24 DliPAKTMEXT UV AGRICULTURE 



at a^^■ time. The crop one year was 18,000 pounds of honey, 

 both comb and extracted. This was sold so that the net price 

 received was 12 cents per pound. After deducting 10 per cent 

 for interest and depreciation on the investment, the beekeeper 

 received $1,910 for his labor, which in all did not exceed 7 months 

 of the year. It might not be out of place to point out here that 

 this beekeeper is much past the prime of life, is not rugged in 

 health and took up beekeeping after business cares had com- 

 pelled him to abandon another business. Five hundred colonies 

 in 5 yards can be operated by one active person. And by using 

 in selling the honey that period of the year when the bees do 

 not need attention, an amount per colony equal to that secured 

 by the above-mentioned beekeeper can be realized, or $3,500 to 

 $3,700 per year. 



One apiary durmg the season of 1916 was increased from 

 45 to 90 colonies and 4,000 pounds of extracted' honey secured. 

 The wholesale cash value of tlie crop was $320. 



An apiary of 96 colonies yielded one year 7,000 pounds of 

 extracted honey, worth wholesale $490. Another of 8 colonies 

 was increased to 16 and $100 received for the crop of honey. 

 Another of 7 colonies was increased to 15 and a cash return of 

 $96 secured. Three thousand pounds of extracted honey sold 

 at $240 is the record for an apiary of 23 colonies which was 

 increased to 32. An average crop of 50 pounds of honey, both 

 comb and extracted, has been secured for the past 5 years from 

 an apiary of 50 colonies. The wholesale value of the crop was 

 ^^^y^. In another case the beekeeper of 5 colonies did not see 

 the bees between June 10 and September 15, yet the crop was 

 460 sections, worth wholesale $69, or $13.80 per colony. In 

 another case an apiary of 32 colonies yielded 3,600 pounds of 

 extracted honey, which was sold at a farmers' market, and 

 18 cents per pound realized, or $648. 



In each of these cases except the first, it is readily seen that 

 the number of colonies is so small that anything like a fair 

 estimate of the time and labor involved is difificult. In all 

 probability, in each case the time used was that which otherwise 

 would have been wasted. 



