PubUsUed \«^«ekly at 9I.OO a Year by Oeorge HV. York Jk. Co., 3S4 OearbomlSt. 



V Entered at the Post-OflBce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



aBOROB W. YORK, Editor. OilCAGO, ILL, NOV, 17, 1904, 



Vol, XLIV— No, 46. 



Cost of Selling Honey on Commission. 



Oa page 739, reference was made to a statement in the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review that when honey was sold on commis- 

 sion at 14 cents, the consignor could count on receiving 

 only 10 cents a pound, the commission, etc., amounting to 4 

 cents a pound. With a view to some definite information, 

 commission honey-dealers were invited to help out. One of 

 the oldest and largest honey-selling commission houses in 

 the country, R. A. Burnett & Co., has placed at our disposal 

 account sales of a number of actual transactions, the honey 

 having been received from points at different distances. 



In the charges there are three different items, freight 

 or express, cartage, and commission. The charge for cart- 

 age is the same whatever the distance from which the con- 

 signment has been sent, or the price at which the honey is 

 sold. As will be readily understood, however, cartage on a 

 very small lot will be more per pound than that on large 

 lots. On a 500-pound lot it will be about one-tenth of a cent 

 a pound ; and it may be less than half that on a car-lot. 



Freight is the item on which, of course, there is the 

 greatest variation. It may be nearly 2'2 cents a pound on 

 a shipment from California to Chicago, or it may be only 

 a fraction of a cent when shipped a short distance. 



As to commission, the commission house says : 



" We charge 10 percent commission on all honey in less 

 than car-load lots ; when it comes in car-load lots, and of an 

 even grade, it pays us quite as well at S percent as the 

 stnaller lots at 10 percent, for it is very seldom that the 

 product of two apiaries runs alike when managed by dif- 

 ferent owners. It is quite as easy for us (aside from the 

 actual labor) to sell a car-load of honey as it is 100 cases, 

 and sometimes easier than it is to sell 10 cases, if they hap- 

 pen to be from different consignors." 



A few representative examples may here be given. In 

 each case the honey was sold at 14 cents, and the distances 

 are given in a bee-line. Of course, the real shipping dis- 

 tances are considerably greater. The shipments are of 

 comb honey. The total charges on a car-lot from Los An- 

 geles, Calif., were 3.12 cents a pound. On a small ship- 

 ment of 549 pounds from a point 115 miles distant, the 

 charges were 2.06 cents. On 1276 pounds from a point in 

 Michigan 300 miles distant, 1.96 cents a pound. On a car- 

 load from a Wisconsin point 1'j5 miles distant, 1.026 cents. 



It will thus be seen that the heaviest bill of charges, 

 which was for an exceptions y long distance, lacked Js of 

 a cent of being 4 cents a pi "tid, the lightest being prac- 



tically only a cent a pound. It will also be seen that the 

 remark on page 739, that " if the distance be sufficiently 

 great, the slice taken off the 14 cents may be a good deal 

 more than 4 cents ", is hardly justified by the figures given.. 



Wiring Frames Growing in Favor. 



Years ago there was decided opposition among Canadian 

 bee-keepers to wiring frames, but it seems to have forced 

 its way into favor. J. B. Hall, one of Canada's foremost 

 bee-keepers, is reported in the Canadian Bee Journal as 

 saying: 



" I kicked against wiring for 15 years, and four years- 

 ago I put in 600 wired frames, and was so pleased with them 

 I put in 800, and last year 900." 



Canadian Honey in England. 



Our friends across the northern border are to be com- 

 mended for their enterprise. In the honey show of the 

 Confectioners' Exhibition, held in London, as mentioned 

 by W. Woodley in the British Bee Journal, there was a 

 grand exhibit of Canadian honey including " a large parcel 

 of fine section honey ". An English firm had bought all 

 this honey before the show opened. A point of special in- 

 terest was that the honey was staged as an exhibit of the 

 Canadian government. 



"Columbus" or Tin=FoiI-Base Comb Foundation. 



Years ago J. Y. Detwiler conceived the idea of using 

 tin-foil in the middle wall of comb foundation, sending out 

 samples of the same ; but it never went into general use, 

 and nothing has been said about it lately. Now the same 

 thing has been brought out as a new thing in Germany by 

 an extensive comb-foundation maker. Otto Schulz, and he 

 has applied for a patent in this country. It is claimed to be 

 indestructible, no wiring nor other support being needed 

 aside from the metal base. Even the wax-worm can not 

 pass through it. 



Notwithstanding the previous failure in this country, it 

 is possible a success may be made by properly using the 

 hew foundation, although it seems hardly probable that a 

 patent on it could hold. The bees accept and use it without 

 question, but where any of the metal is exposed, as at the 

 edges, they are likely to gnaw away still more the wax. T^ 

 avoid this, special pains is taken to have not the least part 

 of the tin-foil exposed. One way is to have the brood- 



