66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF HONEY PRODUCTION. 



E. R. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO. 



Last August I stood on the Brooklyn docks, New York, and 

 saw 2,000 tons of honey — a whole shipload — going to Europe. 

 Two thousand tons! It seems like a large amount. To the 

 uninitiated it might look as if that were more than the pro- 

 duction of the entire United States. As a matter of fact, this 

 one shipload of honey was only one of several, how many, I 

 do not know. It has been estimated that the entire annual 

 production of honey in the United States is somewhere be- 

 tween 200,000,000 and 300,000,000 pounds,^ or seventy-five 

 times as much as what I saw on the docks representing one 

 shipload. In dollars and cents the annual production of honey 

 for the United States at present prices would amount to be- 

 tween $40,000,000 and $60,000,000. 



There are several large factories engaged in the manufacture 

 of beekeepers' supplies, one of which has an investment of 

 over $1,000,000. There are thousands of beekeepers who are 

 producing honey by the carload in the United States. These 

 large producers are located mainly in the western States; 

 California will produce 500 cars of honey, Colorado and Texas 

 will produce nearly as much. While honey is produced largely 

 in the eastern States, it is on account of the greater population 

 consumed locally. 



The question may be raised, "What is Europe doing with 

 so much honey that she requires it in shipload quantities?" 

 The answer is easy. Sugar is scarce. Where it can be bought 

 at all it is bringing over there all the way from 60 to 70 cents, 

 and even $1 a pound. The immense sugar beet fields of 

 Europe have been devoted to growing grain crops. Germany 



> This, loaded on freight cars, would make one solid train 100 miles long. 



