HONEYBEES AND HONEY PRODUCTION. 
5 
higher than of those belonging to farmers. If the most 
probable figure mentioned, 6,000,000 colonies, be accepted as 
representing all colonies of bees in the United States and the 
average yield be considered as 25 pounds, which appears 
conservative, this would account for a total i)roduction of 
150,000,000 pounds of honey. 
An inquiry of leading manufacturers of beekeepers' sup- 
plies concerning sales of 1-pound sections, with a conserva- 
tive allowance for those produced by small firms and indi- 
viduals, indicates for the season of 1917 a total of about 
55,000,000 such sections, and for 1916 and 1915 about 
53,000,000 and 45,000,000 sections, respectively. If we 
accept the common assumption of 1 pound per section, and 
allow 5 per cent for wastage of empty sections, this would 
indicate a production of about 52,000,000 pounds of comb 
honey in 1917. Reports to the Bureau of Crop Estimates 
from a list of over 5,000 honey producers indicate that the 
proportion of comb honey in 1-pound sections to all honey 
obtained from the bees is about 38 per cent. While this 
figure reflects the facts for the men reporting to the bureau, 
it is known to be too high if applied to aU honey produced, 
especially in many Southeastern States, where a true return 
for aU beekeepers would show much higher figures for 
chunk" honey and lower for comb as weU as extracted. 
A figure for the United States of 33 per cent of comb would 
be nearer the truth. If this figure be applied to the indi- 
cated production of comb honey, it would point to a total 
production of about 158,000,000 pounds. Commercial 
honey handlers consider that the proportion of comb honey 
is much lower, which, if true, would mean a corresponding 
increase in the indicated total production. The leading 
commercial authorities in the United States on honeybees 
and honey production estimate that the total production is 
considerably in excess of 200,000,000 pounds. 
DEPENDABILITY OF TABLES. 
In presenting the material appearing in the following 
tables it should be stated that so much of these data as are 
drawn from the reports to the Bureau of Crop Estimates by 
its Hst of honey producers are of varying degrees of de- 
pendability, according to whether the cooperation in the 
