156 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1922 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Mr. Coolidge's backlot apiary in summer. 



season added to it until I now have 20 colo- 

 nies. When I started to buy bees I made up 

 my mind to buy cheap, for I was afraid 

 they would all fly away and leave me with 

 the bag to hold. I now have 20 good colo- 

 nies in 10-frame hives, 50 large supers all 

 filled with good combs, one new Root-Cowan 

 extractor, one 60-gallon and one 25-gallon 

 honey-tanks, one hot-water uncapping tank, 

 queen-excluders, bee-escapes, knife, and all 

 the other necessary articles that go with the 

 business; also 10 winter cases, that are take- 

 down and interchangeable, and can be 

 packed away in the summer. 



Now I don 't care to set any value on this 

 outfit, but what I want to show is that it is 

 all profit. The bees are the owners, it's 

 theirs, they made it. I keep an expense and 

 receipt account for them. The bees pro- 

 duced honey that I sold for $836.10; the 

 cash paid out for the entire apiary and out- 

 fit was $283.14, making for me a profit of 



$552.96. The apiary is worth — what? Its 

 net profit is — . The balance I leave to the 

 backlotter to solve. 



Now that's the money part; but say, I 

 had the bee-fever right and that was worth 

 all I paid out for the bees. I still have it, 

 but I am more careful not to show the symp- 

 toms so strongly. I have gotten acquainted 

 with lots of fellows that I would not have 

 known if it had not been for the bees. The 

 time surely does pass away quickly when 

 two fellows get to talking beedom. I have 

 missed some meals. My wife says I don 't 

 know enough to come home. 



I am not very old, only 60, and what I 

 knew about bees four years ago would make 

 you laugh; but that's another story. All I 

 want to say is, any person that will get a 

 little bee-sense and a couple of colonies can 

 have a hundred or two hundred pounds of 

 honey each year. It's fun worth while. Try it. 



Troy, Ohio. Chas. S. Coolidge, 



Jlr, Coolidge's backlot apiary in winter. 



