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2,000,000 Ibs., and the crop of the United States for 1885 was 
put down at 26,000,000 Ibs. We do not think these figures. are 
quite large enough, though it was an exceedingly poor crop ; but 
former years have given still better results. Through the courtesy 
of Mr. N. W. McLain, of the U.S. Apicultural Station, we have 
received the following statistics from The Resources of California, 
1881:—The honey shipped from Ventura County, California, 
during 1880 amounted to 1,050,000 lbs. The Pacific Coast 
Steamship Company, of San Diego, shipped 1,191,800 lbs. of 
honey from that county in the same year. The crop of the five 
lower counties in California that year was estimated by several 
parties at over 3,000,000 lbs. According toa report of S. D. 
Stone, Clerk of Merchants’ Exchange, of San Francisco, the 
actual amount of honey shipped to that city from different parts 
of California in the sixteen months ending lst May, 1881, was 
4,340,400 Ibs., equal to 217 car loads. One hundred tons of 
honey, in one lot, was shipped during the same year from Los 
Angelos to Europe, on the French barque Papillon. This had 
been all purchased from the Los Angelos apiarists;’” and on page 
406 the revisers give their own averages of honey for a period 
of twenty years as 50 lbs. per hive. They say that, “with proper 
management, at least 50 lbs. of surplus honey may be obtained 
from each colony that is wintered in good condition. This is not 
a ‘guess’ estimate, it is the average of our crops during a period 
of over twenty years, in different localities. Such an average may 
appear small to experienced bee-keepers, but we think it large 
enough when we consider that we have very few linden trees 
in our neighbourhood.” It may be stated that Chas. Dadant 
and Son have been in the honey-producing business for many 
years, and are practical apiarists, owning and managing about 
1,000 colonies of bees, and these, of course, under the very best 
management, 
Here, therefore, we have a clear basis of comparison, 50 lbs. 
of honey per hive, resulting from best appliances and manage- 
ment. Can we equal or surpass it, or do we fall short of it? 
And, before that question is answered, let us glance for a while at 
our sources of supply. The present dealers in honey have an 
idiotic method of naming prime honey as “garden honey.” It 
may be that this arose in the past as a distinguishing brand to 
differentiate it from what was then knownas “ bush honey,” which 
was gathered from hollow trees and logs ina rough and uncleanly 
manner. However, as little of such honey now reaches us, the 
term “garden honey,” to express by name a sample upon which 
more care has been taken, need no longer be used. We may 
assure ourselves that the amount of honey gathered from garden 
flowers is a very insignificant quantity, of varying flavour, and 
not worth taking into consideration in reviewing our sources of 
