Beekeeping in Great Britain.

Manawatu Herald, 21 July 1898, Page 3

Beekeeping in Great Britain.

(Continued.) The honey market is developed by the holding of honey shows in the various countiep, and a central show in London. A system of labels has been adopted. These labels are issued by the county association. Each member is allotted a number which is stamped upon his label ; if he sells inferior honey it is traced to him, and his name is stricken from the Association. The Association employs an analyzer, and if a person is caught adulterating honey or selling it under an Association label he is imprisoned ; they are not left off so easily in England as they are in this county. There are about 58,000 beekeepers in the British Isles. They will average five colonies each : in favourable localities the yield is from 100 to 150 pounds per colony, but the general yield is from 50 to 60 pounds. The bulk of the product is extracted honey, and is put up in 50 lbi 28 lb., and in as small as 4 lb. tins ; packages smaller than that are of glass. The wholesale price for comb honey is from 14 to 20 cents ; (7d to lOd) extracted honey 12 cents. The value of the annual product is about $750,000. (£150,000) Besides the home production there is a monthly import of from 10,000 to 15,000 pounds, the greater portion of it from the United States and Canada. Imported honey is not inspected until it is put upon the market. American honey was held in good repute until in 1879 ; in that year a New York, firm sold a large amount of adulterated honey and American honey has not regained the prestige ! then lost. The soirees of honey in England are white clover, sainfoin, linn, buckwheat, and tha heather honey of Scotland. Heather honey is darker even than buckwheat, but it sell9 for a better price on nccount of if.? delicious fhvouv; it is usually sold forGOcenis per section. It; is pc thick that it cannot be extracted. To secure it in the liquid from the comb must be submitted to pressure ; this honey pells for 36 cents per pound. The best imported honey comes from America and the Sandwich Islands. Granulated honey sells readily, and the beekeepers' association i3 educat ing people to use it in that form. The beekeeper and the fruit grower are in accord ; the fruit men recognize the utility of the bee in the fertilization of blossoms, and seek3 to have the bees near his orchards. An O chardist in Gloucester planted 200 ueres of fruit ; the or- | chard was a complete failure in fruit- j bearing until a Scotch beekeeper put put in 50 colonies of bees. When properly fi rtilizpd by the bees the orchard be gan to bear. The acreage was then c xtended to 50.0 acre?, and the apiary was increased to 200 colonies ; the orchard now produces a large amount of fruit, a large jam factory is operated on the tract, and all of this prosperity is owing to the ; beneficial intervention oi the honey bee. Several instances of a similar nature might be cited. The honey bee 13 certainly a great factor for the production of perfect fruit. (Concluded.)