The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-07-13

The Blufton NeUs presents
another IN the series of anus
nal but lesser knoaCn aspects OF
South Americd.-EDIToR
To its vast production of beet
and cane sugar the Western Hemls-
pbere adds that of honey, another
nroduct with which it helps to sweet
en- the world. Honey has been found
in Mexican prehistoric excavations
enclosed in closely sealed vessels ana
excellently preserved. This would
seem to indicate that bees were
known in that country long before
the arrival Of Cortes, although scien-
lists insist that the bee was not an
insect native to the Americas.
The European species of bees pre-
dominate in America; but it is eVl-
dent that the stingless variety OF
bee is a native of South and Central
America and Mexico, where honey
has been gathered by the natives
for many centuries; and that many
of the other varieties found were in
troduced from China, Japan and
Palestine, as we'll as from European
countries.
When the Pilgrims landed at Ply
mouth in 1920 honey was not to be
found in that part of the country,
and bees were consequently imported
from England in order to meet the
requirements of the time.
Whatever their origin may be,
bees are found today throughout the
Americas and both honey and bees
wax are among the important pro-
ducts of some of the American ma
tions.
Many millions are added every
year to the wealth of the United
States through the production of
honey which in 1912 was estimated
at 180,000,000 pounds. After tend
ing downward through the 30's, the
production of this commodity has
picked up remarkably in the last few
years, due not only to broader use
of honey in foods, beauty products,
etc, but also to the sugar shortage.
In spite of the fact that, shortly
after the turn of the century, one out
of every 120 of the entire population
of the country was engaged in the
industry, about 95 per cent of the
honey consumed at that time came
from Latin America. Today with
the increase in consumption and the
loss of the European markets, the
United States once more has turned
to Latin America, to help it face its
enormous demand for honey.
Sixteen American Republics are
known to produce honey to some ex-
tent. Among these, Argentina, Bra
zil, Chile, Gutemala and Cuba are
above average in their output of that
commodity. 1t has been said that
Argentina's ideal climate and flora
have made that country come close
to occupying first place in the list
of producers of fine honey.
The province of Buenos Aires,
where the thistle and the thorn grow
wild and thick, produces a large
amount of nectar and pollen. In
other provinces flowers grow in pro-
fusion and the sweet t-smelling orange
groves are a definite asset.
Perhaps the most productive of all
is the region of the upper valley of
the Rio Negro where fruit orchards
and fields of alfalfa stretch out for
miles and miles.
The Argentine Government en-
courages the industry by helping the
bee keepers introduce new methods.
Honey is in so great demand in
Argentina that some has still to be
imported from neighboring Chile,
country which, in 1941, exported
nearly $50 metric tons of that pro-
duct, although bees were only intro
duced there from Italy at the end
of the .xIXth century.
A special effort has been made by
the Department of Agriculture of
Brazil to develop the industry of
agriculture in that country, modern
facilities permitting the transporta-
ton of honey to convenient shipping
points. Wild honey is found abund-
ly in Nicaragua while the Guatemalan