118 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



Fig. 70 is from a photo taken Oct. 1. In the picture the 

 bee appears to be perfectly still, but these are not moving pic- 

 tures, and I assure you that that bee was in very lively motion 

 when taken. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



To a beekeeper who has more bees than he thinks advisable 

 to keep in the home apiary, pasturage and overstocking are 

 subjects of intense interest. The two subjects are intimately 

 connected. They are subjects so elusive, so difficult to learn 

 anything about very positively, that if I could well help myself 

 I think I should dismiss them altogether from contemplation. 

 But, like Banquo's ghost, they will not down. I must decide, 

 whetlier I will or not, how many colonies will overstock the 

 home field, unless I make the idiotic determination to keep all 

 at home with the almost certain result of obtaining no surplus. 

 I do not ex]iect ever to have any positive knowledge upon the 

 subject, because if I could find out with certainty just what 

 number of colonies a given area would support in one year. 

 I have no kind of assurance that the same kind of year will 

 ever occur again. ISo I act upon the guess that in my locality 

 it is never wise to have more than 100 colonies in one apiary, 

 and iiossibly 75 would be better. 



SURPLUS ARRANGEMENTS. 



The first surplus honey I obtained worth mentioning was 

 secured in boxes holding somewhere from 6 to 10 pounds. The 

 boxes had glass on one or more sides, and were placed on the 

 top of box hives. Then for a year or more my surplus was 

 extracted honey obtained with the old Peabody extractor (Fig. 

 2), in which the whole affair, can and all, revolves. 



SECTIONS. 



Then I started on sections of the four-piece kind, and later 

 used one-piece. I have used the 4^/4 x 4% x 1% size much moi'e 

 than any other. I have used a few hundreds of the tall sections, 

 but my market does not seem to like them any better, if as well. 



