PART IX. 



Extracts from the State Bee Keeper's Report. 



By FRANK C. PELLETT, State Bee Inspector 



The year 1913 has been a very favorable one to the bee keepers 

 of Iowa in spite of the severe drouth. There was an unusually 

 heavy honey flow from white clover over nearly the whole state, 

 and this w^as followed by a good fall flow in many localities. 



The business of honey production has been given so little pub- 

 licity until recently that there seems to be a very general idea 

 that the business does not amount to much in this state. On the 

 other hand the honey producing possibilities of other states have 

 been so widely advertised that Iowa bee keepers have been in- 

 duced to change locations, only to find, in many instances, that 

 they left a better locality than they found. In making a com- 

 parison of the value of the bees on the farms in Iowa with those 

 of other states it will be found that only one other state of equal 

 area exceeds that of our own. Without regard to area Iowa 

 ranks near the head of the list, only California, Texas, Missouri 

 and New York ranking ahead of her. California and Texas have 

 such exceedingly large areas that there is no fair basis for com- 

 parison and Missouri is but little ahead in spite of her greater 

 area. Area considered New York alone ranks ahead of us. Colo- 

 rado and Idaho whose possibilities in this direction have been so 

 widely advertised in our state, are both far behind us in value 

 of their apiaries in spite of their larger areas. The fact is, that 

 Iowa's bees are worth more than both of these states combined, 

 as shown by the census of 1910. 



The men who are engaged in honey production as an exclusive 

 business in this state are getting results equal to those derived 

 from other lines of agriculture wuth less capital invested and with 

 less risk. The fact that the business is open to men of small capi- 

 tal who are unable to engage in general farming because of the 

 high price of land surely makes it desirable to encourage the in- 

 dustry as far as possible. Bee keeping as a business requires high 

 grade talent and comparatively few men succeed in making it 

 profitable as an exclusive line. This is not the fault of the busi- 

 ness or of the locality, but of the men. It looks so easy that men 

 are not willing to serve an apprenticeship or take the necessary 



