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 marketing. 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- 
