706 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Interesting Statistics. 



We have heard it remarked that the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety, at its late meeting at Cincinnati, 

 O., appointed a committee for the pur- 

 pose of collecting statistics on " Bees 

 and Honey," to report at the next 

 meeting of the Society. And we are 

 further informed that we were ap- 

 pointed a member of that Committee 

 —perhaps the Secretary will be able 

 to tell us if sucli is the case, tliough 

 nothing is said abont it in his report, 

 published in Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 

 And we should also like to know who 

 were appointed on that committee, 

 and what they were requested to at- 

 tempt to accomplish. We say attempt, 

 for we well know the difficulties at- 

 tending such a work, and the expense 

 and labor it entails, especially if it is 

 to encompass the wliole of the terri- 

 tory embraced by the " North Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keepers' Society." 



Speaking only for ourself , we regret 

 that any part of such a work is de- 

 manded of us, for we have already 

 more labor than we can perform with 

 any degree of satisfaction to ourself 

 and others, but we will do all we can 

 to further the object— if it is to be ac- 

 complished. 



Dr. Miller, the President of the 

 Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Society 

 has ligured out some statistical items 

 of interest, in connection witli the 

 Tables already published of the two 

 conventions held this year in Cincin- 

 nati and Chicago. Believing that 

 tliese items will be read with interest, 

 we give them to our readers in full. 

 They are as follows : 



On page 681 of the Bee Journal is 

 given a statistical table of fifty apiar- 

 ies, represented at the Northwestern 

 Convention at Chicago. Summing up, 

 we find as follows : 



Total No. colonies last fall 3,339 



Average No. to each apiary (i7 



Colonies lost in winter 85 



Colonies lost in spring 79 



Colonies beginning the season. .3,122 

 Colonies devoted to other purpo- 

 ses than honey 62 



Colonies at present time 5,432 



Average No. per Apiary 1081 



Production. Pounds. 



Total comb honey 167,510 



Average for each owner 3,350 



Average for each colony 53i 



Total extracted honey 107,960 



Average for each owner 2,159 



Average for each colony 34i 



Total production, both kinds. 275,470 



Average per owner 5,509 



Average per colony. 88 



On page 664 of the Bee Journal, 

 is given a recapitulation of reports 

 from 53 apiaries represented at the 



North American Convention at Cin- 

 cinnati. A comparison of the two 

 may be interesting, if not instructive. 

 It is not wise to draw conclusions 

 hastily, and whether the favorable 

 showing of the Northwestern, in some 

 respects,as compared with the country 

 at large, is due to locality, to a spe- 

 cially favorable season in the North- 

 west, to an adverse season in other 

 localities, or to some other circum- 

 stance, I will not pretend to say. 



The average number of colonies last 

 fall, per owner, is nearly the same, 

 being 66 for the North American and 

 67 for the Northwestern. 



The Nortli American lost 1.89 per 

 cent, in wintering, the Northwestern 

 2.55 per cent., a small loss in each 

 case, but the loss of the Northwestern 

 was about one-third greater than the 

 North American. On the other hand, 

 the North American lostnearly double 

 as much as the Northwestern in 

 spring, the loss of the North Ameri- 

 can being 4.12 per cent., that of the 

 Northwestern 2.37 per cent. Taking 

 both winter and spring, the North 

 American lost 6.11 per cent. , the North- 

 western 4.92 per cent. In neither case 

 was tliere a very heavy increase of 

 colonies. Taking the spring count as 

 a basis, the North American increased 



53.8 per cent., and the Northwestern 



73.9 per cent. 



Of the colonies of the North Amer- 

 ican, 20i per cent, were used for other 

 purposes than honey-raising and only 

 two per cent, of the Northwestern. 



Deducting these, in each case, from 

 the spring count, we find the number 

 of pounds of honey, per colony, to be 

 as follows : 



North North- 



American, western. 



Extracted 40.7 35.2 



Comb 19.3 54.7 



Both kinds 60.0 89.9 



Thirty-two per cent, of the North 

 American's honey was comb, and 60 

 per cent, of the Northwestern's. 



Looking at individual results, some 

 unusual ones are given on page 681. 



It is difficult to compare results 

 where one man runs for increase, a 

 second tor comb honey, and a third for 

 extracted. 



In order to have something as a 

 basis, although I am not at all sure it 

 is a correct one, I have ligured the net 

 profit of increase at $5 per colony, the 

 net profit on comb honey at 16 cents 

 and extracted at eight cents per lb.; 

 and, at this rate, I give below the gain, 

 per colony, of several bee-keepers, 

 naming first the number of colonies 

 kept by each : 



D. Rawhouser 15 $44 73 



L. H. Scudder 63 29 35 



H.Newhaus 34 28 82 



H. W. Funk 75 27 87 



P. P. ISelson 20 24 20 



M. L. Trester 20 22 50 



J.K.Snyder 43 21 95 



Oatman &Son 229 20 88 



These are certainly very desirable 

 results, but to know more definitely 

 about them we should know some- 

 thing about the quality and condition 

 of the honey, also the condition of tlie 

 new swarms. Mr. Rawhouser could 

 hardly have gained his success with- 



out season and locality of first quality^ 

 yet even tlien it would require the 

 management of a first-class bee- 

 keeper. It would have been interest- 

 ing to know the result with ten times. 

 the number of colonies, and this is, I 

 am afraid, too often not taken into- 

 account as it should be. 



I admire the results obtained by 

 Messrs. Scudder and Funk more' than 

 those of Mr. Rawhouser, because they 

 had four or five times the number of 

 colonies, and the item which most 

 nearly excited my envy in looking 

 over the whole list is that of Oatman 

 & Son, who, although they make a 

 poorer showing by colony than any 

 others I have named and some I have 

 not named, more than make up for it 

 by getting sneli magnificent aggre- 

 gate results. Too much stress is apt 

 to be laid on exceptional yields from 

 single colonies or a few colonies ; I 

 am more interested to know the yield 

 per apiary or per man. 



C. C Miller, 174-202. 



Marengo, 111., Oct. 30, 1882. 



If we are correctly informed Dr. C. 

 C. Miller is also a member of the 

 committee mentioned above. He i» 

 just the man for the work, being per- 

 fectly at home in figures. He has a 

 clear head, sound brain, and un- 

 bounded energy. 



Anticipatiug our getting up a statis- 

 tical table this year, we have received 

 the following : 



Reportof W. C. Preston, Iowa City, 

 for 1882. Occupation, teaclier. 



No. of colonies in spring 14 



No. of colonies on hand now 27 



No. lbs. comb honey 100 



No. lbs. extracted 2800 



Total 2900 



Pounds average, spring count 207 



Wintered in chaff packing. 



Editor Bee Journal:- The above 

 is my contribution toward making up 

 statistics of the honey industry for 

 1882. 



It is to be hoped that the task, so 

 well begun by you last year, and of 

 such great importance to the bee- 

 keeping craft in general, will betaken 

 up again this season, and that you 

 will have the hearty co-operation of 

 all bee men throughout the Union in 

 making these statistics as complete as 

 possible. I have no doubt all the 

 apiarists of this city and vicinity will 

 send in complete reports. 



Wm. C. Preston. 



As before stated, we shall not get 

 up a statistical table this fall. As the 

 different societies are now getting up 

 tabular statements there is no need of 

 our doing so. We may, however, at 

 some future time, aggregate them, to 

 ascertain the consolidated results. - 



1^ New subscribers for the Weekly 

 Beb Journal for 1883, can obtain aU 

 the rest of the numbers for this year 

 by sending $2 to this office. 



