(Entered as second-class matter Jnly 30, 1907, at the Post-Offlce at Chicago, 111., under Act of Marob 3, 1879.1 



Published Monthly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Company, 117 North Jefferson Street, 



GEORGE W. YORK. Editor 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associate Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUGUST, 1911 



Vol. LI -No. 8 



Honey Crop and Pric-e.s for 15>11 



Judging from all we can learn through 

 our correspondence, as well as other- 

 wise, it seems that the honey crop for 

 1;>11, especially in the western part of 

 the United States, is very limited, al- 

 though in certain localities there is a 

 fair crop. The eastern part of the 

 United States, and particularly the New 

 England States, seem to have had a 

 good crop of honey. It may be that 

 with sufficient rains there will be har- 

 vested some fall surplus honey, and the 

 bees may gather enough to insure a 

 sufficient supply for their winter stores, 

 so as not to reijuire feeding. 



Taking it all together, as we view it, 

 there will be a shortage in the honey 

 supply of the whole country, so that 

 prices should be maintained about the 

 same as last year, if not a little higher 

 in some localities. Now that the price 

 of honey has been raised over what it 

 has been, to something nearly what it 

 should be, during the past '1 or 3 years, 

 a strong effort should be made by pro- 

 ducers to keep it at least up to the 

 present point, and certainly not permit 

 it to 1)6 lowered again unless a bumper 

 honey crop should be harvested, and, 

 even then, there would not be enough 

 honey produced to supply the popula- 

 tion of the United States with all the 

 honey they should consume. 



Comparing the present price of honey 

 with the price of other table foods, 

 surely honey is sufficiently low in price, 

 and in many localities it is still too 

 low. We are not in favor of bee-keep- 

 ers being Shylocks, and demanding the 

 uttermost farthing that can be possibly 

 squeezed out of the public for their 

 honey, but we do think that they ought 

 to get something like the right value 

 of their honey when they dispose of it. 

 Again we wish to suggest that, so far 

 as possible, all the home markets be 

 supplied Jii-s/, before shipping any 

 honey to the large cities. The tendency 

 is to rush a lot of honey to one or two 



points, and thus break down the mar- 

 ket prices through an over-supply for 

 a temporary period; and then the low- 

 ered prices are likely to prevail for a 

 long time. 



It is commonly agreed during these 

 later years that the best price for honey 

 is usually realized before the lirst of 

 the new year, as at that time and there- 

 after the demand seems to drop off and 

 prices naturally lower. 



We have believed for years that 

 honey is worth all that can be gotten 

 for it, for even then, in most cases, the 

 price secured will be low enough. 



Canadian Iteciprocity and Honey 



The Canadian Bee Journal says this 

 on the subject of tariff reciprocity: 



■■ There lias been a noticeable absence of 

 any reference to reciprocity in the cohimns 

 of our American contemporaries. We won- 

 der why this Is.'" 



Oh, but there has not been entire 

 absence of reference in at least two- 

 thirds of your American contempora- 

 nies. Brother "Canadian." If you will 

 turn back to the March number of this 

 Journal, you will find that the first edi- 

 torial is headed "Reciprocity with Can- 

 ada." Possibly you may recall it the 

 more readily if reminded that a typo- 

 graphical error in one place makes the 

 Canadian tariff on United States honey 

 ■) cents a pound instead of 3 cents. At 

 any rate, it was there shown that reci- 

 procity^putting honey on the free list 

 — would be again to the United States 

 bee-keeper, as by the present tariffs 

 "the Canadian has 1 ' i cents the advan- 

 tage over his Yankee neighbor." 



It is not impossible that absence of 

 further reference may arise from this 

 fact, that the gain was to be on our 

 side, together with the feeling (if Edi- 

 tor Hurley will pardon a paraphrase of 

 his own words) that we must "never 

 lose sight of the great Christian princi- 

 ple, that that man is our brother who 



lives in Canada as well as he who lives 

 in the United States." 



.\nother reason may be in the fact 

 that there is not enough difference of 

 opinion among editors on this side to 

 get up a controversy. It is doubtful 

 that two pages of the July Canadian 

 Bee Journal would be occupied with 

 reciprocity were it not for the appar- 

 ently irreconcilable difference of opin- 

 ion between two of its editors. 



But perhaps the chief reason is that 

 it will not make the difference of a but- 

 ton to the powers that be, what is said 

 in the bee-papers, and they can leavei: 

 to the men " higher up" and go on dis 

 cussing whether the swarming habit 

 can be bred out, and whether it is 

 necessary to disinfect foul-broody 

 hives. 



Increase Late in the Season 



It is well to be through with all arti- 

 ficial increase early in the season, so 

 that colonies may be well settled for 

 winter. Sometimes, however, it is de- 

 sirable to make increase when the sea- 

 son has well advanced, and the bee- 

 keeper, esjiecially the beginner, should 

 keep in mind that wliat would be ap- 

 propriate management in May or June 

 may be quite out of place in August. 



Early in June, a nucleus of 2 or 3 

 frames of brood with adhering bees 

 and a laying queen may be left to its 

 own devices with the confident expec- 

 tation that in a moderately good year 

 it will build up into a good colony for 

 winter. But if the start be made 2 or 3 

 months later, failure would be likely to 

 result. 



If an artificial colony be started some 

 time in August, then there must be one 

 or two things: Either the bee-keeper 

 must give assistance from time to time, 

 or the newly created colony must be at 

 the start so strong that there shall be 

 no question about its being fully pre- 

 pared for the winter. On the whole, it 

 is generally more satisfactory to make 

 the new colony sufhciently strong at 

 the start, and fortunately this is much 

 easier to do late than early. Two 

 frames of brood taken from a colony 

 in April would be likely, in the North, 

 to cut in two the amount of honey 

 stored by that colony in supers, where- 

 as if taken in August it might make no 



