48 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



enough to be something. Thereafter, 

 the specialist with nicely prepared honey 

 IS met with the same quotation. If the 

 specialist is wise, however, he will not 

 be influenced by it. If he will but "bide 

 a wee" the small side-line producers' 

 output will be out of the way, and better 

 prices will be obtainable. 



CARRYING OVER HONEY IN YEARS OF PLENTY. 



In years of bountiful crop it may be 

 necessary to carry over a part of the 

 honey in order to sustain prices. It is 

 far better to do this than to sell at a 

 sacrifice, and thus contribute to the 

 ruination of the market. It is an easy 

 matter to sell honey at less than its 

 value, but once it is down, it is a hard 

 matter to get the price back to a normal 

 level. Specialists have made snug little 

 sums of money by standing firm for fair 

 prices, and refusing to sell until the price 

 was restored to the point of yielding a 

 profit. It is not so easy to carry over 

 comb honey, but it can be done. With 

 ■extracted honey there is no difficulty. 

 So I would say to the specialist: Make 

 a fair price on your honey and stick to it, 

 and do not be influenced by the ignorant 

 and thoughtless bee keeper, or the dealer 

 or merchant who seem to ready to exploit 

 the bee keeper. 



THE FOLLY OF GUTTING PRICES. 



It is particularly aggravating to the 

 bee keeper who has spent much time and 

 been to expense in building up a market 

 for honey at a fair price, to have other 

 bee keepers come in and supply these 

 customers at a reduced price. It would 

 seem that self interest would prompt 

 them to sell at established prices, rather 

 than inflict self-injury by cutting out a 

 part of the profits that are legitimately 

 theirs. I suppose they do this because 

 they lack ambition, are poor salesmen, 

 and find it easier to sell at cut prices to 

 customers that others have made than 

 to make a market of their own at 

 established rates. 



Looking at this whole subject in its 

 broadest aspect it seems to me that 

 prices of honey are low and lacking in 



stability because of a lack of knowledge 

 of actual conditions that influence the 

 market, by a great mass of bee keepers. 

 What is needed more than anything else 

 is reliable knowledge and unselfish ad- 

 vice as to the supply and demand, crop 

 prospects and market conditions general- 

 ly, and the prices that ought to be obtain- 

 able, in view of the crop and conditions. 

 Bee period'cals could do a great and 

 profitable service to their subscribers by 

 keeping them publicly and correctly 

 advised. Bee keepers should respect 

 such advice and they can be assured in 

 advance that if they do they will receive 

 better prices. Such has been the ex- 

 perience in Canada. This is a branch of 

 work that our association also might 

 profitably take up. Another recommenda- 

 tion is that bee keepers make a more 

 earnest effort to find a good market for 

 their honey. 



HELP THAT MAY COME FROM ADVERTISING. 



They may be unable to do this in their 

 immediate neighborhood. They cannot 

 all sell direct to the groceryman or supply 

 the family trade in their own neighbor- 

 hood. Some honey producers there are 

 who live remote from markets, and in 

 localities so sparsely inhabited as to con- 

 sume but little of their product. But that 

 is not necessarily a bar to getting good 

 prices. A superior quality of honey is 

 almost always in demand, and the ad- 

 vertising columns of the bee journals 

 and other publications are available to 

 the producer wherever situated. You 

 who have been selling finest extracted 

 honey at less than 8 cts., just try ad- 

 vertising and I believe you will be satis- 

 fied with the result. 



In conclusion, fellow bee keepers, 

 remember that, in comparison with the 

 price of other commodities you have to 

 purchase, your fancy extracted honey is 

 worth away above 8 cts. per pound, and 

 your fancy comb honey away above 14 

 cts. Remember that a little money spent 

 in advertising, is likely, yes, almost 

 certain, to yield you handsome profits on 

 the investment, and in the end you w 



