STATISTICS CONCERNING THE BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS 775 
brown excrement, or the stores are very 
bad, they can be nsed again. But badly 
soiled comb, or otherwise undesirable ones, 
should be put thru the wax-extractor. See 
Wax; also Dysentery. 
In early spring it may be necessary to 
rake out the dead bees in the entrances of 
some colonies. If a colony is strong it will 
usually do its own house-cleaning; but 
sometimes the dead accumulate in such 
numbers as actually to block the entrance. 
In all such eases there is danger that the 
few survivors may die outright. 
Perhaps very weak colonies may be 
found with a queen; while there will be 
another colony fairly strong without any. 
In that case it is best to unite these two, 
moving the weak colony over to the strong 
one. See Uniting; also Introducing. 
Some experienced beekeepers can “spread 
brood” in early spring; but the beginner 
will do well not to practice it. See Spread¬ 
ing Brood. 
It sometimes happens that there will be 
weak and strong colonies in the same yard. 
The latter will be too strong and the weak 
too weak. Some have practiced exchang¬ 
ing places with the two colonies. If they 
are next adjoining, this can be done very 
nicely; but the exchange should never be 
made except during warm weather. The 
flying bees of the strong colony will then 
enter the hive on their old stand where the 
weak colony has been placed. This will 
build it up while the old colony on the 
stand of the weak one will be depleted of 
bees. No harm to the brood will be done 
if the weather is warm and the entrance 
contracted. 
This plan is practiced to a considerable 
extent by some of our large beekeepers and 
particularly by Ira D. Bartlett of Michi¬ 
gan. 
STATISTICS CONCERNING THE 
BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS.—Except 
for some few States and some particular 
localities in some other States, there are no 
accurate figures concerning the number of 
beekeepers, the number of colonies of bees, 
and the amount of honey produced. It is 
true that the United States census for 1900, 
1910, and 1920, includes bees and honey 
among other rural industries and products; 
but, unfortunately, these reports, so far 
as they relate to bees and honey, are limit¬ 
ed to bees on farms of three acres or over, 
or farms of less acreage but which pro¬ 
duce over $250 worth of agricultural prod¬ 
ucts. As will be shown, such a classification 
excludes a very large number of beekeep¬ 
ers and practically all of the commercial 
honey-producers that produce the great 
bulk of the honey consumed out of the 
State where it is produced. While it is 
true that a large number of farmers keep 
bees, and while it is true that for a few 
States the great mass of beekeepers are 
likewise farmers, the fact remains that in 
other States, such as New Jersey, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, southeastern New 
York, and eastern Pennsylvania, the popu¬ 
lation is largely suburban. The great mass 
of the people of those States are not far¬ 
mers but suburbanites; and not one suburb¬ 
anite in ten under the ruling of the census 
can be classified as a farmer. For example, 
the United States census for 1900, 1910, 
and 1920, credits New Jersey with having 
14,000, 10,000, and 12,000 colonies of bees 
respectively, or an average, covering 20 
years, of about 12,000 colonies of bees. Ac¬ 
cording to E. G. Carr, the State Apiarist 
and Bee Inspector, an actual count shows 
that in New Jersey there are over 36,000 
colonies of bees, with not all the territory 
counted. This shows that, on a conserva¬ 
tive estimate, counting only the colonies on 
the farms New Jersey has actually three 
times as many colonies as the census re¬ 
port shows. Almost the same ratio should 
apply to the number of beekeepers in that 
State, because so many suburbanites not 
listed as farmers keep bees. 
While no accurate count has been made 
of the number of beekeepers or the colo¬ 
nies of bees in other States having a large 
suburban population, like, for example, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode 
Island, if the same ratio should hold true 
in these States as in New Jersey, we should 
have to multiply their census figures, so far 
as they relate to bees or beekeepers, by 2 or 
3—more likely the latter figure. In the 
same way the suburban population around 
any large city, as we know from various 
private sources, contains a large number of 
beekeepers, not one of whom could be clas¬ 
sified as a farmer under the census rul- 
ing. 
