10 BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTH 



accurate and indicative of conditions in the localities reported, 

 show the following interesting comparisons: 



The number of farms reporting bees in 1910 in the fifteen 

 southern states were 297,511. In all the other thirty-three states 

 of the union, there were but 288,444 farms reporting bees at the 

 same time. 



In the 1910 census the number of colonies of bees reported 

 on farms in the fifteen southern states totalled 1,558,782, while 

 but 1,886,224 colonies of bees were reported as the total num- 

 ber on farms in the remaining thirty-three statfes on the same 

 census date. 



When figured out, this shows that the average number of 

 colonies of bees per farm in the fifteen southern stites on the 1910 

 census date, was more than five per farm. This was more than 

 the average per farm in the balance of the United States on the 

 same census date. It must be remembered that southern farms 

 probably cover a smaller acreage than those in the North, and 

 are therefore more numerous. 



However, beekeepers of the North may take heart when the 

 production figures are compared, the difference probably result- 

 ing because of the number of box hives found in many localities 

 in the South, and the probable greater number of commercial 

 honey producers in the North, compared with the number found 

 in the fifteen southern states. 



A total annual production of 16,810,945 pounds of honey was 

 reported on farms in the fifteen southern states by the census 

 of 1910, while in the other thirty-three states of the union, a 

 total yield of 38,003,945 pounds of honey produced on farms was 

 reported for the same period. The average yield per colony on 

 farms in the fifteen states, south, as reported to 1910 census 

 enumerators was fifteen pounds, while for the balance of the 

 country, the average yield reported by the census was a trifle 

 over nineteen pounds per colony, or practically 33 1-3 per cent 

 more than in the South. 



These figures show conclusively, in the author's opinion, that 

 the South has many more bees than the balance of the country. 

 It is also known as a certainty from personal observation, that if 



