34 
PRESENT CONDITIONS AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES OF 
BEEKEEPING IN TENNSSEE 
At the present time Tennessee ranks fifth in the honey-produc- 
ing states of the Union. Few people not having the chance to study 
the beekeeping interests in Tennessee know to what proportions they 
have attained. Honey production in the State has never been brought 
properly before the beekeeping world and in a general way little is 
known as to what is really being done in this line of business by the 
people of Tennessee. It.may be interesting to see a few conservative 
figures in regard to present conditions obtained from a careful survey 
of the beekeeping industry. 
At present there are 144,487 colonies of bees in 
What the bees Tennessee. Estimated at $3.50 per colony, their 
save each year value would be $505,704.50. The amount invested 
in honey houses and other apparatus connected 
with beekeeping, exclusive of hives, would doubtless approximate 6 
per cent of this amount, or $30,342.27. From statements received from 
Fic. 40—Tennessere Honey Exuisit at Tri-State Farr, MEMPHIs 
Octoser, 1911. 
3,006 beekeepers in the State it is found that the average yield per 
colony is 39% pounds of honey. This makes the production of the 
144,487 colonies 5,707,236%4 pounds of honey, which at an average 
price of 15 cents per pound aggregates $856,085.48. There are also 
sold in the State annually $2,500 worth of queens, averaging $1 per 
queen. At present there is no accurate estimate of the beeswax pro- 
duced, but the amount is considerable, selling as it does for 28 and 30 
cents per pound. Counting a swarm for every two colonies, and 
valuing them at $1, this would amount to $72,243.50. As a total we 
thus find the annual output of the beekeeping industry in Tennessee 
to be— 
