30 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



BEE KEEPING: HOW TO MEET ITS DANGERS AND 

 DIFFICULTIES. 



By Burton N. Gates, with Buggestlons from Prof. C. F. Hodge. 



Massachusetts produces less than one-fourth of the honey consumed 

 in the State. The past year this amount was approximately 200 tons, 

 of which 15 tons came from Vermont and upward of 145 tons from Cali- 

 fornia. With a population of 2,805,000 this would give 0.14 of a pound, 

 or less than two tablespoonfuls of honey per person as a year's ration. 



The average yield of honey per colonj' in the above named States in 

 1900 was as follows : — 



Pounds. 



Vermont, 14.2 



Massachusetts, •. . . 13.0 



California 28.3 



while in Texas, which produced the largest amount of anj^ one State, 

 the yield per colony was only 12.2 pounds. 



These averages are all low and must be considered to mean, in the 

 main, inefficient management, yet the colonies in California are being 

 handled more generally according to modern and improved methods. 

 Not infrequently well-managed apiaries in Massachusetts produce from 

 30 to 50 pounds, and yields of over 100 pounds of surplus comb honey 

 are not rare. With the adequate development of the industi'y there is 

 no doubt that Massachusetts could i^roduce all the honey annually con- 

 sumed within the State, and even beyond that amount, without straining 

 the limits of our natural resources. 



We have been requested to make this article supplement somewhat 

 the excellent paper, " Bee Keeping, its Pleasures and Profits," by Prof. 

 James B. Paige.* In order that we may enjoy the "pleasures and 

 profits " of bee keeping it is certainly needful that we be armed and 

 equipped to meet the difficulties and prevent the losses which sometimes 

 threaten the industry. 



With a capital value in 1900 of $10,186,000, for the United States as a 

 whole, the bees returned as profits and wages products to the amount 

 of $6,665,000. This is about 65 per cent interest on the investment, and 



* Massachusetts Crop Report, July 31, 1903; also Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1903, 

 pp. 399-411. 



