316 THE APIARY. 



may be extracted ('S'4:9)', and the comb melted into wax 

 (858). 



Out- Apiaries. 



582. When an Apiarist wishes to make bee-culture his 

 special occupation, he should expect to keep bees in more than 

 one location. If he owns more than 120 colonies, we would ad- 

 vise his establishing an Out- Apiary. It is true that there are 

 many drawbacks to the cultivation of bees four or five miles 

 off, but there are also some advantages. The crop sometimes 

 fails in one locality, and is very good in another a short dis- 

 tance away. One apiary may be in a hilly country, where 

 white clover abounds, and another on low lands, where Tall 

 blossoms never fail. It is well— according to a familiar 

 proverb— not to "put all your eggs in one basket." 



In- many years' practice of keeping bees in five or six dif- 

 ferent apiaries, occupying a range of country about twenty 

 miles in widths we have found out that the crop will vary 

 greatly in a few miles, ovdng to the different flora of the 

 various localities, and more especially to the greater or less 

 amount of rain-fall at the proper time. We have also learned 

 that an apiary placed near a large body of water (the Mis- 

 sissippi), will produce less honey than one a mile or two 

 from it, owing to the smaller area of pasturage in reach of 

 the bees.* 



583. In establishing an Out-Apiary on some farmer's 

 land, the following must be taken into consideration : Select 

 a farm on which a grove or an orchard is near the house, 

 some distance from the road. The place ought to be, at least, 

 three miles in a bee-line from your own bee-farm. It is not 

 necessary that it should be more than four miles away. Mr. 

 J. M. Hambaugh, at Spring, 111., harvested altogether differ- 



* Some apiarists, among them Mr. B. W. Alexander, of Delanson, N. 

 Y., keep a very large number of bees in one apiary, the above named 

 apiarist keeping upwards of seven hundred colonies with great success 

 in one spot. This, however, will succeed only in extraordinary loca- 

 tions where almost the entire territory is occupied with honey-pro- 

 ducing plants. Such locations are rare. 



