5(; 



THE AMEh'ICAX BEE-KEEPER 



March 



and 93 against it; and 264 votes were 

 cast for the second amendment, and 47 

 against it. 



A. B. Mason. 



S. J. Griggs, 

 Committee. 



Dr. Mason, personally, favors the idea 

 of electing the officers and directors at 

 the annual conventions, which, he says, 

 other organizations do. The sugges- 

 tion seems to be a p-ood one, and we 

 should be pleased to have our readers 

 who are members of the Association, 

 express their opinion as to its practica- 

 bilitv. It's a live question. 



HONEY PRODUCTION OF THE 

 UNITED STATES. 

 In The Bee-Keeper for January, ]Mr. 

 W. A. H. Gilstrap called the attention 

 of readers to the necessity of urging 

 an increased appropriation by congress 

 for statistical work. The importance of 

 the efforts will be more apparent to 

 many after reading the following self- 

 explanatory letter: 



United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Division of Statistics, John 

 Hyde, Statistician, Stephen D. Fes- 

 , senden, Asst. Statistician. 



Washington, February 4, 1902. 

 Editor American Bee-Keeper: 



Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your 

 letter of January 29, 1902, addressed to 

 the Honorable Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, and by him referred to this Divis- 

 ion, in which you ask for the latest sta- 

 tistics in the possession of the Depart- 

 ment relative to the honey production 

 of the United States. 



I have to advise you that the depart- 

 ment is in possession of practically no 

 figures upon this subject. It has been 

 unable in the past to gather any such 

 figures by its own efforts, and the fig- 

 ures published in the current papers are 

 usually no more than estimates and ap- 

 ply only to portions of the country. 

 From one trade paper an estimate of the 

 California crop for 1901 has been ob- 

 tained and is 4, 800,000 pounds. I under- 

 stand that the California crop is consid- 

 ered in the trade as practically the whole 

 commercial crop of the country. While 



considerable honey is raised in other 

 sections, yet it is safe to say that the 

 California crop is more than half of the 

 total. 



Regretting that I cannot furnish you 

 with anything further or more definite 

 upon this subject. I am 



Very truly yours, 



John Hyde. 



There were, according to the U. 5. 

 census report, 63,894-186 pounds of hon- 

 ey produced in the United States in 

 1889 — twelve years ago; and today the 

 annual production will doubtless ex- 

 ceed 150,000,000 pounds, which, at the 

 ordinary prices of five cents for extrac- 

 ted and ten cents for comb — allowing 

 that one-third of the product is of the 

 latter class — would represent a cash 

 value of $10,000,000. The eleventh cen- 

 sus of the United States gives the hon- 

 ey product of 1869 as 14,702,815 pounds. 

 Thirty-two years later — Feb. 4, 1902 — 

 the division of statistics of the agricul- 

 tural department believes 4,800.000 

 poimds. produced in one state, to rep- 

 resent more than half of the total hon- 

 ey product of the Union. 



As it appears to this journal, the bee- 

 keeping industry — an industry which 

 adds, approximately, ten millions of 

 dollars annually to the nation's wealth, 

 is entitled to fuller recognition than is 

 at present accorded. No one outside 

 of the fraternity, however, will ever 

 plead the bee-keepers' cause. We must 

 ask, urge, demand. 



There is said, by a writer in Florida 

 Magazine, to be at this time a ship ly- 

 ing in Tampa Bay, which has returned 

 from a cruise of nearly' seven years, ex- 

 tending far beyond the south pole; 

 where, according to the lamented Mr. 

 Copernicus, there is naught but inter- 

 planetary space. The captain of this 

 ship, which brings tidings of a new 

 continent, invites all to come aboard 

 and witness the evidence of his discov- 

 ery. The Bee-Keeper man has not yet 

 had the privilege of interviewing the 

 Captain; but, in the interest of W. L. 

 Coggshall. John H. Martin and its 

 own circulation, it shall endeavor to do 

 so without delay. 



