34 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



An average of 117 2-3 pounds of comb honey per colony, 

 and an increase of 164 per cent would be nothing so very 

 remarkable in some localities, but I consider it so in a 

 place where there is no basswood, buckwheat, nor any- 

 thing else to depend upon for a crop except white clover. 

 Certainly it is not the usual thing here, for I have never 

 repeated it since, neither do I expect ever to repeat it 

 unless I should again be so unfortunate as to be re- 

 duced to the number of 67 colonies. 



AVERAGE YIELD DEPENDS MUCH UPON NUMBERS. 



In general, I suspect that the number of colonies in 

 a place is not sufficiently taken into account. I remember 

 at one time A. I. Root commenting upon the case of a 

 beginner with a very few colonies making a fine record, 

 and he thought it was because of the great enthusiasm 

 of the bee-keeper as a beginner. I think instead of. 

 unusual enthusiasm it was unusual opportunities for the 

 bees. I can easily imagine a place where five colonies 

 might store continuously for five months, and where 

 a hundred colonies on the same ground might not store 

 three weeks. There might be flowers yielding contin- 

 uously throughout the entire season, but so small in 

 quantity that although they might keep a very few colo- 

 nies storing right along, they would not yield enough 

 for the daily consumption of more than ten to fifty 

 colonies. Remember that the surplus is the smaller part 

 of the honey gathered by the bees. Adrian Getaz com- 

 putes that at least 200 pounds of honey is needed for 

 home consumption by an average colony. So far as en- 

 thusiasm and interest are concerned, I do not believe 

 my stock is any less of those commodities than it was 

 forty years ago. A born bee-keeper never loses his 

 enthusiasm, 



