46 MISCELLANEOUS PAPEBS OK APICULTUKE. 
is of the opinion that the island is jnst about half stocked. The 
island of Oahu seems to be well covered from an apicultural stand- 
point. Molokai is not a cane-producing island, but the algarroba 
forest is nearly stocked, and the only place for heavy expansion seems 
to be in the mountains, where several forest trees are nectar bearing. 
The island of Maui could not be examined as carefully as the others 
on account of inclement weather, but from reports received it is ob- 
viously not stocked to the extent that it should be. The island of 
Hawaii, the largest of the group, is relatively the least developed of 
any of the islands. There are only a few apiaries on this area, which 
is almost equal in extent to Connecticut, and there are great possibili- 
ties. On the south coast there are vast areas of cane, and the same 
is true of the Hamakua coast on the north. The Kona coast would 
probably support some bees in the coffee plantations. One such 
apiary was seen by the author (PI. VII, fig. 2). On the interior of 
the island there are vast areas which are entirely undeveloped from 
an apicultural standpoint, and the island can doubtless support 
thousands of colonies of bees at a profit. 
The total area now actually stocked with apiaries would not nearly 
equal in size one-half the State of Rhode Island, while the honey crop 
is probably 20 times as great as in that State. According to the 
Census Report for Rhode Island it would be 40 times as great, but we 
can not use this figure on account of its obvious unreliability. This 
comparison will show the honey-producing capabilities of the islands 
as compared with our more northern countries, and will also show how 
thoroughly the areas are stocked where the industry has been taken 
up. A small part of Oahu is doubtless overstocked, due to crowding 
into a given area by competitive companies. There was no evidence 
of such overstocking elsewhere. 
Overstocking an area with bees is a subject much discussed among 
bee men, and the situation in Hawaii illustrates very beautifully the 
fact that a theoretical discussion of how many colonies may be kept 
in one place is of no value whatever. Each location must be judged 
on its own merits, and a given area which will support only 20 colonies 
in one region may support 1,000 elsewhere. It is also obvious that 
seasons vary to a marked degree. In many parts of the mainland it 
is deemed advisable to keep not more than 100. colonies in one apiary 
and to allow each apiary a radius of 1J to 3 miles. On the basis of 
these figures, from 50 to 200 acres are necessary to support a single 
colony of bees. Without discussing the merits of these figures, it is 
enough to say that this is the common mainland practice, particularly 
in the more densely populated areas. In contrast to this, an examina- 
tion of the methods in Hawaii is extremely significant. One area of 
cane on the island of Oahu contains a little over 20,000 acres. As will 
