102 
MISCELLANEOUS PAPEES ON APICULTURE. 
Table VII. — Distribution of greenhouse cucumber growers and record of bees 
used in greenhouses. 
County. 
Number 
known 
to be en- 
gaged in 
cucumber 
growing. 
Number 
report- 
ing. 
Number 
of colonies 
of bees 
known to 
be used 
annually. 
Bristol 
12 
10 
33 
4 
2 
1 
56 
7 
2 
21 
1 
1 
1 
40 
140 
15 
244 
Norfolk 
50 
20 
Suffolk 
15 
100 
Total 
118 
a73 6584 
a Average of those reporting, 8. b Estimated total, 944. 
THE BEE MARKET. 
It is doubtful whether in any other State in the Union more 
colonies of bees are sold, in proportion to the number on hand in the 
spring, than in Massachusetts. As is pointed out, the cucumber in- 
dustry has much to do with this. Although there are many small, 
more or less amateur bee keepers in the State who customarily sell 
their surplus colonies, the trade is not at all confined to them. The 
supply houses and commercial bee keepers sell heavily, which is 
remarkable in a region where there is so little bee keeping on a large 
scale. Peculiarly, every county in the State shares in the trade 
about equally, in proportion to their respective number of colonies. 
The table, arranged from the statistics of 1906, shows that the bee 
keepers of Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middle- 
sex, Norfolk, and Worcester counties sold approximately one-fifth of 
all the colonies on hand in the spring. Plymouth County, however, 
took the lead, selling 39 per cent, while in the remote counties of 
Barnstable and Berkshire, and in the metro polis county, Suffolk, the 
sale was relatively light. 
Table VIII. — Number of colonies sold as compared with colonies on hand in 
spring of 1906. 
Number of colonies 
of bees. 
County. 
Number of colonies 
of bees. 
County. 
Spring 
of 1906. 
Sold in 
1906. 
Spring 
of 1906. 
Sold in 
1906. 
185 
495 
321 
531 
491 
366 
1 
29 
80 
107 
102 
73 
408 
962 
364 
463 
57 
1,199 
46 
Berkshire 
1 Middlesex 
Norfolk 
Plymouth 
Suffolk 
142 
Bristol 
72 
170 
Franklin 
3 
202 
