ILIjINOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



149 



sum for the year, the bee-keeper 

 assuming what small risk there is of 

 getting a crop. The plantation man- 

 agement in turn agrees not to allow 

 other bee-keepers to keep bees in their 

 territory. There are frequently small 

 holdings within the boundaries of the 

 plantation, over which the plantation 

 company has no control, and some 

 other bee-keeper may lease ^ this with 

 the idea of allowing his bees to range 

 over the entire plantation. If, for 

 example, he puts two hundred colonies 

 on such a holding the immediate plac- 

 ing of isay five hundred colonies just 

 across the line has a discouraging ef- 

 fect on this poaching and it can end in 

 only one way, since the bee-keeper, 

 who has a right there, has the ad- 

 vantage. The same thing happens 

 when an outside bee-keeper gets too 

 close to the boundary line. 



Naturally, when land is divided into 

 smaller holdings, as is the case almost 

 everywhere on the mainland, such an 

 agreement is not possible and a bee- 

 keeper must run the risk of competi- 

 tion. There is no way of telling what 

 amount of honey is taken from any 

 given area when the tracts are small. 

 The moral right dt priority claim, 

 which so many bee-keepers advocate, 

 has small place in the manipulations 

 of territory in Hawaii, where the bee- 

 keeping companies pay for what they 

 get and insist on getting it. One of the 

 large companies gained its exclusive 

 right by reason of the fact that it owns 

 and leases a tract of over one hundred 

 thousand acres for ranch purposes. 



Owing to the fact that breeding goes 

 on every daj'^ in the year, and, equally, 

 to the fact that there is honey com- 

 ing in practically all the time, it is 

 possible to increase the number of 

 colonies at a rate which is truly sur- 

 prising. In one case, which was re- 

 ported, twenty colonies were increased 

 to four hundred and twenty in eight 

 months' time. This was done by con- 

 tract, the agreement being that the 

 colonies should be large enough for 

 manipulation in honey gathering. Of 

 course, queens were artificially reared 

 in this case. 



Extent of the Industry. 



At the present time there are on 

 the islands probably about fifteen 

 thousand colonies of bees, most of 

 which are, as above stated, owned by 

 four companies. From the custom 

 house statistics it is shown that the 



annual shipments of honey amount to 

 about nine hundred tons. The Island 

 of Kauai now supports about three 

 thousand colonies, and, after traveling 

 over almost the entire cultivated por- 

 tion of the island, the author is of the 

 opinion that the island is just about 

 half stocked. The Island of Oahu seems 

 to be well covered from an apicultural 

 standpoint. Molokai is not a cane pro- 

 ducing island, but the algarroba forest 

 is nearly stocked and the only place 

 for heavy expansion seems to be in 

 the mountains where several forest 

 trees are nectar bearing. The Island 

 of Maui could not be examined as 

 carefully as the others on account of 

 inclement weather, but from reports re- 

 ceived, it is obviously, not stocked to the 

 extent that it should be. The Island of 

 Hawaii, the largest of the group, is rel- 

 atively the least developed of any of 

 the islands. There are only a few 

 apiaries on this area, almost equal in 

 extent to Connecticut, and there are 

 great possibilities. On the south coast 

 there are vast areas of cane and the 

 same is true of the Hamakua coast 

 on the north. The Kona coast would 

 probably support some bees in the cof- 

 fee plantations. I saw one such apiary. 

 On the interior of the island there are 

 vast areas which are entirely unde- 

 veloped from an apicultural stand- 

 point, and the island can doubtless sup- 

 port thousands of colonies of bees at a 

 profit. 



The total area now actually stocked 

 with apiaries would not nearly equal 

 one-half of the State of Rhode Island 

 in size, while the honey crop is probably 

 twenty times as great as in that state. 

 According to the census report for 

 Rhode Island, it would be forty times 

 as great, but we cannot use this data 

 on account of its obvious unreliability. 

 This comparison will show the honey- 

 producing capabilities of the islands, 

 as compared with our more northern 

 countries, and will also show how 

 thoroughly the areas are stocked 

 where the industry has been taken up. 

 A small part of Oahu is doubtless 

 overstocked, due to crowding into a 

 given area by competitive companies. 

 There was no evidence of such over- 

 stocking elsewhere. 



Overstocking an area with bees is a 

 subject much discussed among bee 

 men, and the situation in Hawaii illus- 

 strates very beautifully the fact that a 

 theoretical discussion of how many 

 colonies may be kept in one place is 

 of no value whatever. Each location 



