BEE KEEPING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 107 
A thousand colonies or more are annually used in cucumber green- 
houses. Since practically all of these colonies are useless after com- 
imr out of the houses, there is a constant demand and sale for bees. 
to ' 
Several greenhouse men use from 40 to 80 colonies a year. The 
average number reported is 8 colonies. In the sale of bees the several 
counties, exclusive of Barnstable, Berkshire, and Suffolk, sold in 1900 
approximately one-fifth of all their bees, spring count. In Plymouth 
County the sale amounted to 39 per cent. The total income amounted 
to between $5,000 and $(>,000. The queen-rearing industry is limited 
to a few persons and late springs make it difficult to compete with 
southern producers. 
The chief enemy reported is the bee moth. There is great doubt, 
however, if the damage attributed is really and primarily due to it. 
There is, on the other hand, sufficient reason to believe that disease 
is primary and that destruction by the moth is secondary. Gipsy 
and brown-tail moths are also reported as interfering severely with 
apiculture in the eastern part of the State. 
Massachusetts is particularly fortunate and in some ways in 
advance of other communities in her bee keepers' institutions. Not 
alone do local societies aim to promote bee keeping, but the State 
Board of Agriculture, State Experiment Station, and Agricultural 
Station as well, are deeply interested in the advancement of api- 
culture. 
A LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ARTICLES ON BEE KEEPING IN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
1906. Massachusetts field meeting. American Bee-Keeper, XVI, pp. 188- 
189. 
1908. Worcester County (Mass.) convention. American Bee-Keeper, XVIII, 
p. 43. 
1908. Has annual meeting. Worcester County Bee Keepers' Association 
Elects Officers. American Bee-Keeper, XVIII, pp. 40-41. 
Adams, Geo. W. 
1900. Farm bee keepers [in Massachusetts]. American Bee-Keeper, XVI, 
pp. 88-89. 
190G. Massachusetts bee keeping in 1644. Supply manufacturing before 
the days of new-fangled fixtures. American Bee-Keeper, XVI, 
pp. 180-181. 
Babcock, L. B. 
1855. Bees. Norfolk [County], The agriculture of Massachusetts as shown 
in returns of the agricultural societies, 1854. Prepared by Charles 
L. Flint. Bound with Second Annual Report of the Secretary of 
.Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. Boston. Pp. 403-405. 
Brooks, Jennie. 
11)09. Memories of Langstroth by one who know him in her childhood. 
Bee Keepers' Review, XXII, No. 2, pp. 39-42. 
Canning, Josiah D., Chairman; Cowles, David S. ; Wright, Asahel. 
1854. Bees and honey. The agriculture of Massachusetts, as shown in the 
returns of the agricultural societies, 1x53. Prepared by Charles 
L. Flint. Bound with First Annual Report of the Secretary of 
Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. Boston. Pp. 390-393. 
