I'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



453 



Explanatory.— The Hgures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those aftf.u, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring: aud fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the center of the State named; 

 6 north of the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 ♦O west; and this 6 northeast: ^ northwest: 

 t>* southeast; and P southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For tne American Bee JoumaL 



Extra Colonies or Manimilatioii, WMcli ? 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Not long ago a friend from the 

 eastern part of this State wrote me 

 that he was going to keep more bees 

 than he tiad formerly kept, and do 

 less work with them, for he believed 

 that double the number of colonies 

 would give him fully as much if not 

 more honey than he had been getting, 

 even if he did not manipulate them 

 at all. lie said that he believed that 

 the system of management whicli I 

 recommended caused a greater 

 amount of extra labor and manipula- 

 tion than there was any use of, and 

 henceforth he should adopt exactly 

 the reverse of what I gave in the 

 bee-papers, and put more bees into 

 his field, so that he would get the 

 same amount of surplus as before, 

 with very little labor. All that would 

 be required would be the investing of 

 a little more capital in the shape of 

 hives, etc. ; that I was falling behind 

 the times, and soon would be, if I 

 was not already, the only one who 

 would work on the plan he had pre- 

 viously used. 



I have not quoted his words, but I 

 have given the substance of his letter. 

 As this came from a friend who was 

 well meaning toward me, it behooved 

 me to consider the matter a little, and 

 if I were on the wrong track to get 

 right. After carefully looking the 

 matter over I believe that there is 

 one item regarding these extra colo- 

 nies which the advocates of it forget, 

 that is great enough to more than 

 pay for the manipulation, so that the 

 investing of capital in more hives for 

 the extra number is worse than 

 thrown away. The item I allude to 

 is that each of the extra colonies put 

 in a lield in order to secure the honey- 

 secretion from a given area with but 

 little or no manipulation, costs at 

 least 60 pounds of honey each year to 

 support. The question is, which is 

 the cheaper, a little extra manipula- 

 tion, or the extra colonies, hives, etc., 

 and tlie honey that they consume '/ 



Suppose that 100 colonies produce 

 an average yield of 50 pounds each, 

 and by so doing secure all the nectar 

 in a field, year by year. This will 

 make .5,000 pounds of surplus as our 



share of the field, while each of the 

 100 colonies will use GO pounds,or 6,000 

 pounds as a whole, as their share to 

 carry them through the year. Thus 

 we fail to get one-half or the honey 

 from our lield, by employing an extra 

 number of colonies. 



On the other hand, if we employ 

 the " manipulation " or economy plan, 

 wliich our English friends do, of 

 getting the same amount of produce 

 off an acre of land that we Americans 

 do from three or four, we shall find 

 our statement thus: 11,000 pounds is 

 the product of our field ; 50 colonies 

 are all that are needed with good 

 manipulation to get it. Then 50 colo- 

 nies must use 3,000 pounds of this for 

 their support, leaving 8,t)00 pounds for 

 the manipulator. It will be seen that 

 the manipulator gets 3,000 pounds of 

 honey for his manipulation, and uses 

 little if any more time than he would 

 use on the 100 without manipulation ; 

 hence from the stand-point of over- 

 stocking a field, my system is 3,000 

 pounds ahead of my friend's plan of 

 keeping an extra number of colonies. 

 The same holds good, be the number 

 kept great or small. 



A man can care for one-half the 

 number of colonies on my plan as 

 easily as he can for double the num- 

 ber on my friend's plan, and thissame 

 one-half will give the apiarist as good 

 results in dollars and cents as will the 

 whole of my friend's, and save the 

 extra honey consumed by the extra 

 one-half of the number of bees, as 

 clean gain to the bee-keeper. This is 

 not mere fancy, but facts which the 

 success of the two plans prove, as will 

 be obvious to all who have closely 

 watched the reports in our bee-papers 

 for the past ten years. 



My friend says that I am the only 

 one, or soon will be, who is working 

 on ray plan, and that I am falling be- 

 hind the times— as if that detracted 

 from it. I care not whether I am 

 behind the times or ahead of them, so 

 long as my plans give me a larger yield 

 of honey for the colonies kept and 

 labor performed, year after year, than 

 do the plans of those who recommend 

 keeping an extra number of colonies 

 with little or no manipulation. 



While at a large bee-convention not 

 many years ago, as the proprietor of 

 a large api,arv (which numbered nearly 

 1,000 colonies) was telling of his plans 

 of working, a man sitting by my side 

 kept whispering to me. I chided him 

 and asked him if he was not anxious 

 to hear the plans adopted by so large 

 an apiarist. His reply was, " Why 

 should I care for his plans so long as 

 I succeed in getting on an average each 

 year more honey from my 200 colonies 

 than he does from his thousand. Two 

 hundred colonies properly worked 

 will give more honey to the apiarist 

 than 1,000 will not so worked." I 

 could quote others who I know are 

 working on the same plan that I do, 

 believing that by so doing they can 

 secure the greatest amount of income 

 with the least capital and labor, but 

 that would not necessarily help the 

 plan any. 



I ask no one to use any of the plans 

 that I give in the bee-papers, unless 

 he or she chooses, tor the matter of 



being alone has little weight with me. 

 I simply give the jilans I use to ac- 

 complish given results, and all are 

 free to use them or let them alone, as 

 they see fit ; neither do I give them 

 because I have a supply business 

 back of them that needs bolstering 

 up, for 1 manufacture no supplies for 

 sale, but I.give them to others as part 

 payment for the debt I owe to those 

 who wrote years ago, and to whose 

 writings I owe the success I have had 

 in bee-culture. 



My plans are often called expensive, 

 and my hive and fixtures complicated; 

 but I believe there is as little labor 

 and cash outlay by my plan of pro- 

 ducing $1,000 worth of comb honey as 

 any plan in existence. As proof, I 

 will say that from less than .50 colo- 

 nies of bees (spring count) I have 

 cleared over $1,000 each year, for the 

 past 13 years, taken as an average. I 

 have not hired 13 days' labor in that 

 time in the apiary, nor had any 

 apprentices or students to do the 

 work for me, although I have had 

 many applications from those who 

 wished to spend a season with me. 

 Besides my labor with the bees I take 

 care of my garden and a small farm 

 (29 acres) ; have charge of my father's 

 estate ; run my own shop and steam 

 engine, sawing sections, hives, honey- 

 crates, etc., for myself and neighbors ; 

 write for seven different papers, and 

 answer a host of correspondence. 



The old saying is, '^The proof of 

 the pudding is in the eating," and so 

 I now say, as I have said before in 

 these columns, that all I have to 

 recommend the plans I use, is the 

 success attained by them. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Does Bee-Keening Pay ? etc. 



J. H. ANDRE. 



This question is often discussed at 

 conventions and by apicultural papers, 

 and probably no avocation has so 

 much difference in opinions in regard 

 to profit and loss as bee-keeping ; also, 

 if we look into the wide range of 

 circumstances to be taken into con- 

 sideration in answering this question, 

 we do not wonder at the various opin- 

 ions in regard to it. 



First of all in bee-keeping, is a 

 place for an apiary easily accessible 

 to and fro for the bees, not blocked 

 with trees or buildings. Some may 

 succeed well in such places, but they 

 would succeed far better if the bees 

 were given a free chance. Second, 

 is a nlace sheltered from high winds ? 

 Third, is there an outlying pasturage? 

 and if possible to the westward, for 

 bees will not thrive as well that have 

 to go eastward for their supply of 

 stores, as nearly all of our heavy 

 showers are from the west, and bees 

 that go eastward do not get warning 

 at all times to reach the hive and are 

 caught in the storm ; and if late in 

 the day and a cold night many die. 

 Add to these a skilled apiarist, and in 

 a good season success is certain. 



I quite often hear the expression, 

 " Why, John, your bees do well. You 



