Oct. 26, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



677 



Carolina is probably at the bottom of the list. For years 

 no one has known just how larg'e our industry is when 

 measured in dollars and cents, altho a great many guesses 

 have been made. It has been estimated that there are some- 

 thing like 300,000 bee-keepers. This estimate was based on 

 the fact that we at one time had a catalog or list of the 

 names of something like 300,000. Indeed, we have such a 

 list now. That there are 300,000 people who keep bees is 

 probably a conservative figure ; but that there are 300,000 

 of what might be called bee-keepers — persons who make the 

 production of honey at least a prominent side-issue — is 

 doubtful. I should saj' a fair estimate of the first class I 

 have mentioned would be something like 500,000 ; and of 

 the latter 200.000— that is, 200,000 actual bee-keepers ; for in 

 this list we do not include those who keep one or two colo- 

 nies in old-fashioned skeps or log-gums. 



If there are 200,000 bee-keepers, what is the total out- 

 put of honey, both comb and extracted, that is annually 

 produced in the tfnited States ? Up till within recent times 

 no reliable data have been presented upon which we could 

 base an estimate. A few years ago I tried to get the manu- 

 facturers of bee-keepers' supplies to make a report of the 

 number of sections annualU' sold within the current year. 

 While some complied with the request, others, thinking pos- 

 sibh' that some advertising scheme was on foot from which 

 odious comparisons would be drawn, declined to give the 

 number of sections they sold. I thought that if we could 

 get at the actural figure, we could get a very close estimate 

 of the number of pounds of honey annually produced, pro- 

 viding, however, that this figure would be an average for a 

 series of four or five years. Within the last two or three 

 years, however, we have been enabled to get hold of the 

 figures, so that I believe I am to-day able to report the num- 

 ber of section honey-boxes actually made in one year. Now, 

 then, for the figures : 



The average number of sections made each year for the 

 last three years is somewhere between 50,000,000 and 60,000,- 

 000. We will suppose that the sections, on an average, 

 when filled with honey and placed on the market, will hold 

 something like 's of a pound. After talking with various 

 members of this convention between sessions, I am inclined 

 to place that as a fair estimate. To make even figures, 

 then, we will estimate that there are 50,000,000 pounds of 

 comb honey produced annually in the United States. Call- 

 ing this worth 10 cents a pound, which I believe is conser- 

 vative, this would make the entire comb-honev product 

 worth $5,000,000. 



But, you will say, some years a good many unused sec- 

 tions are left over. Granted. But there will be, on an 

 average, as many left over from one year as another. While 

 perhaps three years is not long enough time to reduce the 

 figures to a good average, yet I should saj' the last three 

 years, considering that two of them were very poor, would 

 give us a very conservative figure; so, if anything, the 

 amount of comb honey annually produced in the United 

 States is not only worth 55,000,000, but somewhat more. 

 Just how much more I should not dare to say. 



Now, then, if $5,000,000 represents the comb honej- an- 

 nually produced, how shall we get at the amount for ex- 

 tracted ? This is somewhat more difficult. However, I 

 think we can safely estimate that, in view of the fact that 

 extracted honey is produced much more largely in the South 

 than in the North, and that a g-ood many bee-keepers in the 

 northern portions of the country produce the liquid article, 

 it will be fair to assume that there would be just about 

 twice as much of extracted hone}* produced as of comb. 

 This would give an aggregate of something like 100,000,000 

 pounds of extracted every year. Calling this worth 5 cents 

 a pound, we should have another $5,000,000 — a valuation 

 that I should consider rather conservative than otherwise ; 

 for good extracted honej' sells at 5 and 7 cents ordinarily, 

 and off grades at 3 and 5, while California honey, when it 

 reaches the markets of Chicago and New York, costs any- 

 where from 5 to 6 cents. 



I have not ascertained the exact number of bee-hives 

 made by each manufacturer ; but I know the product turned 

 out by one or two of the largest ; and taking this as a basis 

 I estimate that something like 200,000 hives are made every 

 year. Ten years from now there will be at least 2,000,000 

 hives in the country. Assuming that a like number has 

 already been made in all the years gone by, we may esti- 

 mate that something like 4,000,000 hives will be scattered 

 thruout the country. .1 say " estimate," for I fear it is 

 nothing more nor less than a poor guess. Assuming that 

 there are now 2,000.000 hives and 200,000 bee-keepers, that 

 would leave 10 hives to each bee-keeper ; and by a bee- 

 keeper, as I have explained. I mean any person who has 



modern hives, and who atteriipts to put up his honey in the 

 ordinary modern package. 



Some years ago Mr. Newman, then editor of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, figured that there were 300,000 bee-keepers 

 in the country, and that there were 10 hives to the bee-keeper, 

 on an average. This would make an estimate of something 

 like 3,000,000 hives. Altho several years have elapst since 

 then, it is at least true that my estimate of 200,000 bee-keep- 

 ers and 2,000,000 colonies is quite conservative. CLJ 



The only figures that I am able to present to you as be- 

 ing anj'where near accurate is the amount of comb honey 

 annually produced. All the other figures are based some- 

 what on this, and are more or less estimated. But I think 

 we may safely say, by way of recapitulation, that our in- 

 dustry represents an annual product of something like 

 $10,000,000 in honey alone. ERNEST R. ROOT. 



[Continued ue.\t week.] 



The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



'TWOULD STRAIN OUR INVENTION. 



Home from the convention — 

 We hardly need mention 



How blessed it was to be there; 

 But it's not our intention 

 (Too much for invention) 



To tell you what profits we share. 



A TRIPLET OF " AFTERTHINKS." 



Capital editorial idea to clap into the convention num- 

 ber the pictures of the United States' officers and directors. 



That Florida bear-trap (or night-cap) I think an excel- 

 lent idea which ought not to be forgotten. Page 570. 



C. P. Dadant is a man after my own heart in despisitig 

 to have the entrances trapt up with perforated zinc. But 

 we Minnie folks have to have it under the extracting- 

 supers. 



DIST.\NCE TO PREVENT MISMATING. 



Doolittle's highly important evidence on page 564 is not 

 new ; but it is needful for it to be often repeated, so many 

 high authorities are determined to resist it. Bees do cross 

 at five miles distance, and it is all in the queen-breeder's 

 mind (in most cases) that his queens cannot mismate. 



SWARMS DESERTING — VISITING DIFFERENT FLOWERS. 



Mr. Doolittle solves with much ability the first of the 

 problems on page 578. I have thought in such cases of 

 svcarm failure that it was disgust, and a sense of their 

 helplessness to save their queen, rather than a lack of queen 

 scent, that made the bees go home, all but the few engaged 

 in hostilities. 



And so the adherence of bees to one kind of flower dur- 

 ing a trip is not so absolute as we have sometimes thought, 

 seeing he observed raspberry and clover visited successively. 

 I think a bee prospecting for honey, and not getting much 

 anyivhere, visits freely any flowers that may come handy. 

 Perchance neither clover nor raspberry were yielding very 

 well when he made this observation. 



OUEEN-RE.'iRING COMMENTS. 



Mr. Alley is one of the specially eminent queen-rearers 

 of this continent — one of the first half-dozen — and therefore 

 his pictures and article, page 577, deserve the most careful 

 consideration. He hardly needs to prove to us that we do 

 not have to make artificial cups, and put in jelly by hand, 

 and all that sort of thing ; it's only a matter of convenience 

 and speed — always providing that the artificial methods do 

 not deteriorate quality. To say 84 hours after laying is 

 more to the point than 12 hours after hatching, because the 

 time of laying is easier found. His arrangement of cell- 

 holding sticks to slip in and out of suitable notches is ad- 

 mirable. Wonder why he curves the lower surface in such 

 a long, regular curve. And why is the beeswax to stick 

 things on with, half resin ? Perhaps pure beeswax is more 

 inclined to let go. And the man who objects to fine, fussy 

 work, for him to do there'll alwaj's be coal to shovel and 



