1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



product of 1,5(^0 colonies, with an averaseof 15 pounds per 

 colony. It is difficult to esliniale exactly how many colonies 

 are actually kept within the above radius, but from various 

 inquiries among the bee-kfepers, and from personal observa- 

 tions, I find that 1,500 colonies to be abi>ut the number kept. 

 The average of 15 pounds per colony represents the actual 

 production very closely. 



The average anaount of honey produced around Philadel- 

 phia by those erauloying the latest improved hive.s and appara- 

 tus, and managing their bees carefully, is from '25 to 50 

 pounds of comb honey, or from 40 to 75 pounds of extracted 

 honey per colony ; naturally there are exceptions to this rule, 

 some of the bee-keepers obtaining laiger returns, duo to an 

 extra amount of energy and skill on their part ; occasionally 

 large yields are gathered as the result of an abundatit yield 

 of nectar by the flowers; such yields are aualagous to a good 

 year for farm crops, or a good fruit year, and occur at inter- 

 vals of five or ten years apart ; in estimating the returns re- 

 ceived from the bees, these extra-good seasons do not increase 

 the ratio of average production, on account of being counter- 

 balanced by an occasional year when the honey crop is a fail- 

 ure, when the flowers secrete little or perhaps no nectar what- 

 ever. 



I believe a safe estimate for the production around this 

 section, so far as comb honey is concerned, is about 25 pounds 

 per colony during the regular honey-Pow In May and June ; 

 and to this wo can frequently add about 15 pounds during 

 the fall months, making a total of 40 pounds; allowing each 

 colony to provide its winter stores in addition to the above. 



At this point I wish to call attention to the fact that some 

 extra-strong colonies will gather 60, 70, oreven more, pounds 

 of surplus honey in a season, but to bring the overage of a 

 whole apiary, including the weaker colonies, to 40 pounds, 

 requires extra-good management. 



The price received for this honey by the Philadelphia bee- 

 keeper is about 15 cents per pound ; many receive more, how- 

 ever, and that is usu.illy the result of shrewd business talent ; 

 but 15 cents represents the selling price at which we can dis- 

 pose of our honey readily, and in quantity if neces-iary ; hence 

 we find that our returns are about $6.00 per colony, as 

 the result of considerable hard work. 



The production of extracted honey will yield a somewhat 

 larger cash return per colony, where the bee-keeper is able 

 to readily dispose of the same at 10 cents per pound, but it is 

 diffliult to sell large quantities of extracted honey, except at 

 a price yielding no profit to the producer. 



The quality of the honey gathered in the Phildelphia dis- 

 trict Is good, generally speaking ; it is not of the superior am- 

 ber shade of basswood honey, nor quite so flne flavored as the 

 white clover honey of our Western States ; but it is far supe- 

 rior in taste to the light-colored basswood honey, consigned to 

 our city from the large apiaries of New York and Vermont, 

 which is considered by our wholesale dealers the acme of all 

 honey-production. The consumer of honey will prefer our 

 home-produced article, to the vaunted basswood honey, after 

 one trial in nearly every instance. 



The source of our flow of honey during June is white 

 clover, with the admixture of nectar from several trees, bloom- 

 ing about the same time ; such as the tulip tree, basswood, 

 catalpa, honey-locust and others; also the honey from the 

 blossoms of the onion, which is extensively cultivated in the 

 market gardens around the city, some of these giving the 

 honey a darker color, and a slightly different flavor from pure 

 white clover honey. The sources of this dark honey some- 

 times fall, and we have at such times obtained fine white 

 clover honey without any admixture. The honey gathered on 

 the opposite side of the Delaware, in New Jersey, is generally 

 of this kind, because the honey-yielding trees do not abound 

 there. 



The honey gathered during August and September is 

 principally from buckwheat, and enough honey from asters 

 and guldenrod to take away the rank flavor of pure buckwheat 

 honey. During some seasons the fall flowers, particularly 

 asters, yield so abundanlly that but little buckwheat honey is 

 stored, the honey being equal in flavor and appearance to the 

 early summer crop. 



We frequently read in the bee-journals how to prepare 

 our comb honey in attractive shape for the market, and it Is 

 well for all of us to gradeour honey carefully. Beautiful white 

 section-boxes, nicely capped, without any leaks, should always 

 be sorted to themseUes, and will at all times command a fancy 

 price; while a second grade of darker honey, and boxes with 

 some few cells not capped over, can be sold somewhat cheaper, 

 and will therefore find a ready sale. We can also have a third 

 quality of comb honey, such sections as the bee-keepers from 

 a distance can never send to market — sections that are not 

 fully capped over, perhaps rne-fourth of the cells remaining 

 uncapped; it Is always more profitable to sell this kind of 

 honey than to hold it over for the bees to finish the following 

 season ; the remuneration obtained for it will be perhaps not 

 much over half of that obtained for first-class honey, but it 

 will help to swell the general income from the bees, and form 

 an item which the bee-keeper, who ships his honey to a dis- 

 tant market, can never take advantage of. 



Unless I am greatly mistaken, there are no bee-keepers 

 around Philadelphia who make honey-production an exclusive 

 business as a means of gaining a livelihood, and I do not think 

 that the production of honey holds out sufficient Inducement 

 to a live, energetic man to engage in, with the above end 

 in view ; but as an auxiliary branch it certainly offers a rich 

 field to all of the near-by farmers, who attend the retail mar- 

 kets of pur city and dispose of their farm products direct to 

 the consumer. Vast quantities of honey could thus be sold, 

 netting the producer the highest possible return, and ma- 

 terially augmenting the income of our rural population. If 

 comb honey were thus displayed for saleon the farmer's stalls, 

 the conditions of a poor demand for honey would soon fade 

 away, and give place to an ever-increasing demand for good 

 honey produced in our immediate neighborhood. 



The price realized by the farmer would always remain at 

 the top notch, nor need he ever fear the competition of the 

 large honey-producers who ship to the city from a distance, 

 any more than he fears the inroads on his trade of the egg and 

 butter dealers, who sell cheaper than he does; he always 

 manages to sell his produce of that kind at a little higher 

 figure than the dealers ask for theirs. 



To secure a good supply of honey, it is necessary to stimu- 

 late the bees early in the season, ensuring plenty of worker- 

 bees when the honey harvest arrives. Mr. G. M. Doolittle 

 has contributed many excellent articles on the production of 

 comb honey ; one of his methods is to have all swarming over 

 before the large basswood honey-flow arrives. All his colo- 

 nies that have not swarmed up to the beginning of the bass- 

 wood flow, are "swarmed " artificially. Mr. Doolittle's plan 

 is to have the colonies in the utmost populous condition dur- 

 ing the honey-flow ; in this lies the secret of harvesting large 

 crops of honey, as Mr. Doolittle's success in that line has 

 amply proven. Philadelphia, Pa. 



Five-Baaded Bees — Preventing Swarming. 



BT BEV. W. P. FATLOR. 



Having had a good deal to do with the very yellow bees, 

 and after spending much money, time and labor to propagate 

 them ; and having tried them from every source obtainable — 

 from the East, West, North and South — I have been requested 

 to give my opinion of them. I have hesitated to do so, for 

 fear of trampling upon somebody's feet, but what I shall 



