550 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



any honey. The fall harvest from goldenrod and 

 other fall dowers was excellent, and I think nearly 

 all will have sufficient winter stores. But the rate 

 of increase, which is almost entirely by natural 

 swarming, is low, many bee-keepers not having a 

 single swarm come otT; and the amount of surplus 

 honey is ridiculously small — far below our usual 

 average. Maine is not a bad State for bees; what 

 wo want is more improved methods in handling 

 them and their products. I think almost the whole 

 country, or the northern part of it at least, needs a 

 universal frame, so that it may be changed easily 

 from hive to hive and man to man the country over; 

 then we must solve the winter problem, so that our 

 bees will all live through and come out in the spring 

 strong and healthy, and then we shall be able to 

 gather up some of the best of all sweet things, 

 which are now wasted on the desert air. 

 Bethel, Oxford Co., Me., Oct. 3, 1883. 



CALIFORNIA— WM. MUTH-RASMUSSEN. 



I 55! No. of colonies.! Pounds of Honey. L< 



|-„|j 1 p— 1^^ 



Locality. =1 i 5 ? L; „• Ld ■d « -: gl 



iMialalMlHlulH I m l H I _ . 



Los Angeles Co. . I 391 I I [4220 111 I 



Ventura Co 160 7.500; 220000 220000 2000 



Kern Co ! 3' 400 



Alameda Co I i 1.500 „I^'L„. 



InvoCo 161 I S6.5:2.1450! tiOOO j 3750 1 33200 | 100 



Napa Co I 6, 50 50[150[ 250i 350j 2000 1000 3350 | 100 



Total reportedy^UlS^ ' ' iu735'2:«00'228000 47.W 331550 2200 



I hereby send you ray report for this State, as far 

 as I have been able to make it out. 



Owing to unfavorable atmospheric conditions in 

 the spring, and in some localities to a total lack of 

 rain during last winter, the flowers throughout the 

 State have failed to yield an average amount of hon- 

 ey this year. In the southern counties, which is the 

 principal honey-producing part of the State, the 

 season is regarded as nearly a complete failure, but 

 few bee-keepers securing part of a crop. Mr. E. 

 Gallup writes me that the amount of honey is all 

 guesswork. Others positively refuse to give any es- 

 timate of the honey crop. Owing to the failure, 

 many bee-keepers are discouraged, and seem to take 

 no interest in the matter; wherefore I find it difH- 

 cult to make out any report, which will be at all sat- 

 isfactory. Several bee-keeping counties have not 

 yet been heard from. Some place the average of 

 honey per hive at 25 lbs. ; others at 40 lbs. It is im- 

 possible to form any correct idea of the true amount. 

 But few give the quantity of wax produced; it will 

 probab'y all be made into foundation. Much of the 

 honey reported as "comb " is produced in large box- 

 es, or even whole upper stories, without any idea or 

 means of placing it on the market in a salable shape. 

 Foul brood is reported very prevalent in some parts 

 of the State, but I have no statistics in that i-egard. 

 In this, Inyo County, there is no trace of it, as far as 

 I have been able to ascertain. 



Ipdependence, Cal., Sept. 33, 1883. 



MISSOURI — R. S. MFSSER. 



I beg leave to submit the following report, in be- 

 half of Missouri:— 



There are but few bee-keepers' conventions in this 

 State, consequently I am unable to give definite and 

 certain statistical information of the productions of 

 honey for 1883. 



I know that there has been a great increase in the 

 number engaged in the industry in Missouri in the 

 past two years. There is more honey in the market 



in the cities and country towns this fall than ever 

 was offered before. It is in better condition and of 

 a better quality; most of the honey ofCercd for sale 

 is in one and two pound prize boxes. 



The "St. Joseph Inter-State Exposition" for the 

 last two years has offered very liberal premiums in 

 the Apiarian Department, and the premium list was 

 a varied one, covering every branch of the apiarian 

 business. 



The past season the display in this department 

 was limited, but very creditable. It was the center 

 of attention, especially to the farmer. They learn- 

 ed the "new way," and where improved apiarian 

 supplies can be bought. The consumer, grocery- 

 man, and producer, who were in attendance here, 

 for the first time saw taste, order, and neatness dis- 

 played in the productions of the apiary, and prepar- 

 ing honey for the market; also an order and system 

 in the handling and management of bees. 



People were in attendance on the Exprsition in 

 the fall of 1881 from all the counties in Northwest 

 Missouri. They returned home with new ideas on 

 "bee and honey culture." Quite a number of the 

 country papers made special mention of the display 

 in the Apiarian Department. 



Hon. Thomas G. Newman, editor of the American 

 Bee Journal, attended the exposition in September, 

 1881, and delivered an interesting lecture on " bees 

 and honey " one evening to a large and appreciative 

 audience. The daily papers reported his instructive 

 lecture in full, and in addition made very favorable 

 comments. I feel safe in saying, that seventenths 

 of the people of Missouri have read more or less on 

 this subject and the profits of the apiary, since the 

 fall of 1881. The circulation of the bee journals has 

 increased in the meantime. 



The display in the Apiarian Department of the St. 

 Joseph Inter-State Exposition this fall was the larg- 

 est and best ever seen at a State or county fair or 

 exposition in the United States. There were over 

 3000 lbs. of comb and extracted honey on exhibition; 

 also Cyprian, Albino, Italian and black bees, and al- 

 most every tool and implement used in the apiary. 



The iQcreased number of exhibitors, and the in- 

 creased quantity and quality of honey on exhibition 

 this year, warrants me in saying that the interest 

 awakened in this industry in the last two years has 

 been greater than the most enthusiastic could have 

 expected. Most of the county -fairs made an Apia- 

 rian Department this season for the first time. 



From the above statements you will see that Mis- 

 souri is on the right road to take a prominent posi- 

 tion in this industry. In 1870, according to the cen- 

 sus of the general government, she ranked fifth in 

 the production of honey. I have been unable to 

 procure the reports for 1880. I predict, that in 1890 

 Missouri will rank first in the production of honey. 

 Nature has smiledupon this territory; she has made 

 the groundwork for a land which will flow with 

 "milk and honey." On account of its diversihed 

 climate, soil, foliage, wild and cultivated flowers, 

 etc., and its abundant and never-failing streams of 

 water, some portion of the State will have an abund- 

 ant crop of honey each year. 



The honey on exhibition this year at our various 

 fairs was white-clover, basswood, buckwheat, honey- 

 locust, goldenrod, etc. Quite a quantity of honey on 

 exhibition this fall was flavored with heliotrope and 

 mignonnette. It was of such a superior flavor to 

 any honey produced in this State heretofore, that 



