34 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. W, 



can make it pay now we ought to be satisfled that it will pay 

 at any time. 



The expeuses of an outfit for bee-l<eepiDK, when running 

 for extracted honey, are about as follows, figuring upon an 

 apiary of bO colOLies, which is about the number that is best 

 suited to all sorts o( locations, and is probably the limit of 

 numbers that an efficient man can properly examine and at- 

 tend in a day's labor at each visit : 



80 colonies of bees In large extracting hives $400 00 



160 supers witb combs for same, two to each hive 160 00 



Extractor, pane, funnels, smokers, veils, etc 20 00 



Empty hives (-20) 20 00 



Total - $600 00 



The labor we give to this number of colonies, when run- 

 ning for extracted honey, is about as follows : 



Days. 



In Feliruary. examination to see that all is well V^ 



March, ditto, cleaning- out dead colonies, feeding needy ones. 1 



A pril. talcing out jjacking. e.vamining ijueeniess colonies 1 



May. removing drone-combs, transferring small patches, 

 looking up young queens. feedlEg, giving room to strong 



colonies 2 



June, putting on supers, making a few artificial swarms 'A 



July, removing supers, extracting honey, returning supers. 4 



August, one examination for all purposes I 



September, equalizing. removing supers, extracting honey-.a 

 October, removing empty supers, helping weak colonies. 



feeding needy ones 2 



November, putting into winter quarters 2 



Total 10^4 



A total of 19 1-2 days. This is the outlay In labor. Fig- 

 uring it at $2.00 per day, the labor amounts'to $39 00 



Interest on the capital, at 7 per cent 42 00 



Annual sinking fund to replace hlvts as they grow old.. 20 00 



Total expenses $101 00 



The average crop of houey extracted one year with 

 another is with us about 50 pounds per colony. Most practi- 

 tical apiarists put it at a much larger figure, even with comb 

 honey, having better locations, but ours is probably a fair 

 one. So we may count on an annual crop for the SO colonies 

 of 4,000 pounds of honey. Figuring this at 5 cents per 

 pound, we have ,S200, or about double the amount of the 

 actual expenses for the year. If you have done the work 

 yourself it will figure the wages for work necessitated at 

 about -ST. 00 per day, all expenses paid. I figure nothing for 

 help needed when extracting, because I do not figure any 

 profit from the beeswax. We have always found that the 

 beeswax produced by extracting, which amounts to over one 

 pound per hundred pounds of honey, more than pays for the 

 help needed, and is in proportion to this help. 



As a matter of course, there are seasons when there is 

 next to no surplus honey, and in such seasons less help and 

 less labor is needed. But there are also seasons when the 

 crop is much greater, and in such years the additional bees- 

 wax, harvested from the cappings, more than makes up for 

 all the extra labor. In the best honey season we ever had, 

 which was in 1SS9, if my recollection is right, we had (iOO 

 pounds of beeswax from the cappings of something like 

 48,000 pounds of honey. This at 25 cents per pound made 

 a snug little sum, and we know it not only covered our ex- 

 tracting labor, but also paid for the odds aud ends. 



When figuring up the labor, we gave the actual time em- 

 ployed by us in work of this sort. Much more time may be 

 spent on the bees, and profitably too, for they usually repay 

 their owner for the attention given them. There are plenty 

 of bee-keepers, " dyed in the wool," who spend a great deal 

 more of their time In the apiary than is absolutely necessary. 

 These are the true ones, the " fast colors," " warranted to 

 wear," who would keep bees in Greenland If they went there 

 to live. But I do not know that we should take all of their 

 time into account; for their labor Is its own reward. 



I know an old bee-keeper, a good friend of mine, who 

 after he has put his bees into the cellar for winter, goes to 

 see how they are every morning after he gets up. If he reads 

 this article he will probably recognize himself, and perhaps 

 many of our readers will think it is of themselves I speak. I 

 askt him once, when I accompanied him with a little lamp In 

 his silent visit, whether he did not think that this dally visit 

 was rather injurious than otherwise, as it was likely to dis- 

 turb the bees more or less. He evaded my question. 



In keeping bees in the way above mentioned, if they are 

 properly managed, the summer Increase should make up for 

 winter losses. It does with us, usually. The number of col- 

 onies should not vary more than 20, say from 75 to 95. If 

 they become less numerous a little more time and expense 

 should be put upon them till they have regained their loss. 



If they become more numerous they may be equalized with 

 other apiaries less fortunate. 



Readers who are unaccustomed to bee-culture may think 

 that this Is only theory, but It Is bona-fide practice. We have 

 carried on this method for 25 years or more, with from 3 to 

 6 apiaries, and the wages figured In this article are the wages 

 we have paid for this kind of work for 15 or IS years past. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



The Use of Shallow Extracting-Frames, Etc. 



BT EDWIN BEVISS. 



In reply to Mr. Tyrrell's question (see page 732, for 

 1897) as to why I prefer to use frames 6 inches deep for ex- 

 tracting, I will say that in the production of extracted honey 

 I prefer to use a hive of greater qapacity than the S-frame or 

 even the lO-frame Langstroth. I use some of the Dadant 

 hives, which are 21 inches long and 12}^ inches deep, outside 

 measure, and take 10 frames. 



I now make for my own use a modified Dadant hive, 20 

 Inches long and 12 Inches deep, to take 10 frames. This 

 change was made because these hives take the same length 

 of top-bar and bottom-bar as the Langstroth or dovetailed 

 hive. Every supply dealer handles these, and any supply 

 manufacturer will cut the end-bars of the proper length at a 

 trifling additional cost. Besides, If one wants to use these 

 hives for comb honey, they will take the same sized super as 

 the 10-frame Langstroth. 



It is Impracticable to tier up hives of this capacity. 

 The frames are too large for convenience In extracting, and 

 putting on another hive gives too much additional room at 

 one time. Hence, I use a super taking 10 frames six inches 

 deep. These frames are much nicer to handle than the Lang- 

 stroth frame, and of course much nicer than any frame of a 

 larger size than the Langstroth. 



When using the 8-frarae Langstroth hive for extracted 

 honey it is almost, or quite, a necessity to use bee-zinc, and if 

 bee-zinc is used the 8-frame hive does not give the queen suf- 

 ficient breeding-room. This is true of most of the queens in 

 my yard. How it may be with those in Mr. Tyrrell's 1 am 

 unable to say. If his queens are of only S-frame Langstroth 

 hive capacity he had better turn his attention to their Im- 

 provement. 



With brood-chambers the size I have given, the queen so 

 seldom goes above that bee-zinc is not needed. Some claim 

 that bees will work just as well with the zinc as without It, 

 but I have not found it so. 



On the subject of the production of all extracted honey it 

 is not worth while to make any further remarks. It was not 

 expected that those already made would influence anybody's 

 actions. 



Yes, Mr. Tyrrell, if you kick those 8-frame hives when 

 full of bees and honey, better kick them very carefully. Valor 

 is not half so commendable as discretion In a case like this. 



Decatur Co., Iowa. 



Marketing Honey — Influence of Early Reports. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



During the last few years great progress has been made 

 In the science of producing houey ; few if any other branches 

 of agriculture have kept pace with us, but in one most Impor- 

 tant respect — the marketing of our product — we are not much 

 farther advanced than were the bee-keepers of 50 or even 

 100 years ago ; and altho of late our product Is secured in a 

 much more convenient and attractive form, which requires 

 more labor and expense to the producer, the price has In the 

 last few years steadily declined until at present It does not 

 much, If any, exceed the cost of production, at least to those 

 In the Northern and Middle States. Numerous reasons have 

 been advanced as to the cause or reason of this steady de- 

 cline in price, such as overproduction, under-consumptlou, 

 adulteration, Increast production, cheaper prices of fruit, etc. 

 Now, in my opinion (and also in the opinion of all the bee- 

 keepers with whom I have discust the matter) many bee- 

 keepers themselves have unintentionally done a great deal 

 towards lowering the price of late, by reporting large, or very 

 large, expected crops. I think all will admit that the actual 

 crop, as a whole, has been greatly overestimated and exagger- 

 ated the last two years. 



If 1 am right, all the large buyers and dealers In honey 

 take one or more bee-papers, and while it is not likely that 

 they read them as closely as a bee-keeper does, they look them 

 over closely enough, no doubt, to see what the crop is ex- 



