December, 1909. 



405 



American ^ae Journal 



rows and seldom cultivate. A hoe is 

 unknown, or at least I haven't seen one. 



Morning-glories of many varieties 

 climb the trees 40 feet high, cover the 

 bushes, fences, and shrubs where the 

 timber is not too dense, and the open 

 land thousands of acres of catnip, now 

 in full bloom, from 3 to 8 feet high. 

 Frost is unknown in the southern half 

 of Mexico, yet it is cooler than the 

 summers of the United States. Irriga- 

 tion is not needed. 



I have my ticket to the end of the 

 railroad south, which is the Guatemala 

 line, and will see the sights and then 

 return to my home at Buckeye, Ariz. 

 (To be continued.) 



[No doubt our subscribers would be 

 be glad to hear further from Mr. Had- 

 sell, not only as to the bee-keeping 

 opportunities in Old Mexico, but as to 

 the extent of his apiaries in the United 

 States, his honey crops, varieties of 

 bees used, etc. — Editor.) 



Overstocking a Locality Witli 

 Bees 



AV,i(/ at the New York Slate Hcc-Kccpers Insli- 



lute, held at Geneva. S. V.. March to 



and 1 1 , IQOQ. 



BY W. I). WRIGHT. 



The majority of apiarists pursue 

 their avocation with the purpose of 

 securing the greatest income from 

 their apiaries; hence, where the busi- 

 ness is followed extensively it becomes 

 a matter of serious import to the 

 owner as to what extent he may in- 

 crease an apiary in a certain locality, 

 without danger of overstocking the 

 same and thus decreasing his profits. 



This subject has been discussed time 

 and time again, and has been a prob- 

 lem with many extensive bee-keepers, 

 and, owing to varying circumstances 

 and different view points, has never 

 been satisfactorily settled and probably 

 never will be; however, the apiarist 

 who possesses the quaHfications neces- 

 sary to insure success will usually 

 avoid extremes. 



There are so many factors Entering 

 into the case that no rule can be es- 

 tablished setting a limit on the number 

 of colonies in one apiary. This must 

 be a matter of experiment and obser- 

 vation. A most important considera- 

 tion is the honey-yielding flora of the 

 locality. Some locations would be 

 overstocked with 100 colonies ; in others 

 tW or more colonies might give satis- 

 factory results in a very good season. 

 Then, again, in a poor season, when 

 these 200 or more colonies gather a 

 sustenance in summer and just enough 

 ifir winter stores, giving no surplus, 

 would it not be reasonable to suppose 

 that if but 100 colonies had been kept 

 in this apiary they would have given as 

 surplus the bulk of which the other 100 

 or more colonies required to sustain 

 themselves? If this supposition is cor- 

 rect, then in the first instance there 

 would be the loss of labor in attend- 

 ance, interest on investment, etc., while 

 in the second a good profit would be 

 secured. 



These illustrations are given on the 

 supposition that no other bees are kept 

 within a radius of 4 or 5 miles. Where 

 many others are kept within this dis- 



tance, the apiarist must expect to 

 divide his profits with his neighbors. 



Many years ago Mr. Adam Grimm, of 

 Wisconsin, one of the most successful 

 bee-keepers of this country, who owned 

 some 1400 colonies at one time, after 

 experimenting largely with many api- 

 aries in different localities, wrote thus 

 in the American Bee Journal : 



" There is no question with me any longer 

 that the smaller the number of colonies 

 kept in one location the greater will be the 

 Yield of honev from a single colony. But the 

 question is not, how can a bee-keeper secure 

 the largest yield of honey from a small num- 

 ber of colonies, but how can he secure the 

 largest income bv keeping bees? In answer 

 to this Question I will say. by keeping and 

 managing well a large number of colonies 

 scattered in different apiaries, none of 

 which should contain more than 100 colonies 

 in the spring. If he could arrange so as not 

 to start with more than .so in one location in 

 the spring, it would probably be all the bet- 

 ter. If placed 3 miles apart there will be no 

 dangerof overstocking in ordinary seasons." 



Mr. E. France, also of Wisconsin, 

 and father of N. E. France, the present 

 manager of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, wrote to Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture a number of years since, as 

 follows : 



" If you plant out-apiaries don't put them 

 less than 5 miles apart if you can help it. If 

 you are going to keep help at the separate 

 yards to run the bees, 6 miles apart is near 

 enough; then if the pasture is good you can 

 keep from 100 to 150 colonies in each place." 



In speaking of travel to out-apiaries, 

 Mr. France further says: 



" Remember when you arc locating an api- 

 arv, that when you are Iiitched up and on 

 the road, one or two miles further travel 

 will pa* you better than to crowd your pas- 

 ture. Don't overstock your ground." 



Such advice from extensive honey- 

 producers, of long experience, is worth 

 many dollars to ambitious apiarists of 

 lesser experience who will heed it. 



The most striking example we have 

 in this country of concentrating large 

 numbers of colonies in a single apiary, 

 is that of the late lamented Mr. Alex- 

 ander, of Delanson, N. Y. This apiary 

 usually contains about 750 colonies, 

 fall count, and in good seasons I be- 

 lieve the result has been quite satis- 

 factory, although the average yield per 

 colony has not been very large, the 

 grand total being quite surprising ; but 

 I believe as good results could have 

 been obtained with {ewer colonies, per- 

 haps one-half of that number : however, 

 we lack the necessary data. 



I am glad that Mr. Alexander had 

 the courage to put this matter to the 

 test, as the experiment has been of 

 much interest to all apiarists. 



I might mention the Hetheringtons. 

 the Coggshalls, Elwood, Dadant, and 

 others, all of whom have kept bees in 

 large numbers, and who have prac- 

 ticed distributing them in numerous 

 apiaries from ;5 to 10 or more miles 

 from home. It certainly would have 

 saved a large amount of labor and ex- 

 pense for each could they have con- 

 centrated their whole number of colo- 

 nies in one or two apiaries; and if 

 there would have been profit in such 

 proceeding, is it not singular that all ot 

 these bright men, after their wide ex- 

 perience, failed to discover the fact? 



Finally, 1 would say avoid extremes, 

 and if your calculations are in error 

 let that error be upon the safe side. 



Altamont, N. Y. 



Getting Ready for the Surplus 

 Honey Crop 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Manv of those keeping bees seem to 

 think that there is little, if anything, to 

 do in the bee-business after the bees 

 are gotten ready for winter till swarm- 

 ing time arrives the next summer. But 

 such is not the case with the prosper- 

 ous apiarists. Such know that it is 

 better to do all that they can toward 

 getting ready for the surplus season 

 during the winter, and then if there is 

 time after all is in readiness they can 

 rest up a bit and turn their attention to 

 something else. 



My first business, after the bees are 

 in winter quarters, is to go over all of 

 the surplus supers and prepare them 

 for the next season. I did not do this 

 for the first few years, for fear that the 

 bees might die during the winter, and 

 if so then I would have prepared a lot 

 of stuff I would have no use for. But 

 after putting this matter off a few times 

 till the honey harvest arrived, I was 

 caught by having the best part of the 

 season past while I was getting ready 

 for it. From this I learned that it was 

 always best to have the " dish " right 

 side up to catch the honey. A few 

 days' neglect of this will often turn 

 what might be a good season and a 

 success into a failure. 



Then, time with the bee-keeper is not 

 nearly so valuable during the winter 

 months as it is in the hurry and bustle 

 of the swarming and surplus season, 

 and, from this point of view alone, the 

 bee-keeper can well afford occasionally 

 to carry over a lot of unused stuff 

 rather than to be making it when time 

 is as valuable to all of us as it is in 

 June, July and August. 



My first work in preparing for the 

 next season is to prepare the number 

 of sections which I think I will need 

 above those left unfinished from the 

 season previous. To get at this num- 

 ber I allow 200 one-pound sections for 

 every colony I have in winter quarters ; 

 not that I very often have tliat many 

 filled in one season, but 1 do occasion- 

 ally, and when that occasionally comes, 

 they cannot possibly be filled if I do 

 not have them on hand. 



Having the sections made the next 

 thing is go over 2-5 to .50 supers, clean- 

 ing the separators or any parts of the 

 super where an extra amount of propo- 

 lis or burr-combs may have accumu- 

 lated, thus fixing them so they are 

 ready for the sections, after which the 

 sections are filled with thin foundation 

 to the number needed for these supers, 

 when the supers are filled with sections 

 ready to go on the hives at a moment's 

 notice when I decide according to the 

 opening of the bloom and the strength 

 of the colony that they are needed. 

 Before putting these newly-made and 

 prepared sections into the supers I 

 count up the number of sections I have 

 containing " bait-combs " (those partly 

 or entirely filled with comb, but which 

 were not completed so as to be salable, 

 left over from the previous season), 

 and divide them by the number of col- 

 onies I have in winter quarters, so that 

 in preparing the super which is first to 



