Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1884. 
Bee-keeping  Industry  of  America. 
585 
THE  BEE-KEEPING  INDUSTRY  IN  AMERICA.1 
By  John  L.  Dow. 
In  nothing  has  there  been  greater  progress  displayed  throughout 
America  during  the  past  half-dozen  years  than  in  the  keeping  of  bees. 
Formerly  success  in  bee-keeping  was  attributed  largely  to  "  luck," 
and  the  variety  of  systems  practised  by  different  bee-keepers  was  only 
equalled  by  the  multiplicity  of  designs  adopted  in  the  construction  of 
the  hives.  A  specialty  of  the  American  farm,  as  seen  to-day,  is  its 
apiary,  as  the  rows  of  hives  are  called,  which  are  marshalled  along  at 
distances  of  from  five  to  seven  feet  from  each  other  in  some  convenient 
situation  near  the  garden  or  orchard.  And  what  arrests  attention  is 
the  similarity  of  pattern  in  these  square  white  painted  hives.  From 
California  to  Massachusetts  one  would  think  that  the  keepers  of  bees 
had  obtained  their  hives  from  one  maker.  You  find,  however,  that 
nearly  every  State  has  its  own  special  make  of  beehives,  but  the 
differences  are  only  in  detail,  and  do  not  interfere  with  the  general 
plan  that  seems  to  govern  these  square  boxes.  We  eventually  discover 
that  bee-keeping  in  America  is  now  everywhere  reduced  to  principles 
that  are  as  much  distinguished  for  their  certainy  of  operation  as 
formerly  the  occupation  was  noted  for  being  one  essentially  of  guess- 
work. 
Although  bee-keeping  to  the  extent  of  apiaries  comprising  from  a 
dozen  hives  or  so  up  to  about  fifty  is  general  among  the  farms  and 
orchards,  the  big  bee  ranche,  whose  proprietor  devotes  his  whole  atten- 
tion to  the  industry,  is  also  quite  an  established  American  concern. 
It  is  estimated  that  for  the  year  1882  there  were  70,000  bee-keepers 
in  the  United  States,  possessing  among  them  a  total  of  2,000,000  hives, 
averaging  20  lbs.  of  honey  each,  which  at  the  low  average  of  10 
cents  per  lb.  represented  a  total  of  $4,000,000,  besides  20,00.0,000  lbs. 
of  wax,  worth  $6,000,000,  or  a  total  for  the  year's  crop  of  $10,000,000. 
Of  these  amounts,  honey  and  wax  to  the  value  of  $1,200,000  and 
$700,000  respectively  were  exported  for  the  same  year.  Among  the 
bee-keepers  in  the  Eastern  States  the  work  of  what  is  called  "  winter- 
ing the  colonies  is  a  very  serious  portion  of  the  bee-keepers  responsi- 
bility ;  but  in  the  more  genial  and  Australian-like  climate  prevailing 
along  the  Pacific  Coast,  between  San  Francisco  and  Mexico,  the  bee 
1  From  the  Leader.  Reprinted  from  the  Tropical  Agriculturist,  August 
1,  1884. 
