THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Development of Bee Culture in Oregon 



BY H, F. W ILSON, Entoinolo^st, Oregon Agricultural College 



Just when the first bees were 

 brought into Oregon I am unable to 

 say. However, an investigation along 

 this line indicates that the first bees 

 were imported in 1849, from Califor- 

 nia. These bees were sold to local 

 buyers at $125 a colony. Other bees 

 were imported at various times dur- 

 ing the fifties and sixties, and at the 

 present time many bee trees can be 

 found throughout the state. One of 

 the most interesting facts along this 

 line is that in several localities pure 

 Italian bees can be found in a wild 

 state, and living in hollow trees, etc. 



Just how many colonies have been 

 imported into the state at different 

 times we cannot say, but apparently 

 most of the bees now present in west- 

 ern Oregon have developed from bees 

 imported by the early settlers. In 

 eastern Oregon bees are usually im- 

 ported in car load lots. 



With such data as we have at hand, 

 it would be impossible to estimate 

 correctly the status of beekeeping in 

 Oregon. Many farmers keep from 

 one to several stands for home use, 

 and in all parts of the state one may 

 find from a few to many colonies that 

 not only furnish honey for the home 

 but also give a market surplus. 



In looking over the data secured 

 in a recent survey, one might be led 

 to infer that most of our honey is 

 produced in Southern Oregon, but 

 that inference is misleading. The di- 

 vision known as Central Oregon prob- 

 ably has the greatest number of large 

 commercial apiaries, with the Colum- 

 bia Basin second and Southern Ore- 

 gon third. These facts are not shown 

 in the survey, for the reason that it 



was taken as a general farm survey, 

 and of the five or six commercial 

 apiaries in Southern Oregon, the larg- 

 est happened to be recorded. In the 

 survey of Central Oregon it so hap- 

 pened that out of a dozen or more 

 commercial apiaries, only two, of me- 

 dium size, were recorded. With these 

 exceptions, other data at hand shows 

 that the average that was arrived at 

 is fairly representative of existing 

 conditions. According to the data in 

 the accompanying table, 402 farms 

 reported bees; a total of 1,637 farms 

 were visited, so that on an average, 

 one farm out of every four has bees. 



The U. S. Census for 1910 reports 

 one farm in every five as having bees, 

 but during the last two years the 

 number of colonies has increased both 

 in the number of large apiaries and 

 in the number on small farms. A 

 considerable increase is due to the 

 number secured by orchardists for 

 pollenization purposes. 



With data on hand and the figures 

 from the U. S. Census Report for 1910, 

 a distribution map has been made 

 which shows some very interesting 

 facts. Each figure represents 1,000 

 colonies, showing an approximate to- 

 tal of 50,000 colonies, with a value 

 of $250,000. The writer believes that 

 with the present average prices, an 

 average of five dollars per colony is 

 not too high, although the census re- 

 port gives the total valuation of 47,- 

 285 colonies at $150,164. 



Of the 50,000 colonies, less than 

 20,000 are found outside of the Wil- 

 lamette Valley and Coast Divisions. 

 Apparently, then, the honey industry 

 is in western Oregon, but in reality 



Statistics on Bee Culture 



Based on 402 Reports 



