646 
OVERSTOCKING 
the dead bees out of the entrances, as it 
may not be practicable for the owner to 
make a visit when roads are bad. 
For building up outyard bees the reader 
is referred to Building Up Colonies, Nu¬ 
cleus, and Increase. 
FAILING LOCATIONS. 
Experience has shown, in many in¬ 
stances, that a yard which in years gone 
by has furnished tons of honey is now 
practically worthless, or so nearly so that 
the moving of the bees to some more 
favorable location is a necessity. For ex¬ 
ample, four or five years ago an apiary 
furnished an abundance of basswood 
honey; but the basswoods have all been cut 
off; there is no clover and the field is 
worthless. Again, a locality had once fur¬ 
nished immense quantities of white clover; 
but intensive agriculture has set in, and 
clover pasturage has given way to immense 
wheat fields. The inroads of civilization 
sometimes cut off the honey resources of a 
locality; at other times they augment them 
very considerably. There are a few loca¬ 
tions in New York State that formerly gave 
very little honey until the farmers in recent 
years introduced buckwheat to such an 
extent that these are now excellent honey 
locations; and the yield of this dark rich 
honey plays a considerable part in the net 
profits of the season. In California some 
sage locations that were formerly good 
were ruined by fire. In other places in the 
State the planting of orange groves has 
made these places good for bees. 
a scale hive at an out-apiary. 
It is a well-known and established fact, 
that one yard may yield quite a crop of 
honey while another, only a few miles dis¬ 
tant, requires to be fed. It is highly im¬ 
portant to be able to tell just what the bees 
are doing at stated periods during the sea¬ 
son. One beekeeper kept a hive on scales 
at each yard; and every time he visited 
one he consulted the scales. If they indi¬ 
cated an increase of several pounds, he 
knew the bees in this apiary needed more 
room, and were also liable to swarm; but, 
if they indicated a loss of several pounds, 
he inferred that the whole yard was losing 
likewise, and that some colonies needed to 
be fed. Of course, the hive on the scale 
should contain a fair average colony. In 
many cases it is not always possible to 
visit yards at regular periods, and in that 
case some resident near the apiary can be 
employed to watch the scales, and report by 
postal card or telephone. See Scale 
Hive. 
A CAUTION ABOUT ENTERING INTO THE 
OUT-APIARY BUSINESS. 
While there are many beekeepers who 
have brains and capacity enough to man¬ 
age a series of out-apiaries, there are also 
more who should never think of going into 
the business. To be a keeper of several 
out-apiaries means great perseverance and 
a good deal of system, besides ability to 
manage not only the bees, but the help 
who are to take care of them. If one 
cannot make 50 or 60 colonies pay in one 
location, he should not delude himself by 
establishing a series of out-apiaries. The 
man who can not make a small business 
pay probably will not make a large one do 
so. When one can manage successfully his 
home apiary, it may be profitable, as soon 
as the increase is sufficient, to take a part 
of it to an outyard. 
OVERSTOCKING.— This means putting 
more colonies in a locality than can be 
supported profitably. Sometimes a local 
beekeeper makes the mistake of putting too 
many bees in a place; but it more often 
happens that another, observing that the 
locality is good, brings in one or more 
yards, thus crowding the territory that was 
already overstocked in the first place. See 
under Apiary, Backlot Beekeeping, 
Farmer Beekeeping, and Out-apiaries. 
A given locality with only ten colonies 
to gather the nectar in it may show a large 
average per colony—perhaps 200 or 300 
pounds. When the number is tripled or 
quadrupled, the average will be cut down 
a half. The locality should be carefully 
studied, and only that number of colonies 
used which on an average, one year with 
another, will give the largest results in 
honey, with a minimum of labor and capi¬ 
tal. If 75 hives during an average season 
would furnish an average of 150 pounds 
to the hive, then, perhaps, the number 
might be increased to 100 or even 150. If, 
