SEPTEMBER 1, 3916 



847 



GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE 



THE ROSY POSSIBILITIES OF BEEKEEPING 



Wake up, Mr. Sapp, and Look Around a Bit 



BY J. A. ALLARD 



The National Stockman and Farmer for 

 July 29, 1916, contained an article on bees 

 written by Mr. C. H. Sapp, of Ohio. I was 

 much surjarised at some of the statements 

 made in this article, among which was the 

 following : " Spurred on by the stories of 

 great (often fabulaus) wealth which has 

 been reported to come to the apiarian, 

 many people have invested in bees and the 

 accompanying necessary supplies and tools. 

 While some of these have obtained a supply 

 of the coveted sweets, it is safe to say that 

 a majority of them would have obtained a 

 larger suppW if they had spent their money 

 for honey," etc. 



The author of this article claims to have 

 had a life-long experience with bees. If 

 this is the case, he either lives in a very 

 poor location or is a poor beekeeper. Our 

 location in central Pennsylvania is no bet- 

 ter than thousands of others. Yet last year 

 I had one colony which gathered more than 

 a hundred pounds of section honey after 

 tlie 15th of August. 



We have people in this section who give 

 their bees scarcely any attention, and yet 

 harvest at least half that much in good 

 years. It is certain that, if the little work- 

 ers are given any kind of care, they will 

 2Day for their keeping and something more. 



A few years ago the Beekeepers' Review 

 published a series of articles by prominent 

 beekeepers in which they described their 

 best years, or the years in which they made 

 the most from their bees. For the benefit 

 of those who may not have read these arti- 

 cles, I am going to quote a few of the 

 notable successes. 



The first of whom I shall tell is the 

 " Grand Old Man of Beedom," Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, of Marengo, 111. I quote from Dr. 

 Miller's own story, ''In the year 1908, from 

 129 colonies, spring count, I took 19,480 

 sections, or 151 sections per colony, increas- 

 ing to 160 colonies." 



And all the work connected with harvest- 

 ing this surprising crop was done by Dr. 

 Miller himself and his sister-in-law. Miss 

 Emma Wilson. If the doctor sold this crop 

 for only 12 ets. per section he received 

 $2300 for it. 



The next I shall mention is Dr. 0. M. 

 Blanton, of Greenville, Miss., who, in 1908, 



secured 22,000 jjounds of honey from 215 

 colonies, and increased to 290 colonies. Al- 

 tho the doctor was in his eighties at that 

 time, he did all the work with the help of 

 one negro. Such a record is enough to put 

 some of us younger fellows to shame. 



In 1910 Mr. E. F. Atwater, of Meridian, 

 Idaho, had a crop of 71,000 pounds of 

 honey from 900 colonies, spring count; in- 

 creased to over 1150 colonies, besides sell- 

 ing a carload of bees during that spring. 

 This crop was extracted honey ; and if Mr. 

 Atwater received but 6 ets. per pound for 

 it, he received $4260. 



I quote the following from the Feb., 

 1911, Ficview, from an article written by 

 Mr. Frank ('overdale, of Delmar, Iowa: 

 " I find that my best season was 1903 — 350 

 colonies stored 32,000 pounds of comb 

 honey, which sold at 12y2 ets., bringing in 

 $4000." 



Mr. Coverdale says that ui 1908 and 1910 

 his crop almost equaled this. 



In 1910 Mr. H. C. Ahlers, of West Bend, 

 Wis., made $4000 from successful migra- 

 tory beekeeping, getting a crop in the 

 South, and shipping the bees north in time 

 to catch the late summer and fall flow. 



In 1908 Mr. R. D. Bradshaw, of Payette, 

 Idaho, produced 43,200 sections of comb 

 honey from one yard of 500 colonies, and 

 sold the crop for $4679. 



Mr. J. E. Crane, of Middlebury, Vt., 

 produced 42,000 pounds (about % comb 

 lioney) from 650 colonies. No doubt this 

 crop netted Mr. Crane between $4000 and 

 $5000. This was, I believe, in 1906, and I 

 think Mr. Crane has had even larger crops 

 since that time. 



In 1909 Mr. H. G. Sibbald, of Claude, 

 Ontario, with the help of one young man, 

 attended to 350 colonies, harvesting a crop 

 of over 50,000 pounds which netted him 

 $5000. 



In an article in the Review for Septem- 

 ber, 1911, Mr. E. D. Townsend, of Remus, 

 Mich., says that his best year was 1909, 

 when, with 600 colonies, he produced 36,000 

 pounds of comb and extracted honey, none 

 of which brongiit less than 8 ets. per pound, 

 and increased to 700 colonies. 



Mr. M. A. Gill, of Longmont, Col, in 

 1907, with a little less than 1000 colonies, 



