The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-08-07

I
therefore. the cost of transportation OF
! five pounds of honey-the daily output
| of colony of bees-for 1000 miles
4 would be l "a cents. II the 100000
| miles straveled daily by colony of
| bees in taking their honey to the hive
| were paid for at the regular railway
| freight rates, the daily transportation
charges would be 81 for five pounds
produced by the swarm.
The number of pounds of honey pro-
duced In the United States in one year
Is 61,196,160, according to the govern
| ment figures. The freight rates fol-
this would be. at the rate already figur-
ed on, $S5,674.624, Ii the number OF
miles travel by the bees were placed
on the same scale of charges as Those
| made by railway officials. The num-
| Der of bee colonies in the United States
| is reported to the Agricultural Depart
ment as 4.109.626 and. therefore, the
number of miles travel daily by all the
| worker bees in this country is 1,643.-
| $50, 100000.
| According to the present railway
values, the time lost in transportation
| to the bee amount to $S5.674,624 an
nually, and when it is considered that
the value of the total honey output In
| the entire country amounts to only
are somewhat startling.
The point raised is this:
If glucose be fed to bees they would
get their nectar at home ready pre-
pared for them, as many people get
their breakfast foods and thus save
the transportation rates on the honey.
Glucose costs in barrel lots from
ga to cents a pound. 1t is esti-
mated by bee exports that 25 per cent.
of the glucose fed to bees will be re-
produced In honey. 1t would, there
fore. take 244,7S4640 pounds of glu-
cose to produce the 61,196,160 pounds
of honey made annually In this country
But if the bee were fed with glucose,
the mileage travelled by him in trans
porting his honey would be saved, and
at the same time, the general output
would be increased many fold. The
time now lost by the bee In travelling
from flower to flower In search of the
| nectar, and in going to and from the
| hive, amounts in monetary value, as
| has just been shown, to $S5,614,624
| every year. Now, In order to get
what the total amount of the annual
output of honey in the United States
should be. if bees were glucose fed. the
present comparatively insignificant
| output of $6,664 304 should be added to
| the saving of sS5,674624 and the re-
| suit would show u yearly production OF
| $92,33S,92S.
Now as to profits:
| Honey, as already noted is worth 20
! cents a pound in the comb, and from
| to cents Il pound extracted According
| to statistics prepared by government
| experts. the average production OF
| honey brings 0 cents pound. An In
creased output of $92, 33S,92S a year
would inrnpaSp in
the number of pounds from 61,196,1
| to 1,02a,9SS,0SS annually.
| 1t would require to produce this
! amount of honey four times as much
| glucose, or 4,103.952,352 pounds, which
at ga cents pound would cost ST.
| S19,166.16. The value of bees in the
| Tilted States is $10,1S6.513. Interest
on this amount at per cent. per an
mum would be $407, 460.52. Out of the
| 5,739,657 farms in this couptry, 707.261
| report bees. The average farm wages
| is $40 o month. board and lodging
| amounting in all to about $3.50 a year
| But on an average it does not take
| more than one-hundredth part of a
farm hands time to care for the bees
| on the place, outside of the big
| apiaries, and these should be included
| In the general average. The care OF
| all the bees in the United States could
| therefore, be placed at a cost of $3.50
| per farm per annum. or a total annual
| cos of s2.475, 4135O. This would make
| the total cost of production from glu-
cose-fed bees $74.472.040.1 annually
| showing a net profit of $17,S66, SS7 SO
But all this is figured on the basis
| of cents a pound for honey With
| glucose-fed bees the bee man can dc
better han this. He can sell his honey
in the comb and get 20 cents a pound
| for 1t. Many experiments have been
| made with artificial honeycomb, but II
never has been made in Its entirety
| The artificial foundation of the comb
| however, has been produced and is. be-
ing successfully produced today. II
| saves the bee man much time in plan
| ming and building his storage house
| By this help and by the use of glucose
as food it has been scientifically esti-
mated that at least 100000 more
pounds of honey could be sold for 20
| cents a pound. which would mean an
| increase in the value of the annual out
put of S20,000,000 a total profit of $37,-
| S6G.SS7.S2 on an expenditure of $74,-
72.040.lS. or so per cent.
If these figures can be put into prac-
teal use the honey commerce of the
world will be rcvolutioniZed. The
bee business will be made so profitable
that 1t will require the output of
several great glucose plants 10 keep 1t
in operation. On this experiment that
is now being made at Essex Falls much
depends. Back of it is the biggest glu-
cose plant of the world. over there
at Edgewater an investment of some
thing like $4.O000O0 has beer
made, Twenty-eight thousand BUSH
els Of corn are used ady
in the manufacture of glucose and
COO men are kept busy in the immense
factory of n dozen or more buildings
many of them ten stories high. Five
thousand horse power electric engines
keep the machinery in motion. produc-
ing a daily output of 10000 barrles OF
glucose, $50 barrels Of sugar, $50 bar
rels of starch. so barrels of oil and zoe
tons Of feed. In this process of glucose
manufacture the most improved meth
DDS known to science are adopted. On4