THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



179 



Bee-Keeping in Florida. 



Mr. W. S. Hart, Vice President of 

 tlie National Society for Florida, lias 

 sent us a copy of the Florida Agricul- 

 turist, whicli contains his " address to 

 the Bee-Keepers' and Fair Directors 

 of the State of Florida," advocating 

 more and larger premiums for bees 

 and honey at the next State Fair. 

 Mr. Hart says that since its publica- 

 tion $27.50 has been added to the 

 prizes for honey. 



Having lately received the premium 

 list for the Slate Fair, I have gone 

 carefully over it, and can say that I 

 not only have no fault to tind with 

 the awards there offered, but on tlie 

 contrary consider every one well and 

 wisely placed. Yet it seems to me 

 that one of our rural industries that, 

 with a little encouragement may 

 greatly surpass in importance to the 

 State, some for whicli liberal premi- 

 ums are offered in the list, is sadly 

 neglected. I refer to the bee-keeping 

 interest, whicli includes the produc- 

 tion of honey and wax, tlie raising of 

 early queens tor the northern bee- 

 keepers, and the supplyingof beesby 

 the pound to replace those lost dur- 

 ing the cold winters of tlie North. 

 To be sure, there is a "Department 

 O, for Poultry, Bees and Rabbits," 

 but with seventy dollars offered for 

 poultry, I do not see the lirst cent 

 offered for bees. In " Department E, 

 Table Luxuries," we tind No. 12, — 

 best specimen Florida honey $3.00. 

 Also, No. 42, — best home made vine- 

 gar of any kind SI .00." Tliose two 

 items afford the only cliances for the 

 bee-keeper to win a prize, and they 

 together amount to $4.00. As the 

 reason for this lack of encourage- 

 ment probably rests more with tlie 

 bee-keepers themselves, in not mak- 

 ing known the importance of theiu 

 industry, tlian with the Directors of 

 the Exposition, I now take the liberty 

 of presenting a few facts and figures 

 to show that bees and their produc- 

 tions are, to say the least, worthy 

 of as much consideration as poultry. 

 Mr. Thomas G. Newman, editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, a large 

 and handsome weekly, published at 

 Chicago, 111., in a late issue called for 

 reports from the bee-keepers of the 

 country, stating their success during 

 the present year. In No. 41, issued 

 Oct. 12th, is given a tabulated state- 

 ment of the returns as far as received. 

 The footings are as follows : colonies 

 in the spring 137,636 ; fall 235,.510 ; 

 average increase 71 per cent. Ex- 

 tracted honey 5,477,176 pounds ; comb 

 honey 3,a90,446 pounds, giving a total 

 of 9,467,622 pounds, or an average of 

 69 pounds to the colony. Florida's 

 share in this list so far as reported is, 

 colonies in the spring, 2,354, in the 

 fall 4,712; per cent, of increase 100. 

 Extracted honey produced, 167,918 

 pounds ; comb honey, 19,734 pounds ; 

 average per colony, 84 pounds. In 

 commenting on these results, Mr. 

 Newman remarks :— " There are in 

 America about 3,000,000 colonies of 



bees, but our reports are from less 

 than a quarter of a million, or one- 

 twelfth of tlie whole. If the one- 

 twelfth that are reported are a fair 

 average of the whole, then the crop 

 of American honey for 1881 amounts 

 to 120,000,000 pounds. If we call it 

 only a hundred millions, it is worth 

 $15,000,000. Surely the industry is of 

 sufficient magnitude to satisfy the 

 most enthusiastic of its devotees." 

 In Soutliern California, there are six 

 hundred men who are engaged exclu- 

 sively in bee-keeping, and yet they 

 get a full crop on an average but once 

 in three year.s, and some years thou- 

 sands of colonies starve to death. 

 While here in Florida I can not find 

 any one that has ever known the crop 

 to fail. This has been called a poor 

 year for bees, yet my colonies have 

 increased over 100 per cent, and pro- 

 duced 200 pounds of honey to the 

 colony. The bees of several of my 

 neighbors have done nearly as well. 

 All are not fitted for bee-keepers, 

 neither will all parts of this State 

 produce honey in paying quantities, 

 yet there is room for hundreds of in- 

 dustrious bee-keepers to come and 

 locate where they can do annually as 

 well and better than I have this year. 

 For several reasons I think itprobable 

 that a larger per cent, of the apiarists 

 of Florida reported to Mr. Newman 

 than from most of the other States, 

 so we will call the number one-sixth, 

 which is certainly within bounds. 

 Now multiply the 187,652 pounds of 

 honey reported, by six, to get the ap- 

 proximate production of the State, 

 and we have 1,125,912 pounds, worth 

 5168,866.80. Perhaps a better idea of 

 this amount may be liad by stating 

 that the editor of the Florid;i Dispatch 

 (who ought to be a good judge) esti- 

 mates the orange crop of tlie State 

 for 1881 at 300.000 boxes of 140 oranges 

 to the box, worth at $15.00 per thou- 

 sand (about the usual average price 

 obtained) $675,.544, or not four times 

 the value of the unnoticed honey crop. 

 Hundreds of young orange groves are 

 just coming into bearing, so that a 

 few years will show several times our 

 present production of the golden 

 fruit. In the same ratio may our 

 honey and beeswax crop be made to 

 foot up among the millions of dollars' 

 worth annually, if those whoare fitted 

 for the business will only take hold 

 and make a study of the business, in- 

 stead of trusting to the old " happy 

 go lucky " way. The climate of Flor- 

 ida is not only peculiarly fitted for 

 successful bee-keeping, as our harvest 

 time is long, and we have no winter- 

 ing troubles, but it also attracts many 

 people from the North who come here 

 seeking health without the strength 

 to do heavy work, or the capital to 

 hire it done for them. To such bee- 

 keeping offers many inducements. 



As Vice President for the State of 

 Florida of the North American Bee- 

 keepers' Society, I would respectfully 

 call the attention of the Directors of 

 our various State and County Fairs, 

 and also that of the apiarists of the 

 State to the above remarks, and ask 

 them one and all to " put a shoulder 

 to the wheel," and help to make bee- 

 keeping one of the great money re- 



sources of this " land of flowers," in 

 every legitimate way possible. Let 

 us liave liberal prizes offered at our 

 fairs for bees and their products, and 

 let the bee-keepers strive with each 

 other to make the best display of their 

 stock. Much may also be learned by 

 forming bee-keepers' societies and 

 holding conventions one or more times 

 each year, where all can meet together 

 and exchange ideas, and display their 

 hives, extractors, extracted and comb 

 honey, etc. 

 New Smyrna, Fla., Oct. 31, 1881. 



P. S. I see no better way of set- 

 tling up the coast and river country of 

 all South Florida than by encourag- 

 ing bee-keepers to come and locate 

 where they find every requisite of 

 success. As we depend almost en- 

 tirely on wild pasturage for our bees, 

 a wild, unsettled country is as good 

 or better for an apiarist than any other, 

 provided it be on the coast or some 

 water course that will give him trans- 

 portation in his own boat to some 

 point of public transportation. In 

 all South Florida there can scarcely 

 be found a spot near the coast or some 

 river, but what would be a profitable 

 one for the bee-keeper. There al.so is 

 found the land best suited to the 

 orange, and as apiculture and orange 

 culture are peculiarly fitted to go to- 

 gether, the apiarist can, during his 

 leisure hours, clear a piece of land and 

 plant it to trees, thereby forming a 

 permanent nucleus for a ' future set- 

 tlement. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



A Standard Frame. — The annual 

 meeting of the British Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, was held last month, 

 and the following is a digest of the 

 proceedings on this subject : 



The most important motion affect- 

 ing bee-keepers and bee-keeping gen- 

 erally was brought forward by the 

 Rev. George Rayiior as follows : 

 " That it is desirable ttiat the British 

 Bee-Keepers' Association do set forth 

 a standard frame, stamped by its 

 sanction and authority, with the view 

 to bringing such frame into general 

 use, its size and form to be determined 

 by a committee appointed for that 

 purpose." 



The question of a standard frame 

 for general use has been discussed by 

 all leading apiarists for a considerable 

 length of time, the general opinion 

 being that the matter should be taken 

 up by the British Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



Mr. Raynor in introducing the 

 motion spoke as follows : The resolu- 

 tion is one of no small importance to 

 the bee-keepers of this country, and 

 indeed I may say to all who are tech- 

 nically or otherwise interested in the 



