PASTURAGE. 405 



Hancock County, Illinois, was estimated at about 200,000 

 pounds, which made an average of less than half a pound 

 per acre. 36,000 pounds of this was our own crop, and 

 the county did not contain one-tenth of the bees that could 

 have been kept profitably on it. Yet, at this low rate, the 

 crop of Illinois alone, with the same percentage of bees, 

 would have been 15,000,000 pounds. "We cannot form an 

 adequate idea of the enormous amount of honey, which is 

 wasted from the lack of bees to harvest it. 



713. In our own experience in the Mississippi Valley, 

 we have found eighty to one hundred colonies to be the 

 number from which the most honey could be expected in 

 one Apiary. Dr. C. C. Miller in his interesting work "A 

 Tear Among the Bees," saj's also that one hundred colonies 

 is the best number in one location. Mr. Heddon strongly 

 urges bee-keepers not to locate within any area already 

 occupied by an Apiary of one hundred colonies or more. 

 The extensive experience of both these Apiarists confirms 

 ours, but we must remember that locations differ greatly. 



714. In all arrangements, aim to save every step for 

 the bees that you possibly can. With the alighting-board 

 properly arranged, the grass kept down, or better still, 

 coal-ashes or sand (668) spread in front of the apron- 

 board (343), bees will be able to store more honey, even 

 if they have to go a considerable distance for it, than they 

 otherwise could from pasturage nearer at hand. Many bee- 

 keepers utterly neglect all suitable precautions to facilitate 

 the labors of their bees, as though they imagined them to 

 be miniature locomotives, always fired up, and capable of 

 an indefinite amount of exertion. A bee cannot put forth 

 more than a certain amount of phj'sical effort, and a large 

 portion of this ought not to be spent in contending against 

 diflSculties from which it might easily be guarded. They 

 may often be seen panting after their return from labor, 

 and so exhausted as to need rest before they enter the hive. 



