OUT-APIARIES 
C41 
well as white clover, will support twice as 
many colonies as one where there is only 
white clover. The presence of considerable 
sweet clover will help materially. 
In western territory where alfalfa and 
white clover are grown, the number of 
stocks will depend on the number of acres 
grown as well as on the time when the al¬ 
falfa is cut. Some ranchmen cut their 
alfalfa earlier than others. Some grow 
alfalfa for seed. Where seed is raised, a 
much larger number of colonies can be 
handled to advantage. 
It is almost impossible to give a definite 
number per apiary. One may have to ex¬ 
periment to determine how many he can 
keep. In an eastern locality if there have 
been early spring rains and there is a con¬ 
siderable amount of alsike, sweet, and 
white clover, and especially if there is some 
basswood, 75 colonies to the yard could be 
operated to advantage. If there is only 
white clover available, probably not over 30 
could be placed. In that case the farmers 
should be urged to put in alsike. If they 
can be induced to give it a trial on the 
basis of the beekeeper’s furnishing the seed 
at half price, they will probably continue 
to use it year in and year out, with the re¬ 
sult that the locality will be measurably im¬ 
proved. (See “Alsike” under Clover.) 
As a rule it is better to have too few colo¬ 
nies than too many to the yard; and it 
should always be borne in mind that strong, 
powerful colonies will gather relatively 
more than the weak or medium. See Build¬ 
ing Up Colonies. 
In these days of automobiles, by which 
one can cover three or four yards in the 
afternoon, it is not so necessary as it was 
in the olden days of the slower horse and 
wagon to have so large a number of colo¬ 
nies per yard. For that reason, if for no 
other, it is safer to err on the smaller 
number. 
Some yards will show up much better 
than others year after year. In that case 
a larger number can be placed in such 
yards. 
DISTANCE BETWEEN APIARIES, AND LOCATION 
THEREOF. 
A location for an out-apiary must, of 
course, be far enough distant from the 
home apiary not to interfere much; but 
•21 
just how far is best, it is not easy to de¬ 
cide. Perhaps, all things considered, a 
good distance is from three to five miles 
apart. As the area of flight is a circle, the 
ideal plan of locating out-apiaries so as to 
occupy fully all adjoining territory is to 
put them in hexagonal form, in which case 
a circle of six will surround the home 
apiary. 
In the diagram, A represents the home 
apiary, and B, C, D, E, F, G, the out- 
apiaries, at equal distances from A and 
from each other. If more than seven are 
needed then a second series may be started, 
as at K, M, L, indicated by the letters. The 
circles representing the area of flight from 
each apiary are seen to overlap each other; 
but this is at the outer parts, where the 
ground is more sparsely occupied, and the 
doubling on the same ground is compen¬ 
sated by the convenience of the shorter dis¬ 
tance to go from one apiary to another. 
But this ideal plan, altlio a good thing to 
work from as a basis, is not likely ever to 
be fully carried out. Many reasons will 
make it desirable to vary. The roads may 
run in such directions as to make a differ¬ 
ence; no good place may be found for any 
apiary at some of thfi points. It may be 
remarked that the area of flight is not al¬ 
ways a circle. An apiary placed in a valley 
between two ranges of hills might have an 
oblong area, the bees perhaps flying twice 
as far along the line of the valley as in the 
other direction. When an apiary is on a 
hill overlooking a valley bees will fly fur¬ 
ther than when on a level. (See Flight 
of Bees.) If only a single out-apiary is 
