BEES AND BEE CULTURE. 



CHARTKR XX. 



BEES AND BEE CULTURE.* 



APICULTURE has attained no mean rank among the man- 

 ual labor pursuits of our country. Every town and al- 

 most every neighborhood has its bee-keepers, some merely 

 amateurs, with from five to twenty colonies, others specialists, 

 with from fifty to one or two thousand colonies. The average 

 yield of honey, where the bees are well cared for, is not less 

 than from fifty to seventy-five pounds per colony ; while from 

 one to three hundred pounds are not uncommon as the product 

 of a single colony and its increase during the honey season. 

 The aggregate annual honey product of the country runs so far 

 up into the millions of pounds that the cash value in dollars is 

 now reckoned by millions. 



The importance of this industry is further attested by the 

 number and influence of its associations, and by the extent and 

 character of its literature. We now have the North American 

 Association, numerous State and inter-state societies, while the 

 number of county and district associations in some States is not 

 less than eight. The meetings of these associations are large, 

 r.nd do very much to foster the art. 



There are now eight excellent periodicals in the United States 

 devoted to bee-keeping, one of which is a weekly. Nearly ev- 

 ery agricultural paper has its department of the apiary, which 

 is also found in many of the general newspapers. There are 

 also six excellent books devoted to this art, all of which are ad- 

 mirable. Three of these are large, full, recent, and invaluable 

 to the wide-awake bee-keeper. One of these, " Bee-keepers' 

 Guide," by the author of this paper, first appeared in 1876, and 



* By PROFI-SSOU A. J. COOK, of the Michigan State Agricultural College. 



