I>E"VOTEr> TO 13EI>!4 AiVr> IIOIVEY, AT»3^r> iIC>>ir: IIVTJ^l^iiS'rf- 



Vol. IX. 



JULY 1, 1881. 



No. 



^. 



A. Z. ROOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor^ \ 



Published Mouthly. 



Medina, O. 



J Established in 1873. { 



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NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



NO. 20. 



MAKE THE BEES PAY. 



MUNDREDS of bee-keepers this season found 

 themselves the possessors of empty hives and 



■ combs— but no bees. Some of them will give 



up the business entirely, while others will buy a few 

 colonies, or else buy bees by the pound, and will go 

 bravely to work to build up again. I suppose that 

 most bee-keepers who lost bees last winter, and who 

 have obtained a few bees with which to make a 

 start, will bend their whole energies to making their 

 bees increase as rapidly as possible, and will not at- 

 tempt to obtain any surplus honey. If one can af- 

 ford to lose all of his bees next winter, this course 

 may be all right; but would it not be a safer plan to 

 obtain 80/»6 honej-, and make the bees pay a profit 

 tl\i» year? I know it is very tempting— I have felt 

 the impulse more than once— this idea of building 

 up a large apiary, and then doing some thing grand 

 —get honey by the ton, for instance. I know of a 

 bee-keeper who has kept bees a good many years, 

 and thoroughly understands the principles of bee- 

 keeping, and yet I honestly believe that, if he had 

 kept a "bee account" for the past ten years, it 

 would show that his bees have been little else than 

 a bill of expense. He has never obtained very much 

 honey, but has worked mostlj- for increase. Two or 

 three times his colonies have numbered 75 or 80, and 

 he was intending, the next year, to do some thing 

 "big;" but a disastrous winter followed each time, 

 leaving him with few or no bees. Would it not have 

 been better if he had secured a good crop of honey 

 each year, and been contented with a moderate in- 

 crease? Then there was one other circumstance 

 that contributed largely to the cost of his bee-keep- 

 ing business: he invented, manufactured, and trans- 

 ferred "his bees into a new style of hive at least as 

 often as once in three or four years, setting the old 

 hives one side as useless lumber. He also invested 

 considerable money in modern improvements. Now, 

 if one is a merchant, doctor, lawyer, minister, or 

 some thing of that sort, and keeps bees merely for 

 amusement or recreation, this kind of "doings" 

 might be put up with; but the majority of us keep 

 bees because we think or 'know that there is money 

 to be made at the business; and if, after a series 



of years' faithful work with bees, any one finds that 

 it does not pay, my advice would be to quit tho 

 business. 



Many of us (perhaps I had better say I) imagine 

 that we could go into some other man's apiary and 

 tell him where he was making his mistakes; but 

 can we do the same by ourselves? It is so difficult 

 to " see ourselves as others see us " I 



If I should begin a season with a single colony, I 

 should expect it to pa.v a profit Umt season; and if it 

 had not at the close of the season, I should be very 

 strongly tempted to sell, at some price, a colony of 

 bees, in order to bring the balance upon the right 

 side in the ledger. Don't think that I would advise 

 you not to spend any money upon your bees; far 

 from it; but be mirc that it is going to be money well 

 invested. Try all new things upon a small scale, and 

 after you are satisfied that any thing pays, use it, 

 even if it does cost money. 



This is my fifth year at bee-keeping, and I have 

 never made less than S15.00 per colony, while last 

 season I cleared $2.5.00; but the loss of bees last win- 

 ter reduced the profits to about $20.00 per colony. 

 ^ Once more I say, make the hecs p(X)i, or else don't 

 liceij them. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



To be sure, you are right, frieud H., and it 

 will be an excellent idea for a good many of 

 us to make our bees fuiuisli net cash enough 

 eacli season so that if they do all die the next 

 winter we shall not be out of pocbet. Do 

 this, and then don't let them die. 



ON THE PROBABliE CAUSES OF THE 

 liOSS OF ODR BEES liAST AVINTER. 



BV L. L. LANGSTROTH. 



OUR heavy losses in bees affect me painfully. 

 While I admire your cheerful spirit under 

 such reverses, I know that the failure to win- 

 ter your bees is much harder to bear than the mere 

 pecuniary loss. I spenk from a vivid recollection of 

 similar experiences. Before I discerned what pre- 

 cautions were necessary for wintering bees success- 

 fully in movable-frame hives, I more than once 

 found myself in the spring in a plight almost as bad 

 as your own. I can fully indorse your explanation 

 of some of the reasons why your reverses have been 

 so much greater than those of some large bcc-kcep- 



