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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



BEE-KEEPING IN ALABAMA. 



BY T. P. HALLOCK. 



[This is the first of a series of articles which we hope 

 to print from time to time on bee-keeping in different 

 States in the Union. This artitle on Alabama is not as 

 complete as we might have desired, owing to the diffi- 

 culty we experienced in getting authentic information. 

 However, we expect that succeeding articles will be of 

 more interest and more complete. We hope to discuss 

 bee-keeping in Pennsylvania in our next issue. — Ed.] 



The State of Alabama is one of the best 

 :adapted for bee-keeping in the Union. The 

 weather, natural growth of pollen-bearing 



Elants, etc., all tend to make this an ideal 

 ee country. The shipping facilities offered 

 in most parts of the State are good, and 

 northern shipments can be cheaply made by 

 boat from the southern gulf ports. 



Bee-keeping has been a neglected pursuit 

 here. Where bees are kept quite extensive- 

 ly, the methods followed are, to say the 

 least, out of date. Still a majority of the 

 bee-keepers are anxious to learn the great 

 possibilities this industry offers, and are in- 

 troducing modern hives and modern appli- 

 ances. One of the leading bee men writes 

 us that in ten years Alabama will be one of 

 the great centers of honey interests, and 

 we really believe that he is right. The 

 southern farmer of to-day realizes that he 

 is getting but half of what he might from 

 his land, and is studying the conditions which 

 will increase his income. Bee-keeping, 

 when investigated, will soon spring to prom- 

 inence in this admirable location. 



LEADING HONEY- PRODUCERS. 



Under this heading we give the names of 

 the two leading bee-keepers in the South. 

 Mr. J. M. Jenkins, Wetumpka, has often 

 been heard of through these columns. He is 

 engaged in the bee business, heart, soul, 

 and mind. In addition to his apiary of sev- 

 eral hundred colonies, he runs a large fac- 

 tory where bee-supplies are manufactured. 

 He is, without doubt, the leading supply- deal- 

 er in the South. We expected to be able 

 to show Mr. Jenkins' picture, but he is some- 

 what: bashful about making a public appear- 

 ance. We shall try to introduce him to you 

 some other time. 



Mr. W. N. Cannon, Greenville, Ala., has 

 a very large apiary, keeping between 450 

 and 500 colonies. Mr. Cannon says that he 

 is located in the best sweet-clover belt in 

 the United States and that with proper at- 

 tention he can easily produce 100 lbs. per 

 colony per year. 



QUEFN-BREEDERS. 



Mr. W. S. McKnight, Newtopia. is prob- 

 ably the leading queen-breeder in the State. 

 We are unable to give his figures in regard 

 to the extent to which he raises queens, but 

 have no doubt that he raises more than one 

 thousand queens yearly. His prmcipal 

 strains are golden Italian and Camiolans. 



Mr. R. 0. Cox, Greenwich, is another 

 queen-breeder who is well known to our 

 readers. Mr. Cox makes a specialty of red- 

 clover Italian queens, and has the facilities 

 in his apiary of over 100 colonies for the 

 production of very fine queens of this strain. 



Mr. W. J. Forehand, Ft. Deposit, is a 

 queen- breeder who is well known to most of 

 our readers. His specialty is Italians, and 

 his apiary embodies excellent facilities for 

 rearing good queens in large numbers. 



Mr. E. A. Simmons, Greenville, raises a 

 very fine strain of Italian and red- clover 

 queens. His queens are considered among 

 the best. 



There are several other queen-breeders in 

 the State who raise queens principally for 

 use of nearby bee-keepers. A great many 

 of these have not felt sufficiently experienc- 

 ed to offer their queens to bee-keepers 

 throughout the world. 



EXTENT TO WHICH BEES ARE KEPT. 



Relying upon the best information at our 

 command, we would say that 300,000 colo- 

 nies of bees is very close to the actual num- 

 ber kept in Alabama. This represents about 

 IJ colonies to each farm in the State. How- 

 ever, we believe that these 300,000 colonies 

 are all kept on not more than 50,000 farms. 

 Therefore the average number of colonies 

 of bees kept by each bee-keeper is about 6. 

 The average value of Alabama bees per 

 colony, collectively, not by the single colo- 

 ny, is about $1.50 each. Thus the amount 

 of capital invested in bees in the State is 

 about $450,000. 



HONEY PRODUCTION. 



We would estimate this at about 2,700,000 

 lbs. per year— an average of about 90 lbs. 

 per colony. This is a very good average for 

 a State where bee keeping is so prominent 

 an industry. 



WAX PRODUCTION. 



In the production of wax, Alabama is one 

 of the foremost States. Several times sta- 

 tistics have shown her to lead in this prod- 

 uct; but we believe that one or two other 

 States, where more colonies of bees are 

 kept, have not been properly accredited. 

 The average production of wax per annum 

 per colony is close to | lb. Thus the esti- 

 mated production for the entire State is 

 about 225,000 lbs. If we value this immense 

 crop at the present market price of 30 cts. 

 per lb. we find that the wax crop of Alaba- 

 ma is worth something over $65,000 annual- 

 ly—quite a valuable crop to be produced by 

 the bees alone. 



SOURCES OF HONEY. 



In different parts of Alabama, as in other 

 States, different pollen-bearing plants pre- 

 dominate in certain localities. The most 

 general plants— those which are found to 

 some extent in nearly every section— are 

 alders, gallberry, clovers, melons, tulips, 

 and innumerable other wild and cul- 

 tivated plants which will invariably be foimd 

 in a tropical clime. Some, however, state 

 that sweet clover is the only one to be relied 

 on in many parts. 



MARKETS. 



No great amount of the honey crop of 

 Alabama is marketed in the State, although 

 a part of it is sent to Birmingham and some 

 to Montgomery. 



