The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-08-26
Poultry and Bees.
HOW TO MAKE BEES PAY.
Z" Will it Pay the Farmer to Fool With BsesV, i,
North Carolina Admirably Adapted to
Producing, but the Industry
is Poorly Managed-Care and At
tentiOn Necessary, but they
Pay Good Dividends.
No. 90

Pay Good Dividends
Cor. of The Progressive Farmer.
The question has often been asked:
rs there any money in bees; will it
pay the farmer to 'fooP with them I"
No; it will not pay him to "foop with
them. No more than it will pay him
to "fooP with wheat, tobacco, or cot
ton crop. But if he will give them the
same thought, study and attention he
gives the other branches on his farm,
he will find, in the course of time, that
nothing will pay him better.
Too many go into the business with
the erroneous idea that bees require
little or no attention; that they can
take care of themselves. They put
them off in some out-of-the-way nook
or corner on the plantation, and visit
them as rule only once a year and
then to take what little honey they
may have stored Often the amount
is very small, and they at once pro-
nOunce them failure.
Others give them more attention.
In fact some have quite a number of
colonies and take quite lot of honey,
but when compared to the income from
the other branches on their farm. It
cuts no financial figure at all. Their
bees, as a rule, are in the ordinary
neutrality-suspicious. boxes. They are
allowed to run their affairs to sui+
themselves. They swarm when thew
llke-often from one to four swarms
coming from one box during a season.
a few OF these swarms are hived, but
the most of them go to the woods and
talke up their abode in hollow tree.
Now, box of bees should not be al
lowed to swarm but one time during
the season, where a colony swarms
two or three times the force left in
the old box is so weakened that there
IS not enough bees left to make anv
surplus honey; in fact, it often han
pens that there are not enough to pro-
tect the combs, and either the robber
bees or moths or wet worms take pos
session and wind up the business for
that box.
There are too many such "bee-keep-
ers" in our State. And it is this class
that are continually saying, ooh, [
have fooled with bees, there is no
money in them" If they would take
some up-to-date bee journal, and read
the articles of men who have grown
gray in the business, whose colonies
of bees number anywhere from 500 TO
5000, who ship honey by the carloads,
and whose incomes amount to thou
sands of dollars yearly, perhaps they
would change their tune. The fact is,
North Carolina is behind in this i'm
portant industry like she is in a great
many others.
California, as is known by every one
who knows anything at all about the
matter, has an international reputa-
ton as honey-producing State. Her
average yield is 100000 pounds, and
she ships to the Eastern markets from
200 to 300 carloads annually. Accord
ing to the United States Census Bu-
reau Report for 1899 gives North Car
olina pa, 4,539 colonies of bees, mhiIe
California is credited with only 1885,
444, about half the number in North
Carolina. Now isn't it rather strange
that North Carolina with twice the
number of bees as California should
make no showing at all as honey
producing State? Is it because, as
might be supposed, California is
better State for the bee business than
North Carolina, or the difference in
the management of bees?
I should, after reading and consid-
ering, say the latter; because, In the
first place, beekeepers in California
can only count on two good honey
years out of every five, and besides
have to contend with foulbrood and
other diseases that are totally un-
known IN North Carolina. From what
[ can learn, North Carolina is one of
the finest States In the Union for the
production of honey. Her natural
fields are abundant, and as good as
can be found anywhere in California