UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 685 



Contribution from the Borean of Crop Estimates *L 



LEON M. ESTABROOK, Chief 



IVashington, D. C. 



June 20, 1918 



HONEYBEES AND HONEY PRODUCTION IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



By S. A. Jones, 



Chief, Field Service, Bureau of Crop Estimates. 



CONTENTS. 



Map indicating distribution of colonies 



of bees in the United States 2 



Extent of industry 4 



Dependability of tables 5 



Colonies of bees in the United States. . . 8 



Increase by swarming 10 



Wintering bees 11 



Losses 15 



Yields of honey per colony 22 



Total production of honey 25 



Form of honey produced 27 



Color of honey 30 



Market 32 



Supply and prices 35 



Sources of poUen and nectar 48 



Nectar sources for surplus honey 53 



(Jeographical distribution and charac- 

 teristics of important honeys 64 



Production of 1917 58 



Conditions and prospects for 1918 59 



rpHE honeybee is tlie primary conservationist. Supple- 

 -*- menting its extremely important service of promoting the 

 pollination of important food and feed crops, it elaborates 

 from the nectar of the plants thus benefited one of the most 

 dehcious, nutritious and readily digestible of all foods. The 

 fact that the most important work of the honey bee is not 

 the production of honey, but the carrying of pollen from 

 flower to flower, thus assisting in the fertihzation of plants 

 and assuring their fruitfulness, is not always appreciated. 

 Growers of early cucumbers under glass find it necessary to 

 install hives of bees in their hothouses to insure their crop. 

 A rainy, cold spell during fruit bloom, keeping bees from 

 flying, results in httle fruit that season. Many people are 

 not aware that they are thus dependent largely upon these 

 busy and sometimes intrusive insects for the fruitfulness 

 of their orchards and gardens. The work of the bees is 

 important not only to the production of tree fruits, but to 



36993'— 18— Bull. 685- — 1 



