SURPLUS HONEY IN BOXES AND EXTRACTED. 7 J 



York City, in October, 1877, thus closes his report for that year; "In 

 conclusion we would say, that with a practical apiarist, bee-keeping is a 

 profitable business, even at the present prices of honey. "We have 

 cleared nearly $6,000 from our bees, free of all expenses, within the last 

 five j'ears, with an average of about fifty stocks, in the spring of each 

 year. However, bee-keeping only pays when our pets are properly 

 cared for, and if any one cannot spend the amount of time required, he 

 had better keep out of the business. " 



The late Mr. M. Quinby, in his work on bees, claimed that every acre 

 of land would, on an average, yield one pound of honey. This is 

 surely a small estimate. The State of New York alone has 30,00Q,000 

 acres, yet she has never gathered over 400,000 pounds of honey. What 

 a waste, all over our land, because bees are lacking to gather the honey! 

 Mr. Harbison says that the honey thus lost annually in California, is of 

 more value than the gold gathered. What a field for future work? The 

 profit realized from intelligent bee-keeping, averages from one to two 

 hundred per cent on the capital invested. It is at the same time a busi- 

 ness in which any one with limited means may embark. Surely this 

 is a fine outlook for the future. What Mr. Harbison says of California 

 is proportionally true of most sections of our land. We will close with 

 a brief statement of this industry. At present about two million bee- 

 hives are kept by the 70, 000 bee-keepers of America. These are estimat- 

 ed to yield on an average twenty-two pounds of honey, which at twenty- 

 five cents per pound, would ba $8,800,000 for the crop. The wax is 

 estimated at 20,000,000 pounds; worth $6,000,000, or a total revenue of 

 $14,800,000 annually from these busy insects. Of this $1,200,000 worth 

 of honey and $700,000 worth of wax are annually exported. With the 

 rapid increase of the business what will they be twenty-five years hence? 



