UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 685 
Contribution from the Bureau of Crop Estimates 
LEON M. ESTABROOK, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
June 20, 1918 
HONEYBEES AND HONEY PRODUCTION IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 
By S. A. Jones, 
Chief, Field Service, Bureau of Crop Estimates, 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Map indicating distribution of colonies 
of bees in the United States 2 
Extent of industry 4 
Dependability of tables 5 
Colonies of bees in the United States. . . 8 
Increase by swarming 10 
Wintering bees 11 
Losses 15 
Yields of honey per colony 22 
Total production of honey 25 
Form of honey produced 
Color of honey 
Market 
Supply and prices 
Sources of pollen and nectar 
Nectar sources for surplus honey 
Geographical distribution and charac- 
teristics of important honeys 
Production of 1917 
Conditions and prospects for 1918 
THE honeybee is the primary conservationist. Supple- 
menting its extremely important service of promoting the 
pollination of important food and feed crops, it elaborates 
from the nectar of the plants thus benefited one of the most 
dehcious, nutritious and readily digestible of all foods. The 
fact that the most important work of the honey bee is not 
the production of honey, but the carrying of poUen from 
flower to flower, thus assisting in the fertihzation of plants 
and assuring their fruitfulness, is not always appreciated. 
Growers of early cucumbers under glass find it necessary to 
install hives of bees in their hothouses to insure their crop. 
A rainy, cold spell during fruit bloom, keeping bees from 
flying, results in little fruit that season. Many people are 
not aware that they are thus dependent largely upon these 
busy and sometimes intrusive insects for the fruitfulness 
of their orchards and gardens. The work of the bees is 
important not only to the production of tree fruits, but to 
18— BuU. 
