8 The Bulletin. 



Madison leads in the total number of bee-keepers. Taking into 

 account only those counties which have on record 250 colonies or over, 

 we present the following table : 



LEADING BEE-KEEPING COUNTIES. 



We see, therefore, that, so far as our records go, they show de- 

 cidedly that at present the leading honey-producing region of the 

 State is the southeastern and eastern parts, which is explained by the 

 fact that there are in those sections thousands of acres of swamp land 

 which never have been and perhaps never will be cultivated, but in 

 which a number of excellent honey plants (gallberry, huckleberry, 

 etc.) grow to perfection. All this section may, therefore, be oon- 

 sidered as one (the eastern) region. Leaving this region, we pass 

 across a wide belt of country in which there are no specially favored 

 bee-keeping sections, until we get to the upper piedmont and moun- 

 tain counties, where the mixed forests, wild clovers, and best of all, 

 the famous sourwood flourish. Here the opportunities for bee-keep- 

 ing are only limited by the clearing of the land for crops which are 

 not honey producers. So far as the writer is able to judge, a skillful 

 bee-keeper will do about as well in one of these sections as the other, 

 with this difference: that in the piedmont and western counties, on 

 account of colder climate, more care is needed in wintering the bees, 

 and the favorable locations, where the best plants grow, are somewhat 

 more restricted than in the east. To offset this disadvantage, it may 

 be said that all bee-keepers, wherever the sourwood grows, rank it 

 first among the_ honey plants, and this queen of honey producers is 

 most abundant in the upper piedmont and lower mountain sections. 



In this connection it is proper to attempt to determine where the 

 honey yield is greatest. To attempt this for each individual county 



