The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1919-11-08
BEE CULTURE AND ITS POSI-
BILITIES

About year ago the Star-Prog
ress asked Mr.. Jno. M. Ware for an
article on bee culture This article
was intended for a past issue but
somehow was never published. It
was laid aside, for, like many other
good things in this world, it will
bear keeping and improve with age.
Mr.. Ware could have gone into
the matter a little more exhaustive
ly but he feared to encroach on our
space, but we wish to assure him
that the subject, very interesting in
deed, could have stretched two or
more columns longer without being
too long.
For instance, Mr.. Ware might
have touched on the different races
of honey bees, their chief charact-
eristics, and in that paragraph told
why the Italian bees of both the
leather colored and golden strains
are so popular with the beekeepers
of the world, especially in the Uni
ted States. Other races of bees,
like the Black, Carniolians, ETC.,
while, they produce honey, are not
at all popular. The little black bee
is well known for its fighting and
singing propensities, many swarms
being ready to attack one without
the least provocation. The blacks,
however, have one redeeming fea-
ture-they produce the whitest hon
ey but generally speaking not as
great quantity as the Italians.
The Italians are much gentler
than all other strains and when not
crossed or troubled during damp
weather, rarely ever offer to sting.
The leather-colored strain seems to
be the favorite for it is acknow-
lodged that they produce more hon
ey.
Semitic queen rearing is anoth-
er interesting chapter Mr. Ware
might have touched on, for few peo-
pie know that queen rearing on a
commercial scale is largely practiced
by many beekeepers throughout the
United States and many foreign
countries. Many tested queens that
have proven their merit and worth
are valued at hundreds of dollars
each. This branch of the industry
is very important for without keep
ing up and further improving the
strains of bees the business would
drop to low levels because of the
fact that colonies would fail to
produce quantities of honey and af-
ter all that is the main thing in
the beekeeping BUSINESS
The industry is so intensely in
teresting, so scientific and covers
so wide a range that it would be
manifestly impossible to treat all its
phases in a short article. 1t is
profitable field for many to follow
and here in the South many could
and would make money from it if
they went at it on the right scale.
A few years ago the finest extracted
honey could hardly be sold at fifty
cents gallon to the local trade.
People did not appreciate the many
good qualities of honey as a sweet
food and hence the demand was
slight. Just the other day we saw
an advertisement in a New Orleans
paper on an apiary located near that
city, offering new honey at $3.50
per gallon, and that price today is
thought to be cheap. When one con-
siders that he can take care of a
hundred colonies when running them
for extracted honey solely, and that
these bees, if they be the right sort
should make an average of ten gal.
Ions to the colony per season, the
profits from the business can easilv
be reckoned. 1t is really surprising
that many other men in this locality
have not engaged in the beekeeping
before now.