No. 4.] BEE KEEPING. 373 



But these are not hard to cope with if you will but take pains to see 

 that your bees are strong, and that ordinary protection is afforded them. 

 (Some hints of how successful bee men manage will be found below.) 



Market. 



In the peculiar condition of the market of Massachusetts there is a 

 mine for the bee keeper. In no other State is there the combination of 

 harvest and market which is to be found here. In a relatively small 

 area we have a huge population who are hungry for good honey. 

 Here is the key to a situation. Produce your honey, and sell it close 

 at hand, to your neighbor, in your own town, or in an adjacent town. 

 It is an opportunity which is prized by bee keepers in the west, and 

 one which only the east, particularly Massachusetts, can command. 

 This is not sufficiently realized by most people ; but it is the future of 

 the honey trade and the bee man's profits in Massachusetts. Were 

 you living in the west, it would not be possible for you to dispose of 

 your honey at home ; but here it is not only possible for you to sell 

 all that you can raise, but, with proper management, to buy and retail 

 successfully. In other words, you have in Massachusetts an almost 

 unlimited demand to fill, with a local crop at present limited. 



We have indicated, in our paper, "Bee Keeping: how to meet its 

 Difficulties and Dangers," 1 the huge honey importation yearly from 

 California and from Vermont. A large portion of this the State could 

 herself produce, and pocket the profits. At present she produces less 

 than one-fourth what she consumes, and at that the average allowance 

 each year per capita is but two tablespoonfuls. 



But the significant point is this: let the crop be doubled, and doubled 

 again, let the importation to the State go on just the same, and you 

 would still find the market good. It might be necessary to promote 

 the home trade; but from our observations a judicious amount of this 

 will pay. 



Crop op the Country. 



In this connection it may be of interest to know something of the 

 honey crop of the country, as figured by Dr. E. F. Phillips of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, expert in charge of apiculture. 



As opposed to the doubtless incorrect figures of the census, which put 

 the United States crop for 1S99 at 61,000,000 pounds, it has been esti- 

 mated that 200,000,000 pounds more nearly represent the annual 

 crop of honey. This estimate is based on the fact that in two States 

 50,000,000 section boxes are manufactured yearly. The crop of 

 extracted honey can well be figured at twice the crop of comb, which 

 would approximate 200,000,000 pounds of honey yearly, or enough 

 to fill 10,000 freight cars, which, in a straight line, as one writer has 

 said, would reach from Detroit to New York City. Were this crop 



1 Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1904, p. 411. 



