14 BULLETIN 489, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to increase the planting of clovers, both as cover crops and for 

 forage, and this naturally would result in an increase in the quan- 

 tity and also in some places the quality of the honey crop. The 

 total sum of increased revenue to the State which would accrue 

 from the use of better methods, apparatus, and stock is so great that 

 quite naturally the average beekeeper does not credit it. Fortunately 

 the returns of a few of the better beekeepers are known, so as to 

 permit a fair estimate of the possibilities, and some cases will be 

 cited. 



In the northwestern part of the State a man and his son operating 

 about 500 colonies in three apiaries secure an average income per 

 colony of $5.60 from bulk comb-honey. In Iredell County, from 47 

 colonies in 1913, a beekeeper received $663 for his crop of bulk comb- 

 honey. Near the center of the State a beekeeper started the season 

 of 1915 with 80 colonies, increased to 125, and secured 5,000 pounds 

 of bulk comb-honey, for which he received more than $600. In the 

 southeastern part of the State in 1914 a producer owning 150 colonies 

 secured 21 fifty-gallon barrels of extracted honey, selling for nearly 

 $900. In Alamance County 23 colonies in 1915 produced section comb- 

 honey yielding nearly $9 per colony, and the care given was practi- 

 cally nothing, except to hive swarms and to put on and remove 

 supers. 



Many cases like the foregoing may be cited, but these indicate the 

 possibilities, except that it must be borne in mind — and this is said 

 with no thought of disparagement — that these beekeepers, without 

 exception, are making some error in their work. They fail to use full 

 sheets of foundation, fail to control swarming, use inferior stock, or 

 neglect to give extra winter protection to the hive, all of which reduce 

 the production per colony, so that the figures given above do not 

 indicate the maximum which it is possible to obtain. 



It is also possible for those in the western part of the State to 

 secure at least the usual market price of 28 cents instead of 20 cents 

 a pound for their beeswax, and those in the eastern part who are now 

 receiving but 10 cents for their section comb-honey to receive at least 

 L5 cents, the usual market price for this grade of honey. 



To show the possibilities more fully, the errors of a few of the 

 best beekeepers will be pointed out in detail. The best bulk comb- 

 honey producer visited does not have his colonies as strong as would 

 seem possible under the existing conditions of the nectar supply, and 

 the resultant yield is lessened. He does not give any extra winter 

 protection and this decreases the crop. The most successful 

 comb-honey producer visited does not use full sheets of founda- 

 tion in the brood-chamber, consequently enormous numbers of 

 drones are uselessly reared and fed to the detriment of the work- 

 ing force of the colony, and the surplus honey crop is reduced. He 



