4 BULLETIN 685, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 
The importance of the honey industry in the United States 
is reahzed by few, even of those who have given some atten- 
tion to the subject, owing to the fact that the census figures, 
which are naturally looked to for information, report only 
concerning the bees belonging to farmers, whereas a large 
and increasing proportion of the honeybees of the country, 
producing a still larger proportion of the honey crop, belong 
to beekeepers other than farmers and are located in villages 
and towns, or, by permission of the farmer or landowner, 
are kept in out-of-the-way places on farms or hidden in the 
recesses of the hills, away from frequented roads where they 
would be readily observed. Surveys of the beekeeping in- 
dustry in Massachusetts and Indiana indicate that the census 
included hardly more than half the actual number of colonies 
of bees in those States and checks on honey production show 
similar deficiencies in other States. 
The census reports indicate for 1910 a total of 3,445,006 
colonies, which, if accepted as representing the number on 
farms, though it is certain that not all such were recorded, 
may be taken to indicate in the hands of farmers and all 
others certainly not less than 5,000,000 colonies, more prob- 
ably 6,000,000, and possibly more. Leading commercial 
honey authorities estimate the number to be much higher. 
The production of honey in 1909, according to the same 
authority, was approximately 55,000,000 pounds. That this 
is far below the facts is certain. The average jdelds indi- 
cated by the census reports are about 16 pounds in 1909 
and about 15 pounds in 1900, whereas the average yields as 
reported to the Bureau of Crop Estimates by honey pro- 
ducers are about 40 pounds per colony. Only a little over 
half the farms reporting bees gave any figures on honey 
production to the census enumerators. The proportion that 
actually produced no honey is unknown, but the actual 
yields per colony on farms must have been considerably 
higher than those indicated by these imperfect returns to 
the census enmnerators. The honey producers' reports are 
more nearly representative of the commercial producer, 
who often, and probably as a rule, is not a farmer, and it 
may be safely assumed that the average production per 
colony of bees not belonging to farmers is considerably 
