Apicultute. 



260 



fMARCH 1908. 



His expenses for the year consist of 

 time, which cannot justly be reckoned, 

 since he can afford this (say an hour a 

 week) out of his spare moments ; rent of 

 land occuped by the hives, which, seeing 

 that hives are best kept on barren pieces 

 of land, may be generously estimated at 

 Re. 1 ; and sugar for feeding the bees;, 

 which can be estimated at Rs. 2 per 

 hive. His expenses, therefore, are Rs. 11. 



From each hive he ought to get 40 lbs. 

 of surplus comb-honey. This amount is 

 secured at home in bad seasons. So let 

 us be well on the safe side and place his 

 harvest at half that amount. Thus he 

 has 100 lbs. of honey to dispose of, for 

 which he ought certainly to get Re 1 per 

 lb. But if, by mismanagement, he only 

 gets the half of this, his gross returns are 

 Rs. 50 ; and his nett profit is, therefore, 

 Rs. 39— that is, nearly 35%. 



But in addition to this he has also 

 secured at least one swarm from each 

 hive, each of which he ought easily to 

 be able to sell for Rs. 6 to Rs. 10. In fact, 

 his nett profits should show somewhere 

 in the neighbourhood of 60%. 



Now, let us look at it from another 

 point of view. The bees in three chat- 

 ties are worth about Rs. 6. But when 

 they are established on frames in a pro- 

 per hive, they are brought under man's 

 complete control. What are they worth 

 then ? I take it, at least double. Bees 

 in a chatty may die out — they may be 

 robbedandkilled by bambaras or starved 

 to death in a severe Monsoon— and man 

 can do little or nothing to save them. 

 In a bar-frame hive, however, he can al- 

 ways save them. Therefore he runs no 

 risk of losing: his capital. The difference 

 in value, therefore, is much the same as 

 between Consols and a Venezuelan mine ! 

 The apiarist's assets, then, are consider- 

 ably enhanced by a little work. If, instead 

 of selling his swarms, he elects to add 

 them to his apiary, he will open the 

 second year's account with a capital of 

 about Rs. 175, from which, reckoning his 

 harvest as before, he reaps a nett profit 

 of Rs. 78, in addition to ten swarms 

 valued, at the lowest, at Rs. 60— which 

 is not far short of 80%. If he choose to 

 retain these ten swarms, his third year 

 will open with a capital outlay of Rs. 300, 

 from which his honey alone, on the 

 lowest computation, brings him in over 

 50%. And it must be remembered that;, 

 since his experience will, during the 

 past two years, have increased consi- 

 derably, his harvest will undoubtedly be 

 doubled and he will realize higher prices 

 for his honey, Withtwenty hives, there- 

 fore, he should net a profit of about 

 Rs. 300 to Rs. 400. 



DISPOSING OF SURPLUS SWARMS. 



At first the apiarist will, no doubt, 



find some trouble in disposing of surplus 

 swarms. He should, therefore, when- 

 ever he receives an order for one, be 

 careful to supply only gentle bees. This 

 will encourage other ('perhaps more 

 timid) purchasers— especially if he lets 

 it be known that his bees have put a few 

 hundred rupees in his pocket. There is 

 something peculiarly attractive to the 

 ordinary mind in watching somethiug 

 else coining rupees for his benefit ! One 

 can fancy the old Latin writer winking 

 as he inscribed those well-known words : 

 ' ' Sic vos, non vobis, mellificatis apes. " 

 When you receive an order for a 

 swarm, shake it off the branch on which 

 it has clustered into a box, and cover it 

 at once with a strip of butter-muslin or 

 mosquito-veiling doubled, and tie or 

 tack the muslin securely round it. It 

 can then be sent off by train without 

 delay. It should, of course, be labelled 

 to be carried with the muslin down- 

 wards. Probably, however, your cus- 

 tomer will ask for a stock of bees already 

 on frames. In this case you will charge 

 him for the hive. One such as I have 

 described is well worth Rs. 25 ; and 

 you ought to charge at least Rs. 2 

 to Rs. 2"50 per frame of bees. It will 

 be necessary, also, to secure the frames, 

 lest they jolt about in transit. This 

 can be done with a strip of wood 

 screwed above them straight across. 

 For a very long journey— say to India 

 — a special hive should be made with 

 windows in its sides covered with per- 

 forated zinc ; and in any case a strip 

 of this material will need to be tacked 

 lightly over the entrance-hole. See that 

 the bees have enough stores to feed 

 on. And, of course, you must secure 

 the floor to the body-box. For a long 

 journey, also, the combs should be wired 

 into the frames. This can be done by 

 means of four or five perpendicular wires 

 (No. 30 tinned) drawn taut, which are 

 sunk into the foundation or starter by 

 means of a Woiblet Spur-embedder, 

 which costs about ls.Qd. in England. This 

 will prevent the combs from breaking 

 down when the hive is shaken in transit. 



EUROPEAN BEES. 



At present we may place the value 

 of European bees in Ceylon at about 

 Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 per frame — or six 

 frames at Rs. 60 to Rs. 75. As the 

 number of stocks in the Island increases, 

 the price will, of course, sink. But 

 they should always be worth at least 

 Rs. 30 for six frames. They are so 

 easy to handle — as an American adver- 

 tiser states, they will "come and eat 

 out of your hand"!— that any one that 

 can save up enough money to purchase 

 a stock will inevitably prefer to have 

 them. 



