APRIL 15, 1916 



311 



natural consequence — that such an uncom- 

 raou season would also produce an uncom- 

 mon honey crop ; but the strange part of 

 it is the fact that we had the wettest and 

 seemingly the most unfavorable summer for 

 bees to do field work in many years. Pos- 

 sibly an hour or two in the afternoon, or 

 perhaps a little while in the forenoon, was 

 all the chance they had to go to the field. 

 The fears we entertained during the fore 

 pai't of the honey-flow, that under these un- 

 favorable conditions the season would turn 

 into a honey failure, were dispelled by our 

 bees. In spite of the many cold stormy 

 days, supers were filling up right along; 

 empty ones had to be given, and finished 

 ones taken at short intervals, so that, by the 

 end of the season, my comb-honey-produc- 

 ing colonies had averaged 6V2 supers of fin- 

 ished sections. During the season I have 

 taken from the poorest colonies six, from 

 the better ones seven, and from two (my 

 banner yielders) eight supers of 24 sections 

 each. 



All these colonies run for comb honey 

 were divided swarms, or, more coiTectly 

 speaking, divisions of divided swarms. The 

 parent hives, after two combs of brood with 

 adhering bees and the old queen had been 

 taken, were moved to a new stand, and a 

 young laying queen given at the time the 

 divisions were made. The two combs of 

 brood with the old queen and some empty 

 combs were placed in a new hive and left 

 on the old stand to catch the flying bees. 

 These new swarms were run for extracted 

 honey, and averaged between 140 and 150 

 lbs. each. 



All my white honey brings me 20 cts. per 

 section at retail, and 16 cts. in crate lots at 

 the stores. Weight, to a certain limit, is 

 not taken into consideration, all sections 

 selling at the same price. Of course I am 

 very careful in sorting my honey. Every- 

 thing below 13^ oz., which I decide by eye 

 and lifting (no scales are used), is not 

 passed as full weight, but sold at a corres- 

 pondingly low price. Darker grades, such 

 as amber and buckwheat, are also sold for 

 several cents less per section. I do not fur- 

 nish any crates, but reserve them when sales 

 ai-e made. As I do all my delivering myself 

 I have no expensas for freight or express 

 to meet, neither do I have to let middlemen 

 share my profits. I can not give the exact 

 average price I receive per super; but as 

 the larger part of ray crop is white honey, 

 and a good share of it is sold at retail, it is 

 not far from $4.00 per super, which would 

 be for the average yield of 6^^ suiters, or 

 $26 per colony. 



The other divisions, those with the old 



queen and flying bees, have done nearly as 

 well in number of pounds; but in extracted 

 honey I have no data to compute their av- 

 erage yields in pounds and ounces; but I 

 have some means for ascertaining their 

 yields quite closely. Every super, every 

 comb of honey, and every section taken 

 from my hives, is carefully recorded on the 

 inside cover of the hives, so that, by simply 

 lifting the outside cover, the progress of 

 every colony is revealed. To tliis my bee- 

 keeping friends from different parts of the 

 state who have visited me at different times 

 during my season's campaign, and have in- 

 spected my beekeeping outfit and manage- 

 ment can testify. 



As I have frequently weighed supers be- 

 fore and after exti-acting, also single combs 

 when I felt esi^ecially interested in their 

 weight, I can quite closely estimate the 

 yield of a colony by consulting its record. 



By far the largest share of my extracted 

 honey, perhaps nine-tenths of my crop, is 

 sold at retail, and nets me, when put up in 

 pint and quart cans, 14% cts., and in jelly- 

 glasses 16 cts. The largest package, the 

 quart can, seems to be the favorite of my 

 customers, while the sale of the jelly-glasses 

 is comparatively limited, and takes only a 

 small part of my crop. The average price 

 is, therefore, very little above the price of 

 the larger package. But these prices are 

 for white honey. About one-fourth of my 

 crop is amber and buckwheat, for which I 

 get from one to three cents less per pound. 

 This would reduce the average price of the 

 entire crop to about 13% cts. As stated 

 above, the yield of my colonies run for ex- 

 tracted honey was from 140 to 150 lbs. ; and 

 taking the medium, 145 lbs., as a fair esti- 

 mate, it brings the income of these colonies 

 to $19.57 each ; and, with the product of the 

 comb-honey divisions added, to $45.57, 

 spring count. 



This yield of the past season has no prec- 

 edent in my forty years of beekeeping. 

 But it is not all due to the season. It is the 

 result of combining season and manage- 

 ment. The method which I have adopted 

 and successfully practiced during the last 

 four or five years gives me, besides unusual- 

 ly heavy yields, other advantages that help 

 to reduce the unpleasant work of the bee- 

 yard in a great measure. First in this line 

 stands practically perfect swarm control. 

 Every comb - honey - producing beekeeper 

 knows by experience the deplorable sight 

 that meets one's eyes when a colony sends 

 out a swarm that has two or three supers 

 well under way on their hive. This does 

 not happen to me except in very rare eases. 

 None of my eomb-honey-producing colonies 



