Mr. Thompson admits that ho has boon
stung thousands of timos, but by this
timo ho has booome aooustoniod to it.
and it doesn't bother him any.
THE business of keeping bees
involves a slight occupational
hazard: you have to risk get¬
ting stung now and then. That’s
one reason why
С.
C. Thompson
of State Road, near Elkin, has
practically no competition.
But a more important reason is
that Beekeeper Thompson, like his
father before him, has been in the
bee business all his life and is an
expert at producing fine honey.
His more than 200 bee hives com¬
prise the largest apiaries in his
section of the state, and his annual
honey harvest in a good season
ranges up to 20,000 pounds.
The product of the Thompson
apiaries is the famed sourwood
honey that comes from the blos¬
soms of a scrub tree found only
along the foothills of the Blue
Ridge Mountains. From July until
October the bees bring in the
nectar from the sourwood blooms
and build up what they think will
be their winter's supply of honey.
But the sweet delicacy is removed
from the hives and packed for ship¬
ment to customers from Maine to
Texas.
Contrary to popular notion, the
bees do not simply gather the
honey and store it in their hives,
according to Bee Man Thompson.
"The nectar is very thin when
it is taken from the blossoms," he
explained, "and must go through
an evaporation process. The bees
form at the entrance to the hive
and drive a constant current of air
over the nectar so that it is re¬
duced to the proper consistency.
Thus they literally manufacture
honey from nectar."
But Thompson’s hard-working
bees get hardly a taste of the sour¬
wood honey they produce. Instead,
they are taken to the eastern part
of the state to "winter" on the
inferior nectar of holly, wild aster
and other blossoms. This week
Thompson began the task of mov¬
ing his 15 million bees to Chatham
County. Later they will be taken
in a forced migration to the coast
where they will feed on the nectar
from tupelo gum blossoms and
where, next spring, the breeding
season will produce new workers.
One of Thompson’s tasks during
the winter months is to inspect the
hives for new queen cells which
indicate that the colony is pre¬
paring to swarm.
Not Particular About Home
"Unfortunately," he said, "the
bees would just as soon live in a
tree as in their nice, white hives.
He Keeps Bees
The queen cells have to be torn
out to prevent swarming."
Before the sourwoods begin to
bloom next July, the bees will be
returned to Surry County for a
new season. Thompson hopes they
will be in a swarming mood then,
for the bees foretell a good honey
flow by pre-season clustering.
Like any farmer, Thompson is
an anxious observer of the weather,
for the honey “crop" is dependent
upon the secretion of blossoms
which, in turn, is dependent upon
weather conditions. He has seen
the honey flow so small in some
Krs that he has had to feed his
s sugar syrup to keep them
alive. But complete failures arc
rare and Thompson admits that he
makes a "pretty good living" as a
honey producer.
Although the natural aversion
people have for bee stings is a
factor in discouraging competition,
it is also a handicap when harvest
time comes. Thompson under¬
standably finds it difficult to em¬
ploy helpers who are willing to
invade the bee domain and gather
the honey. So he does most of the
work himself. He has been stung
so many times that he has devel¬
oped an immunity to the painful
barbs.
"Of course it’s no fun," he com¬
mented, "but after you’ve been
stung a few thousand times you
get used to it."
Ш
OPERATIONS
RESULT IN UPSS
L. V. Sutton, president of the
Carolina Power and Light Com-
Simy, says that the Tennessee
alley Authority and "the Ne¬
braska Public Power Empire" have
cost the country $84,423,000 in
"tax revenue lost."
The Raleigh man made the
statement in a letter to the House
Public Works Committee which
was made public last Friday. It
is part of testimony Sutton pre¬
sented the Commission earlier this
year.
In the letter Sutton said the
utility business in twenty years
has increased its kilowatt-hour
sales 240 per cent and its revenues
from them 27 per cent.
He added that if electric reve¬
nues increase only fifty |>er cent
in the next twenty years and tax
rates remain as they are "loss in
tax revenues occasioned by the
TVA system and the Nebraska
Public Power Empire by 1967 will
have totaled $336,923,000."
THE STATE.
ОСТОВГП
11. 1947