Bright Future for Beekeeping is Seen

1920

Enlarged American Consumption of Honey to Continue

If American beekeepers are able to meet increasing demand, the enlarged American consumption of honey will continue, says the annual report of the chief of the bureau of entomology, United States department of agriculture.

During the war our exports of honey to the allied countries increased at least ten times, and the domestic use also went much higher. The increased export demand has continued since the end of hostilities, and the bureau sees reason to expect that this market will continue to be an important factor in American beekeeping.

Local sales of honey near the points of production have increased more rapidly than sales in the larger markets, but this can readily be remedied, according to the report, by the further development of the business of bottling honey.

The tendency to collect the bees of the country in the hands of commercial beekeepers is viewed as a wholesome sign for the development of the industry. Prevalence of two destructive brood diseases, and especially the necessity of careful study of beekeeping problems in order to obtain maximum crops, make it almost impossible for the person having only a few colonies to give the care essential for good beekeeping. Only the man who makes beekeeping his chief work may expect to get proper returns, says the bureau.