, 1861-01-25
Terms of Subscription:
Agricultural.

.. udI OloOui ~ 'H'S NN'''huH'N"''Oh "
the California Calturist, for this month,
submits the following suggestions in refer
euce to these subjects
al am pleased to see that this matter is
beginning to attract the attention Of bee
keepers as well as the lovers of honey.
Nothing will, in my opinion, do so much to
advance and place the business of bee keep
inR Oh firm basis and in the rank il should
occupy relatively to other agricultural pro
ducts, as correct knowledge of this sub
ject 1t has been said that bee keeping
is oVerdone in California. This may be
true in one sense, but not in the sense in
which it is generally understood. When a
thousand hives of bees are kept on square
mile, we should not wonder if bee raising
was overdono.' In the State of California
with honey worth from IS cents to a 81
per pound, aud perhaps less than a single
ton Of it produced during the year for mar
ket, who will say the business of honey
raising is overdone lie who is well ac-
quainted with the reason, will readily ex-
plain the great lack of honey, when he is
told that men have attempted 10 keep at
least four times as many bees on a given
amount Of pasture as the field could sup
ply. With one thousand hives of working
bees to the square mile, there is no danger
Of increasing the amount, or reducing the
price of honey, unless special provision is
made for them.
The following experience Of the pres
ent year may more fully explain this mat
ter. AT place seven miles south Of Sac
ramento city, and Immediately on the bank
Of the river, had an apary containing one
hundred hives Of bees most of them had
the main apartment of their hives full on
the first Of July. Desiring to have them
make honey for market, supplied them at
that time with surplus honey boxes
About the middle of the mouth they com
menced to ill them, and were making good
progress, when unother stock, consisting Of
upwards of l25 hives. were brought from
o distance and placed within about a mile
Of my stock, aud Immediately adjoining the
same pasture where my bees fed. There
was then not less than 400 hives Of bees
within q range of three miles long to one
broad. The result was that my bees imme-
diately quit work in the boxes, and were
barely a6Ie to procure honey enough to ill
the combs from which the brood emerged, |
and to subsist upon during the reminder
Of the season. Thus large amount Of
honey that would have been obtained from
the stock, was cut OF by the large Oddi-
tional stock placed in the same vicinity.
While the latter were benefited, TO some
extent by the new location (they having
been removed from O place wholly over
stocked) yet their gain would have been
vastly greater had they been taken to an
unoecupied pasture.
Langstroth, in his work on "The Hive
and Honey Bee" gives the aggregate Of
bee products in some districts, as well as
the number of colonies and products in
others. This will be explained hereafter
The proportion Of wax to honey is about
one TO fifteen or twenty. And a hive con
tanning one cubic foot, will, when full Of
comb, yield about two pounds of wax
From this data, it is easy TO make the cal
eulation, as well as ascertain the size Of the
hives used in different countries.
The island of Corsica paid to Rome an
annual tribute Of 200, 900 pounds of wax"
this would show 100000 hives of bees, Of
one cubic foot each, yielding 100000
pounds OF honey; and as the island con
tains $3.50 square miles, would give 90
hives to each. 1t may be supposed that
the island retained an equal amount for its
own use, which would double the above
figures.
According to Oettle Bohemia contain,
ed 100000 colonies, in 1858, from care
ful estimate and he thinks the country
could readily support four times that mum
ber. The Kingdom contnins 20 900 square
miles" This would give I hives per mile.
In the province of Altica, in Greece,
containing As square miles aud 10000 in-
habtants, 10000 hives are kept, each
yielding, on an average, thirty pounds of
honey aud two of wax.
In 1856, according to official returns,
there were So, 964 colonies of bees in the
kingdom of WurtemGurg.
In 1857, the yield of honey aud wax in
the empire Of Austria, was estimated to be
worth ofer seven millions Of dollars.
The following extract from "The Life
of North American Insects, by B. .Jacger," ,"
1859, explains why so many bees come to-
be kept: In some countries, it As true,
the bee culture before oil other ugronomical
occupations In the same work fnd the
following: "There is Patriotic AparianI
Society in Bavaria, which is a most lauda'
BILE institution, and its laws ought TO be
translated into the language ofevery coun.
try where bees are known. 1t is not per-
mitted for peasant to have his own apia-
ry, but particular favorable spot is point
ed out by the Society, in which the differ
ent proprietors deposit their hives.
"This place is under the management of
a skillful apariaD, aparian, appointed by
the Society, and it is ordained that no
more than l50 hives shall be Kept in one
place, aud each establishment must be four
miles distant. A tr,hing tax is levied upon
aach hive nnt hplonpinp To the Society /.