The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1881-11-23
Written for the Florida Ag+eultmrtss.

w f1CtenJO LHG 1tO1tuu dJItSuetW 100
An Address to stheS Bee Keepers
and Fair Directors of the State
OF Florida.
Having lately received the premi'
um list for the State Fair, 1 have
gone carefully over it, and can say
that not only have no fault to find
with the awards there offered, but
on the contrary consider every one
well and wisely placed. Yet it seems
to me that one of our rural industries
that, with a little encouragement may
greatly surpass in Importance to the
State, some for which liberal premi.
ums are offered in the list, is sadly
neglected. I refer to the Bookkeeping
interest, which includesl the produce
ton of honey and wax, the raising
of early queens for the northern bee>
keepers, and the supplying OF bees by
the pound to replace those lost dur~
ing the cold winters of the north.
To be sure, there is department .,
for Poultry, Bees and Rabbits" but
with seventy dollars offered for poul-
try, l do not see the first cent offered
Tor bees. In Department E, Table
Luxuries," we find No. 12-best spe'
eimen Florida honey $500. Also,
mo. 42,-best home made vinegar
OF any kind s1.oO." Those two items
afford the only chances for the bee-
Keeper. to win prize, and they to-
.avether amount to $500. AS the
the reason for this lack of encourage
ment probably rests more with the
bee-keepers themselves in not making
known the Importance OF their indus-
try. than with the Directors OF the
Exposition, now take the liberty OF
presenting few facts and figures
to show that bees and their produce
tons are, to say the least, as worthy
of as much consideration as poultry.
Mr.. Thomas G. Newman, editor OF
the American Bee Journal, a large
and handsome weekly, published at
Chicago ILL.,, in late issue called for
reports from the bee~keepers of the
country, stating their success during
the present year. In No. Al, issued
Oct. 18th, is given tabulated states
ment of the returns as far as received.
The tootings are as follows: colonies
in the spring 137, 636; fall 235, $40;
average increase II per cent. Ex-
tracted honey SAT-, 176 pounds; comb
honey 1890, 446 pounds, giving to.
tai of 9,467 ,622 pounds, or an ayers
age of 60 pounds to the colony.
Florida's share in this list so far as
reported is, colonies in the spring,
1854 in the tall Alp; per cent. OF
increase 100. Extracted honey pro-
duced, 167, 1918 pounds; comb honey,
1874 pounds; average per colony,
"a pounds. In commenting on these
results, MIR. Newman remarks -
"There are in America about 3,OO0,'
900 colonies of bees, but our reports
are from less than quarter OF
million, or one>twelfth of the whole.
If the one-tweltth that are reported
are fair average of the whole, then
the crop OF American honey for 1881
amounts to 120,0OO,000 pounds. If
we call it only hundred millions, it
is worth s15,000,0O0. Surely the in
dustry is of sufficient magnitude to
satisfy the most enthusiastic of Its
devotees." In southern California,
there are six hundred men who are
engaged exclusively in bee keeping,
and yet they get full crop on an
average but once in three years, and
some years thousands OF colonies
starve to death. While here IN
Florida can not find any one that
has ever known the crop to fail.
This has been called poor year for
bees, yet my colonies have increased
over 100 per cent. and produced 200
pounds OF. honey to the colony. The
bees of several of my neighbors have