814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 4, 2000
Stewart Mathias was recently named Pennsylvania
Beekeeper of the Year. Mathias has long been involved
in numerous aspects of the beekeeping and honey in
dustry. He is known for his dedication and extensive vol
unteer work in teaching students the intricacies of
beekeeeping.
Honey and beeswax is labeled Honey Crest Farm.
Department Of Agriculture
Requires Honey Inspection
Due to the value of bees as pollinators of agricultural
crops, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture con
ducts a bee inspection program. Seasonal inspectors
work throughout the state contacting beekeepers and
checking their bees for diseases and parasites.
When problems are found, the inspector will provide
appropriate recommendations to treat the problem. To
help the bee inspectors locate apiaries, all beekeepers
are required by law to register their bees with the Penn
sylvania Department of Agriculture. A $lO fee is re
quired to register any number of apiaries and is valid for
a two-year period.
Any questions about bee diseases, registration or in
spection can be directed to Jim Steinhauer, chief apiary
inspector, PDA, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 N. Cam
eron St., Harrisburg, PA. Call (717) 772-5225.
Things Keep Buzzing At Honey Crest Farm
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
HUMMELSTOWN (Dauphin
Co.) More than bees are buzz
ing at Honey Crest Farm.
It’s the place where Stewart
Mathias keeps experimenting
and finding more projects re
lated to beekeeping. For his ded
ication with the Capitol Region
Beekeeping Association and his
extensive promotional work,
Mathias was recently received
the Pennsylvania Beekeeper of
the Year Award.
Mathias maintains 42 hives
on and nearby his Hummels
town property. His basement
contains all the equipment
needed for processing the honey
he markets under the label
Honey Crest Farm.
“I got into bees because I read
that comb honey helps asthma,”
Mathias said.
He no longer has asthma.
“Whether it was the honey or
outgrowing it, I don’t know,”
Mathias said.
What he does know is that the
hobby he began in 1965 contin
ues to fascinate him.
Bees collect pollen on their
legs as they sip nectar from the
flowers. When they return to
their hives, the bees regurgitate
the liquid into cells in the honey
comb, where it is stored to pro
vide food for larvae and
themselves.
That’s the abbreviated expla
nation. There’s a lot more to
know about beekeeping. In
recent years, the honeybee in
dustry has. faced devastating
losses from a mite invasion.
Two years ago, Mathias lost
50 percent of his hives. Bees are
important pollinators of crops
such as soybeans, sunflowers,
fruits, and many other plants.
Beekeeping as an ancient
branch of agriculture, and wild
bees were responsible with polli
nating crops. But the spread of
parasitic mites has created a bee
deficit.
Maintained colonies in
wooden hives help provide bees
to pollinate an estimated 65 mil
lion acres in the U.S.
Mites have plagued bee
keepers for years. The mite
problem has discouraged many
people from continuing bee
keeping. But Mathias is optimis
tic. He believes scientific
research is on the brink of eradi
cating the plague.
“There’s a new Russian queen
bee that will be released to some
beekeepers,” Mathias said. The
Russian queen shows resistance
to the mite. However, it is avail
able on a very limited basis this
year and Mathias knows he
won’t be on the receiving end for
awhile.
Mathias has his eye set on ob
taining formic acid, a chemical
that shows promise in eradicat
ing mites.
Because Apistan has been
used for the past 11 years, some
resistance appears to have built
up in the bees.
“We don’t use the same crop
pesticides over and over so we
shouldn’t expect to be able to use
the same chemical to combat
mites,” Mathias said.
Chemicals can only be ap
plied after the last honey is
pulled off the hives before
winter.
“I give up some of my fall
crop in order to apply the treat
ment before cold weather sets
in,” he said.
Uncapping honey exposes every cell of honey. After
extracting, the honey is placed in an extractor where it
is quickly spun and placed in a holding tank for bottling.
This enables the bees to have
more honey to remain healthier
during winter months.
Mathias had heard about bee
keeping from his brother-in-law
who lives in Bloomsburg. After
taking a short course offered by
Delaware Valley College,
Mathias got the basics down pat.
When Mathias first began
beekeeping, he worked for H.B.
Reese Candy Company. After
37 years, he retired. But he
keeps busier than ever manag
ing the 12 acres on his property,
where he incorporated a forestry
plan.
The purpose of enrolling in
the Forest Stewardship Program
is to return the land to nature. A
10-year-plan has been designed
for his acreage. In the three
years of plan participation,
Mathias has built fence rows,
brush piles, and planted trees.
Not only is this beneficial to
what is typically considered
wildlife but also bees.
Wildlife is sometimes more
plentiful on his property than
desired. Skunks, redtail hawks
and deer have played havoc
with his efforts to raise
Bobwhite quail. The first year he
planted sunflowers to sell, the
deer ate them all.
To protect his vegetable and
flower garden, Mathias needed
to surround it with an electric
fence.
“I plant two fields, one with
game mix, which includes wild
flowers for the birds, and one for
my own use,” Mathias said.
Flowers and trees are planted
specifically for the bees. Some of
the bees’ favorites are yellow
sweet clover, orchard trees, bass
wood trees, and lavender.
Mathias got into raising flo
wers for wholesale the year that
he planted broom corn for his
own curiosity.
The crop was so plentiful,
Mathias loaded up his pickup
truck with broom corn.
“I went from one end of Her
shey to the other giving away
free broom corn to whatever flo
rist who wanted it,” Mathias
said.
Since that contact, florists call
him and ask him to grow select
items for him. Some of the most
often asked for plants are del
phiniums, yarrows, and curly
willow. Upon request, he’s also
forcing pear and cherry blos
soms, which florists like to use
as filler for large arrangements
A bucketful of the blossoms took
two weeks to bloom after he
brought them inside and sat
them in a sunny spot in the
family room.
Mathias sees marketing po
tential in forcing pear and
cherry blossoms. He needs to
prune the fruit trees anyway,
and if he can sell what he nor
mally throws away that’s
profitable.
Despite many years of study
ing bees both in the book and in
nature, Mathias continues to
find surprising behavior of the
insects.
. Recently fye noticed a heavy
covering of bees at the bird feed
ers on his property. Upon closer
inspection, he saw that the bees
were consuming the dextrose re
leased from the cracked corn in
the feeder. Now Mathias puts
out trays of cracked corn for the
bees. After they feed on the
sticky dextrose, Mathias throws
the leftover corn to the birds,
who seem to be just as pleased
with it.
This year, another surprise
surfaced in the bee world,
Mathias found bees feeding on
broccoli heads as late as Janu
ary.
Last year, he had noticed bees
transporting honey on Dec. 16.
Curious to know the source,
Mathias traced the source to
some broccoli that had been left
stand in the Helds. Broccoli
withstands frost and had forms
yellow flower heads, where the
bees ingested the nectar and
pollen.
Mathias’ beekeeping passion
is being passed on to his children
and grandchildren. Daughter
Jill (now Clark), a former Penn
sylvania Honey Queen and
American (national) princess,
has established a career in the
industry. She is director of mar
keting and technical services for
Dutch Gold.
“She sells honey by the tanker
load,” Mathias said. Clark is
also the treasurer of the Na
tional Honey Board.
Mathias is confident his two
grandsons, two and four years
old, will carry on the beekeeping
interest.
“The 4-year-old already gave
a beekeeping presentation at his
nursery school,” Mathias said.
A son, Jeffrey, lives in New
Mexico. Uthough he is no
longer in o beekeeping, a wall
(Turn to Page BIT)