244 RURAL ^EW YORK 



New York, Apparently, the general standard of 

 honey production in New York as well as in the 

 United States at large, is low as compared with 

 Calirornia where the yield of honey was 50 pounds to 

 a colony a year, while it was 20 pounds in New York 

 and 16 pounds as tlie average for the country. A 

 woman beekeeper in the State who luid 170 colonics 

 reports the production of 11,500 pounds of comb 

 honey and 2,200 pounds of extracted honey in one 

 season. This is at the rate of 80 pounds a colony. 



Bees are very widely and quite evenly distriljuted 

 through the populated sections of the State. Like 

 pigs and poultr}^, they follow the distribution of 

 rural population. They are the supreme gleaners, re- 

 trieving himian nutriment in an amount and by in- 

 dustry that cannot fail to be the marvel of the aver- 

 age person. Contrary to the former two types of 

 animals, there appears to be a greater concentration 

 in the more remote farming districts rather than in 

 the suburban sections. 



Bees are fostered by State and County beekeepers' 

 associations and have the protection of the State laws. 

 One is not permitted under the State law to 

 keep colonies infected with the disease known as 

 foul- or black-brood. Further, fruit-growers are pro- 

 hibited from spraying with poisonous or otherwise 

 injurious sprays when the fruit is in full bloom be- 

 cause of the injury done to bees. 



