384 The Honey-Makers 



It is in southern California, however, that bee-culture 

 has received most attention. 



From one hive taken to Los Angeles County in 1854 the 

 industry grew to between fifteen thousand and twenty thou- 

 sand hives in 1876. 



All over the United States bee-culture has received a 

 wonderful impetus which within fifty years has given it 

 a place in the sum of the nation's wealth. 



The following statement is made by A. J. Cook, Pro- 

 fessor of Entomology in the Michigan State Agricultural 

 College, and author of a book on bees : — 



■ " An excellent authority places the number of colonies 

 of bees in the United States, in 188 1, at 3,000,000, and 

 the honey production for that year at more than 200,000,000 

 pounds. The production for that year was not up to the 

 average, and yet the cash value of the year's honey crops 

 exceeded ^30,000,000." 



Mr. Frank Benton, in charge of the apiarian work of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, in 1895, P^'^^ the estimate 

 at ^20,000,000 for the annual value of apiarian products. 



From the Year Book of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture we learn that in 1894 there was exported from the 

 United States honey to the value of ^127,282, considerably 

 more than half of which went to Great Britain and 

 Ireland. There was also exported in that year $118,093 

 worth of wax. 



It is said that in 1890 bee-keeping gave employment in 

 the United States to three hundred thousand persons, and 

 there are a number of large factories where nothing is 

 manufactured but bee-keepers' supplies. 



The amount of honey marketed each year varies accord- 

 ing to the weather as much as the grain or fruit crop, — 

 even more. One year of favorable conditions will bring 

 a tremendous honey flow, when bees thrive apace and 



