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ILLINOIS STATE BEK-KEEPEES ASSOCIATIOX. 



"83 



think of selling it at retail for twenty-two, 

 twenty-five, thirty and thirty-five cents a 

 pound, I could hardly believe it. But it 

 is selling in ten-pound cans for two dollars 

 and twenty-five cents. We used to think 

 we were doing well at a dollar and a 

 quarter. I agree that the war has some- 

 thing to do with it, but T also think bee- 

 keepers are becoming enlightened. If we 

 were to follow Mr. Stewart's method, we 

 wouldn't get together. I wonder why he 

 comes (laughter), and we wouldn't en- 

 courage anybody to ask prices for their 

 honey. That is not right. Let us get 

 together, andijet us encourage the people 

 to get a good price for their honey. T 

 think that is what this discussion is leadin'g 

 to (applause). 



The President — We have with us this 

 afternoon, Mr. R. A. Burnett. Perhaps 

 he can enlighten us in regard to some sub- 

 ject with which he is familiar. He sells a 

 good deal of honey in the city, and knows 

 more about market conditions here than 

 perhaps anybody else We will be glad 

 to hear from Mr. Burnett (applause). 



Mr. R. A. Burnett — Mr. President, 

 friends here interested in honey: I note 

 that I am called upon to address you on 

 the subject that I suppose I ought to 

 know all about, but really I don't know a 

 great deal about it. I s-ell honey for what 

 I can get. I try to get a price for it, and 

 if I find that I can market that high, I 

 hold to that price. If the market will 

 stand a little more. I increase the price 



To use an old-time hackneyed phrase of 

 supply and demand, we find if we are 

 getting a supply on hand more than we 

 have a demand for, we try to encourage 

 people to buy by reducing the price. Now 

 it so happens that if we are informed as to 

 the amount of honey that can be supplied 

 from all sources, we having an experience 

 of a few years, know that the supply can 

 be marketed at about a certain price, and 

 we work towards that. 



One of the things that we try to keep 

 people from having a knowledge of is, that 

 there is a light crop of honey, in fact, that 

 there is no honey to speak of. It has been 

 a failure most everywhere, and the con- 

 clusion that people come to, without you 

 saying anything to them about it, is that 

 it is going to be very high in price, and 

 they make up their minds that they must 

 find a substitute for honey and cut that 

 out. I have had an experience of about 

 forty years, and it ought to count for 

 something along these lines. I remember 

 that about thirty-five years ago we ha^ a 

 short crop of honey, and we told every- 

 body when they cam^ around to buy 



honey, that honey was very scarce this 

 year, and we were asking twenty -five cents 

 a pound for comb honey. Before that we 

 had been selling it at about seventeen or 

 eighteen cents. They said, "Well, I don't 

 believe we can sell it at that price, and I 

 gues.s we won't take any now." The first 

 /Rhig we knew, we had quite a lot of honey 

 on hand, and very little sold. 



To substantiate my position on that, a 

 little later, two or three j^ears later than 

 that, perhaps, we had a failure in the 

 peach crop. There wasn't going to be any 

 peaches, and the newspapers had it printed 

 everywhere " Pe'ach Crop a Failure . ' ' 

 There was quite a large crop of peaches in 

 Michigan that year, but when the time 

 came to put the crop on the market, some 

 of our peop.e would come along the market, 

 and they said, "Why, look at the peaches. 

 I thought there wasn't going to be any 

 peaches this year." "Well," we said, 

 "They are here, and we would like to sell 

 them.'" " Is that so? Well, I don't believe 

 I want anv peaches this year. They are 

 .awfully high, aren't they?" "Why. no 

 we are selling them cheaper than we did 

 last year." "Why, how is that?. I thought 

 there wasn't going to be any peaches," 

 and so on. "Well, won't you%uy some at 

 fifty cents a peck?" Nice peaches were 

 selling at that price then. "No, I haive 

 made arrangements for something else. I 

 don't think I will bother with peaches 

 this year." The result was that they 

 rotted on the market. Now, this price 

 committee is a very good thing in its waiV, 

 and it has got to be managed with a great 

 deal of discretion. You, I think, would 

 do well to get people of long experience on 

 a committee of that kind. 



Now, it so happens this year that we 

 did very well, for the reason that there was 

 a short crop of honey, but the prices that 

 they put out, and the people that heeded 

 that, didn't sell their honey. They have 

 it now. The result is that honey sold at 

 the beginning of the season at probably 

 a little less price than might be obtained 

 later, but people got to using it, and we 

 are having quite a trade in honey. As 

 our friend here from the lower part of =the 

 State, or the western part of the State 

 says, that honey sells. 



I don't know but what it would be pre- 

 sumption on my part to say what does 

 make it sell, for during this period of years 

 we most of us have concluded that honey 

 is not a necessity. It is not classed with 

 the staples. People can get along without 

 honey, and many people do. The fact 

 also is that people use honey for some 

 years and then stop using it for one reason 



