MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 61 



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

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



Section honey sold 1763 pounds 



Given to neighbors. . • • 42 pounds 



Kept for home use 27 pounds 



Total 1832 pounds 



This divided by 16, tlie number of colonies worked for section honey, 

 i;ives the average product of each colony as 114% pounds, and that in a 

 season when my beekeeping neighbors report but very indifferent sue«3ess. 

 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-swaxming'' 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 Doolittle 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 pounds 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. 



Since the first edition of this work was printed I have received scores 

 of testimonials from all parts of the United States and Canada, as well 

 as some from the Old World, telling me of the success of this plan in the 

 hands of others. These appreciative words, also wishing me success and 

 long life, have been very encouraging to me. Some have modified the plan 

 to a certain extent, or added to it according to their liking; but, so far as 

 reported, only one person has said aught but that his success has been 

 greater with it than by any thing he had ever used before when working- 

 tor section honey. As I said in the preface, I "expected that others would 

 build different structures on this plan," for it is but natural for the enter- 

 prising beekeeper to think that some of the things which he himself has 

 dug out just a little superior to those dug out by others; so a little is 

 added here and a little there, often to the advantage of the best plan ever 

 put before the public. In this way our beekeeping of today has grown to 

 be a "mountain" in comparison with the "little" hill which it was a century 

 ago. And I believe it will keep on gTowing and progressing, as decade 

 after decade passes, until the things of the present will not compare with 

 \vhat will be seen in our beloved pursuit when the year 1950 or 2000 is 

 ushered in. And such a progression is what every apiarist should strive 

 after. 



As I see it, this yield of 1141/2 pounds per colony in a poor season 

 came from three reasons. First, the great number of bees in ea«h hive at 

 the commencement of the harvest. A careful estimate of the emerging bees 

 in hives worked on this plan in the home yard, where I could more certainly 



