10 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



methods, but just because the manu- 

 facturer gets a larger profit. 



SOME OF THE REASONS WHY HONEY IS TOO 

 LOW IN PRICE. 



Why is honey so low and everything 

 else so high? Oh, there are numerous 

 reasons. One reason is the ignorance of 

 a great percentage of bee keepers. 



JGNORANCE OF BEE KEEPERS ONE CAUSE 

 FOR LOW PRICES. 



It is really surprising how many bee 

 keepers there are who produce honey in 

 considerable quantity, and take no bee 

 periodical, and hence are way behind the 

 times, and know nothing of markets or 

 crops beyond their own neighborhood. 

 They produce a greater or less crop of 

 honey and they cry: "What in the world 

 will I do with it?" A man of veracity 

 and an acknowledged expert with bees, 

 informed me less than four weeks ago, 

 that he recently ran across a bee keeper 

 who had produced a crop of about 1,000 

 pounds of section honey, which would 

 grade from No. 1 to fancy, part white 

 and part mixed, who was in "straits," 

 and did not know what to do with it. 

 "How much do you want per lb. for the 

 lot" queried the bee keeper expert. "Oh, 

 I'll take 6 cts.," replied the distressed 

 farmer-beekeeper. "It is sold," re- 

 sponded the expert, who forthwith had 

 it packed, and on his way home stopped 

 at the farmer bee keepers' home-town 

 and sold the lot at 12 cts.; not because 

 it was not worth more, but because he 

 was satisfied with "small profits and 

 quick returns." 



HOW THE dealers' "SMARTNESS'' TAKES 

 ADVANTAGE OF THE PRODUCER. 



Bee keepers who do not know what to 

 do with their honey when they get it, and 

 will not inform themselves, influence the 

 market downwards, and dealers are too 

 ready to quote the lowest figure as the 

 ruling price when purchasing. The 

 dealer has the advantage in his thorough 

 acquaintance with markets. He thinks 

 and talks consecutively and almost 

 automatically. With all his knowledge 



and resourcefulness that is born of 

 constant practice, is it any wonder that 

 he has the bee keepers who do not in- 

 form themselves at a disadvantage? 

 The tradesman has a highly developed 

 faculty of writing and talking in a confi- 

 dential style, just as though he were 

 studying how he could render the great- 

 est service to the bee keeper, and the 

 latter, in most cases, fails to understand 

 that the average tradesman is talking 

 into his own pockets and serving, the 

 while, his own interests. 



Take some of our honey market quota- 

 tions for example. I have noticed in 

 one of the bee journals the quotations 

 from one of the prominent honey mer- 

 chants several times during the past 

 season in which the complaint is made 

 that owing to "high prices honey is not 

 moving off as rapidly as expected." 

 That some producers have been inclined 

 to hold their crops for exorbitant prices, 

 and they are now offering them at 

 "much less," which has a tendency to 

 "drop" the market some. And near by, 

 in the same journal, the same parties 

 advertise for honey and state the large 

 quantity being handled. 



The demand for honey indicates that 

 it is moving. If we had not been up 

 against the game of "bluff" a few times, 

 we would wonder why such a paradox. 



don't SHIP HONEY TO MARKET UNTIL 

 IT IS SOLD. 



An extensive bee keeper, who produces 

 honey in large quantities, related to me a 

 remarkable transaction in the disposition 

 of a quantity of honey a few years ago 

 in New York. A bee keeper of the South 

 had produced and shipped to New York 

 several thousand pounds of fine, ex- 

 tracted honey, the same being contained 

 in barrels. When the shipment reached 

 its destination the bee keeper was on 

 hand to sell his crop, and, approaching 

 one of the prominent honey merchants of 

 the city, he stated that he had his crop 

 of honey down at the docks, and inquired 

 the price. After an examination of the 

 goods a ridiculously low offer was made; 



