 

 Relative Values of Different Locations. 



BY M. A. GItL. 



In the American Bee Journal of Dec. 23d 

 the question is asked, " What would be a fair 

 average honey crop with an apiary of from 20( ) 

 to 300 colonies, located in Central or Northern 

 Illinois ? " I have read and reread Dr. Miller's 

 answer ; and while I should fear to ' ' lock 

 horns " with him on any subject I feel inclin- 

 ed to raise his yield at least 20 lbs. per colony. 

 He says the yield would no doubt be 20 lbs. 

 less than nothing. 



Does not the doctor make his estimate from 

 the poor seasons which are still so fresh in the 

 memory of most of us? He says that 75 or 

 100 colonies might give a surplus of .3.") lbs. 

 per colony. I can not see why Illinois should 

 be so much different from .Southwest Wiscon- 

 sin, for I have noticed, while traveling through 

 Illinois, that it excels Wisconsin for sweet 

 clover ; and right here I want to go on record 

 as saying that )io plant equals sweet clover to 

 fill in all gaps, and piecing out the honey- 

 flow to late in the season. 



I know of many locations in Wisconsin 

 where 200 or 300 colonies would have not only 

 made a living, but given a fair surplus for the 

 past twenty years, with the possible exception 

 of three years ; and during those years of 

 scarcity twenty colonies would surely have 

 to have been fed. 



It has been my experience, that, when there 

 was a dearth of honey in a good locaiion, it 

 would affect twenty colonies nearlj' as much 

 as two hundred; hence I can not think that 

 the best locations, even in Illinois, will not 

 carr}^ 200 colonies for a term of years without 

 being fed. 1 am not saying that it would be 

 the most profitable thing to do; but I want 

 Dr. M. ( whom we all look up to as an oracle 

 in bee-lore) to either raise his yield or the 

 number of colonies which he says can be kept 

 in a good location in Illinois. 



I am now going to give you some figures, 

 and you may have to appoint some one to 

 help the doctor believe tbem, for you know it 

 is often said that it takes " two easterners " to 

 believe one " western story." I want to say 

 to the doctor that the next time he wants to 

 refer to some locality where a large number 

 of colonies are massed on a small amount of 

 territory, he doesn't have to go away off to 

 Australia or California, for he can find such 

 places here in Colorado or Utah. But, remem- 

 ber they are not located under the dry ditches 

 that friend Aikin so graphically describes in 

 Gleanings (and which every whit is true), 

 but they are located where there is an abun- 

 dance of alfalfa, and where the canals, ditches, 

 laterals, and waste places are covered with 

 sweet clover, and still it is hard to find a 

 location where from one-third to one-half is not 

 barren desert, and, with the exception of a 

 little early pollen, would furnish no more bee- 

 pasture than a barn-floor. Utah Co., Utah, is 

 reported to have 30,000 colonies of bees, and 

 you would be surprised to see what a small 

 portion of the county is under water, 



In the little city of Payson ( in Utah Co. ) 

 and its suburbs, and on less than two miles 

 square, are 3000 colonies of bees. My friend 

 Thos. M. Todd owns 200 of the 3000. Last 

 year his yield per colony was over 200 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. This season he procured 

 140 lbs. per colony, one-fourth comb honey. 



On one block in the town of Benjamin, 

 three miles from Payson, are 500 colonies ; 

 and clustered close around him are as many 

 more. The 500 situated on the one block 

 gave this year ItiOO 24- lb. cases of comb honey. 

 The Utah fellows call their honey lucerne 

 (their name for alfalfa); but in my opinion, if 

 the sweet clover were taken away they would 

 have to keep fewer bees or move them farther 

 apart. 



Now, if it takes more than you and Dr. M. 

 to believe the above I wish to introduce to you 

 my good Presbyterian friend Mr. Thos. M. 

 Todd, of Payson, Utah, who will act as sponsor 

 for the above figures. I see I used the term 

 "underwater." This means the lands that 

 are irrigated. The lands that are above water 

 are desert, and furnish no surplus honey as a 

 rule. 



Grand Junction, Col., Jan. (>. 



CALIFORNIA FOR CONSUMPTIVES. 



Not the Most Favorable Region in the World for 



that Disease; Some Interestin/a; Facts 



for Health-seekers. 



BY A. NORTON. 



Friend Root: — I feel like adding a little cor- 

 rection, if it may be so called, to what Mr. 

 Hambaugh says about the healthfulness of 

 California, especially for such things as a ten- 

 dency to colds and lung troubles. I say, for a 

 tendency thereto; for, when the trouble has 

 once developed into the confirmed dominance 

 of bacilli, I believe it will take a higher power 

 than climate to heal. But it is easy to be mis- 

 taken, and mislead, and to think that the 

 whole of a State is just like some portion 

 thereof. This is not the case anywhere, even 

 in California. True, this is a wonderfully 

 mild, soft climate, the whole length and 

 breadth of the State; yet people born here, or 

 for a long time residents here, take consump- 

 tion, etc., and die the same as elsewhere. I 

 doubt whether Mr. Hambaugh has settled in 

 a really ideal place for lung troubles. I know 

 that experienced and skilled physicians of 

 this section, in prescribing change for such 

 troubles, have not favored it. One requisite 

 for lung troubles is altitude (3000 to 5000 ft., 

 according to the state of the trouble), and an- 

 other is dryness of air. The coast line of the 

 State doesn't furnish either (see exceptions 

 later). True, the California coast is better 

 than the Atlantic coast or the Mississippi Val- 

 ley, because evener and dryer. For instance, 

 in summer, in spite of fogs, the air of San 

 Francisco averages only 28 per cent of satura- 

 tion point, while in New York and Philadel- 

 phia it is 75. Hence, those coming from the 

 East, even to the coast, find great relief, at 

 least for a while. That just the change itself 



