THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



29 



a little. First, how far do bees 

 fly? Not what is the extent of 

 their flight under peculiarly favor- 

 able circumstances, as for instance, 

 when they are following a receding 

 honey-flow on higher land, but how 

 far do they fly on the average profi- 

 tably in quest of surplus honey? 

 If we permit those of most ample 

 experience to answer, they will tell 

 us that forage must be within two 

 miles of the hive in order to secure 

 much gain in the surplus apart- 

 ments of the same, and that it will 

 be most profitable to have it within 

 one and a half miles. Then we 

 may place our apiaries three miles 

 apart, giving to each one the pas- 

 turage of nine square miles or about 

 six thousand acres. I believe Mr. 

 Quinby preferred to place his 3'ards 

 no nearer than this and thought 

 about sixty colonies in each apiary 

 gave the best results. I notice L. 

 C. Root places a still smaller num- 

 ber in many of his yards. Adam 

 Grimm noticed that when as many 

 as one hundred stocks were kept in 

 a place, there was a diminution in 

 the number of swarms, and that 

 less surplus honey was made per 

 colony. He concludes by saying 

 that " if not more than fifty colo- 

 nies are kept in a pl^fce and the 

 yards are placed three miles apart 

 there will be no danger of overstock- 

 ing in ordinary seasons." These 

 are spring numbers and it will be 

 remembered that all of the author- 

 ities quoted were in good locali- 

 ties. 



If fifty stocks are kept in a place 

 and the number doubled it will 

 require twenty-five hundred pounds 



of honey for their winter stores ; 

 nearly double this or five thousand 

 pounds for brood-rearing and sum- 

 mer consumption. Therefore about 

 four tons of honey will have to be 

 gathered before any surplus can 

 be stored. A yield of twenty-five 

 pounds surplus per swarm, old and 

 young, will require twenty -five hun- 

 dred pounds more, or a total of 

 ten thousand pounds. This is on 

 the supposition that the comb is 

 already built in which to store the 

 honey. If comb foundation is fur- 

 nished instead, we will consent to 

 call it one-half more, or a total of 

 eleven and a quarter thousand 

 pounds. If the bees have to con- 

 struct the whole comb, unless the 

 hives contain too small a quantity 

 of old bees in proportion to young, 

 we shall have to double the first 

 amount, making a total of twelve 

 and a quarter thousand (12,250) for 

 a surplus of twenty-five pounds of 

 comb-honey per hive. In the above 

 I have purposely made a liberal es- 

 timate of honey consumed in the 

 hive, but even then it figures up but 

 little over two pounds of ripened 

 honey per acre ; while many an acre 

 will not contribute a pound of honey 

 it may still be granted that in the 

 average season many more pounds 

 will be produced than gathered. 

 What is the objection then to 

 stocking heavier and permitting 

 less to go to waste. The period of 

 greatest scarcity in most sections 

 is in the spring. A honey dearth 

 then is detrimental to brood-rearing, 

 and is felt through the whole sea- 

 son. Feeding may be resorted to, 

 but it was demonstrated last 



