A YEAR'S WORK IN AN OUT-APIARY 57 



old, and free from the rheumatism which I now enjoy (?), I should 

 not hesitate to undertake the working of six yards containing from 50 

 to 75 colonies each, including the home yard. But my age, and rheuma- 

 tism In back and knees, to an extent which makes It very difficult to 

 "get to going" every morning, and often with only pain and weariness 

 during the whole day, prohibit me from taking a very active part in 

 these matters much longer. 



After preparing, crating, and marketing the honey produced by 

 the sixteen colonies at the out-apiary, worked as has been given on the 

 preceding pages, I summed up the product and found it as follows: 



Section honey sold 1763 pounds. 



Given to neighbors 42 _ 



Kept for home use 27 



Total 1832 



This divided by 16, the number of colonies worked for section 

 honey, gives the average product of each colony as 114% pounds, and 

 that In a season when my bee-keeping neighbors report but very In- 

 different success. Had the season been good during the bloom of only 

 one of the honey-producing flora this could easily have been 150 to 175 

 pounds, while good honey weather during all of the bloom would 

 doubtless have chronicled an average of 250 to 300 pounds. There is 

 also about 500 pounds stored in the reserve combs, ready for turning 

 into bees, etc., next spring, which Is fully as much as was on hand a 

 year ago, besides an Increase of nine good colonies. 



Through sickness at "shook-swarmlng" time, as given elsewhere, 

 and the generally poor season, the yield was only 105% pounds of section 

 honey per colony on an average in 1906. And here Doollttle must take 

 a back seat already and that with his own plan, for a report has come 

 to me from a party working with the plan (through reading the serial 

 in Gleanings in Bee Culture) of a yield of 135 lbs. from each colony 

 on an average; while another reports an average of three times as much 

 from the colonies worked by this plan as from those worked on his 

 most approved plans of the past. 



As I see it, this yield of 114% pounds per colony in a poor season 

 came from three reasons. First, the great number of bees in each hive 

 at the commencement of the harvest. A careful estimate of the emerg- 

 ing bees in hives worked on this plan in the home yard, where I could 

 more certainly verify these things by opening a hive or two set apart 

 for such work, every day or oftener, if I thought it necessary, would 

 give 76,431 bees on the stage of action at the time of the first "shook- 

 swarmlng," barring accidents. Then should we allow 16,431 for these 

 accidental deaths, which would be a greater loss than I would think 

 possible, we would still have 60,000 bees as the number to commence 

 work in the harvest from white clover, which is a mighty army, sure. 



The second reason was, that these 60,000 bees had no desire to 

 swarm, so they worked with great energy on every and all occasions, 

 when there was a day or hour, even, when it was suitable for a bee 

 to go out, or for the secretion of nectar. 



