20 Beekeeping 



annual crop at 25 to 30 sections. For extracted-honey, 

 larger averages may be expected, perhaps of 40 to 60 pounds. 

 The financial returns depend entirely on the market and the 

 method of selling the honey. If sold by the beekeeper 

 .direct to the consumer, a pound of extracted-honey brings 

 from 10 to 20 cents, while a section of comb-honey sells at 

 15 to 25 cents. If sold to dealers, the return is less but 

 there is less liability of financial loss and less time consumed 

 in selling. Naturally these estimates must be dependent 

 on the quality of the product and on the neatness of the 

 final package. In addition to the labor there will be other 

 expenses for supplies such as comb-foundation, sections and 

 occasional new hives and fixtures, not counting the apparatus 

 used in increasing the apiary. These may cost from 50 

 cents to $1.00 for each colony in a season. Estimates such 

 as these are really of little value since the returns differ so 

 greatly according to the kind of honey obtained and the 

 facilities for rnarketing. For example, the white clover 

 honey of the North brings a higher wholesale price than 

 the amber honeys which come from most regions of the 

 South but, on the other hand, the southern beekeeper en- 

 joys a longer nectar-secreting season and usually obtains 

 larger crops from each colony. 



Another factor which must not be overlooked is the bee- 

 keeper. Anyone may reap a heavy harvest in the season 

 when nectar is abundant but in the lean years, which come 

 more often than desired, only the good beekeeper makes the 

 most of the nectar at hand. And then come years of prac- 

 tically total dearth of nectar, when feeding is necessary to 

 keep the colonies alive. 



Taking all these factors into consideration, it may be 

 justly concluded that a successful beekeeper is usually well 

 repaid for the time he spends in his work, if he considers 

 the return in the sense of wage. He may also consider that 

 he has received the interest on his original relatively small 

 investment. He usually averages little more than this, 

 however, so that beekeeping is in no sense a "get-rich- 



