No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 261 



BEES AKD HONEY. 



By PROF. H. A. SURFACB, State Zoologist, and Prof, of Zoology in the Penn». State College. 



I find ^'Bees and Honey" is a popular subject when viewed from 

 the standpoint of the consumer, for there are very few persons in- 

 deed who do not enjoy this most delicious and healthful food; but 

 from the standpoint of the producer it is not so popular in this State, 

 as we do not have nearly as many bee-keepers as there should be to 

 supply the honey that is desired for use. 



I do not understand why there is not more Honey produced in 

 this great State of Pennsylvania, which has flowers of great variety, 

 producing nectar for the most excellent honey, almost all seasons 

 of the year, from early spring to late fall, unless it be that our 

 citizens have not learned the real art and science of bee-keeping. 

 In our State, Nature has done her w'ork, and is only waiting man- 

 kind to do his to make this State literally one that is "tlowing with 

 milk and honey." 



Since having taken up this subject in earnest, and studied it from 

 a printed and scientific source as well as by practical means, I have 

 become convinced that there is no subject along agricultural lines 

 that engages the attention of mankind concerning which the ma- 

 jority of people know so little and of which there is so much to learn 

 in order to be successful. At one time a man who kept a few bees 

 was called a "bee-keeper." Perhaps he was. To-day a man who 

 produces honey is known as a Bee-culturist or Apiculturist, just as 

 we have Agriculturists and Horticulturists, and he must know con- 

 cerning his business fully as much as his brothers know of their 

 business, respectively. When he gains a practical knowledge of his 

 profession it is certain to yield him greater returns for his compara- 

 tively small outlay than if he should engage in any other side line 

 of agriculture. Concerning the profits from Apiculture, when run 

 in a practical way, there can be no possible doubt, but it is to the 

 farmer who wishes to produce enough honey for his own family 

 and his immediate friends that I wish to speak. 



As President of the Pennsylvania State Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 I have been asked by Director Martin to prepare an address on "Bee- 

 Keeping" that might help the farmers of this State. To do this I 

 have prepared many slides for this occasion and shall use them as 

 I speak. 



The bee-keeper who is to succeed should know the facts of such 

 subjects, as the honey-producing plants, their date of appearance, 

 the yield and abundance, the general structures, habits and life- 

 history .of the honey-bees, the methods of handling bees with safety, 

 the manipulation of them to obtain the best results, modern hives, 

 the best methods of changing from the old to the modern hives, the 

 use of foundation or sheets of wax where the comb is to be found, 

 methods of getting rid of the drones where not wanted and of pro- 

 ducing drones where needed, the methods of producing queens or 

 buying queens of a desired strain or race and introducing them into 

 the hive, and getting rid of those already there, clipping the wings 

 of the queen and thus prevent loss of bees by swarming, dividing 



