AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



623 



Bee-KeeBiiij in America— A Contrast 



REV. STEPHEN ROESE. 



Following is a translation of an article 

 written by P. Fleischmann, and pub- 

 lished in the July number of the Leip- 

 ziger Bienen-Zeitung : 



"The Stone of the Wise, in No. 13, 

 1890, gives the annual honey and wax 

 production of the United States, accord- 

 ing to the last census, and as those 

 American lords are always dealing with 

 endless figures, which find their way 

 into our German bee-periodicals, and 

 make our German bee-keeping, in con- 

 trast to theirs, appear as 0, I think it 

 wise to refer to official figures to prove 

 that, on the other side of the water, 

 more honey is harvested on paper than 

 in reality, and that the 100-pound hives 

 which, even in Winter, the newspaper 

 editors keep hurling about as bird 

 baits, are a scarcity, even in the prom- 

 ised land of North America, and accord- 

 ing to the unwished-for figures which I 

 shall produce. North America is far 

 from the land where milk and honey 

 floweth, although these lords across the 

 water almost compel us to believe that it 

 is that land. 



" If we consider that the United States 

 comprise an area almost as large as all 

 of Europe (the latter having 10,337,- 

 460 square rpiles, and the former 

 9,187,350 square miles), and that the 

 immense territory of the United States 

 is inhabited by 56,000,000 people, and 

 bee-pasturage cannot be limited, then 

 we of old age-weakened Europe will 

 still compare favorably with young 

 America. 



"The Stone of the Wise reports that 

 in old times, and in all countries, as far 

 back as history reaches, bee-keeping has 

 formed an important branch of agricul- 

 ture, and that bees were introduced into 

 the United States by Germans — perhaps 

 by immigrants, who settled in German- 

 town, near Philadelphia. 



"Apiculture has, therefore, made but 

 slow progress in that country, as in this 

 pursuit great patience and endurance 

 is needed — a virtnre which all man- 

 kind do not possess, and especially all 

 Americans ! 



" It appears, then, that after a lapse 

 of 200 years since the introduction of 

 apiculture into the United States, the 

 last census contained the report of an 

 annual honey production of 25,743,208 

 pounds, and a wax production of 1,105,- 

 689 pounds.* 



"Following are the best honey-pro- 

 ducing States : 



Honey. Wax. 



Arkansas 1,012,721 42,354 



Georgia 1,056,0.34 69,318 



Illinois 1,310,809 45,640 



Indiana 976,581 31,637 



Kentucky 1,500,565 46,912 



Michig-an 1,028,595 32,088 



New York 2,088,845 79,566 



North Carolina 1,591,590 126,268 



Ohio 1,626.847 56,333 



Pennsylvania 1,415,093 46,610 



Tennessee 2,130,689 86,521 



Virginia 1,090,451 5.3,200 



"These are specifically the Middle 

 States, and we find no mention of Cali- 

 fornia in the statistics.* 



"As California furnishes honey to 

 Germany, what a strange mess must be 

 sold for California honey, and for which 

 good German money is paid, if Califor- 

 nia is not even classified with honey- 

 producing million-pound States ! 



"It is interesting to note that the 

 honey and wax production is much alike, 

 with the exception of North Carolina, 

 which State reports an unusually large 

 wax production. What is the cause? Is 

 monopoly ruling there ? Perhaps some 

 of the bee-keepers of North Carolina can 

 give us some light on this subject. 



"The Stone of the Wise reports 

 further, that the widest spread race of 

 bees is the black — a proof of their Ger- 

 man origin. Aside from this, all known 

 races of bees are bred — the Italian, 

 Cyprian and Carniolan. 



" An annual honey production of 26,- 

 000,000 pounds for a population of 

 56,000,000 is a small proportion — only 

 }4 pound for each inhabitant — and in 

 our estimation incorrect, for the denser 

 the population, the less honey to each 

 inhabitant. But the census report of 

 such a small honey production for an 

 area of territory like the United States, 

 where the land is not worn by cultiva- 

 tion, is less than we were led to expect 

 by the American bee-periodicals, which 

 always indulge in high figures." 



After reading the foregoing article I 

 was so much displeased at its unfairness 

 and utter lack of fraternal feeling, that 

 I wrote a sharp criticism to send to the 

 publishers, and which was harsher in its 

 tone than the following. Which is a trans- 

 lation of the first draft of my reply: 



Mr. Editor : — I am sorry that I am 

 under the necessity of saying to you 

 that the article entitled Bee-Keeping in 

 the United States of North America, 



*See editorial comment on page 614. 



