beekeeping best as one man task average keeper will make most profit with colonies prepared by the united states department of 0 agrico ture service the average beekeeper will make the most profit if he limits his bust ness to colonies the number he can care for single handed the unit ed states department of agriculture says lie ile may be a first rite rate bee han dier iller but the temperament of a good iceman leeman generally Is not the tempera ment for managing employees efell clentry what one man can do one man can do practically all of the work required for or col cot onlea onles even burng dur ng rush seasons the department learned by studying tor for three years the records of beekeepers in widely separated regions of the country 11 ith an apiary of this size however hoever he will need some add dional means of income beekeeping Is at its best generally as a supplement to farming one man in new ew york state who farms acres and cares for 0 colonies of bees learned from experience that a 70 colony apiary Is equivalent to about 40 acrea u of ian land d in both income and labor one beekeeper who spends little time in his apiary and Is an inefficient employer of labor had a labor cost of more than 6 0 per colony he lost 53 cents a colony one year and 1 15 5 a colony tl e next year cut but not all good beemen are poor managers one who owns 1800 colonies reported a yield of about 2 20 pounds of extract ed honey from each colony and a to tal fat income of 13 in 1093 or a net income of 11 8 for each ho ir he worked with the bees lie ile hires labor talor an I 1 knows how to use it ot other er beemen have reported returns of 2 40 to an hour for their time in the ap ary practices studied the department has studied bee keeping leeping practices in colorado wyo ming utah idaho Alon montana tana iowa new york michigan ohio and minnesota during durin the next few y years ears the dep depart art ment will con its nation wide survey by studying beekeeping on the pacific coast on the D aeota plains in n texas and in the south