1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



829 



The fact is, I don't blame the buyers for 

 being- conservative and trying to get it iit 

 3'2 to 4'2 cents, so long lis these monstrous 

 lies keep on traveling. Until their falsity 

 can be proven, they will make an offer that 

 will be safe from f/ic/r standpoint, some- 

 where about S'i cents. 



You saj' thiit you base your knowledge of 

 "the amount of extracted honey produced 

 upon the number of cases and cans made 

 and sold," and that you think this "is a 

 safe criterion." An "estimate " on such a 

 basis would be very unreliable, this year 

 especially. I talked with many bee-keep- 

 ers from Southern California, and during- 

 the earl_v spring- it was expected that the 

 crop would be a larg-e one, and the majority 

 of the producers laid in a stock of cans 

 when the prices were low, so as to be sure 

 to have enough. They therefore bought 

 heavily, expecting- a big- crop, but the big 

 crop did not come to some of them; at least, 

 it did not reach up to their expectations. 

 One bee-man whom I visited had quite a 

 stock of cans on hand, which he said he 

 would not be able to fill this season. It is 

 possibl}'^ true that some bought less than 

 they thoug-ht thej^ would require; but where 

 there was one such instance as that, there 

 would be dozens of others who had overes- 

 timated, and who will, as a natural result, 

 carry cans over for next season. 



If one were to ' ' estimate ' ' the amount of 

 comb honey produced by the number of sec- 

 tions sold in a locality in one season, he 

 would run wide of the mark, for the reason 

 that, as a rule, thousands of sections are 

 carried over unused, and this is true of cans. 



We have had a number of men in the field 

 who have been looking- this matter up very 

 carefully — men who are bu3'^ers as well as 

 producers, and I have their reports in our 

 office of the number of tons of honey in 

 sight. Some of our men have made trips 

 independently, and without the knowledge 

 of the others, and their reports ag-ree closely. 



You are entirely correct in saying the 

 market is extremel3^ tender, and is, there- 

 fore, important that the exact truth iind the 

 real facts be presented. But you will agree 

 with me that our eastern reports of 500 cars 

 or 2000 cars is beyond all reason. Even 

 300 cars is too many, far too many, if the 

 information that has come to me is correct. 



Perhaps our estimate of the California 

 output has been too cunservative; but far 

 more harm will be done by putting the fig-- 

 ures too high than too low. Still, if I erred 

 on the low side I stand ready to be correct- 

 ed. But I will say this much: That within 

 the last two days our reporters show that 

 the amount of honey in the San Joaquin 

 Valley will be somewhat greiiter than we 

 reported or was reported to us, becjiuse 

 there has been a late and unexpected spurt 

 of honey; but so far as the southern coun- 

 ties are concerned, I still feel that the 

 amount has been exag-gerated. 



I do not wish to take the view that our re- 

 ports are correct, and that j'our estimate is 

 all wrong; but what I do want most of all 



is that the truth shall be set fortli in a fair 

 and impartial manner. 



Editor York, of the Aincr. Bee Journal, 

 has had considerable opportunity to note 

 the rise and fall of the honey markets. 

 Concerning- what I have already said in re- 

 gard to the exag-g-erations of the honey crop 

 in California and elsewhere throughout the 

 United States he makes this comment in the 

 last issue of his paper : 



Like Messrs. Burnett & Co., we hesitate to advi.>^e 

 those of mir readers who have honey to sell whnt to 

 do at)out marketing it And yet we think we are safe 

 in .saying that, whenever you can get as good prices 

 as tho.-e of last year, it woul.i be well to accept thtni 

 very p\uin,.tly. 



Having said that, we may also venture the opinion 

 that, before honey is higher in pi ice a fain, it will like- 

 ly go lower than the prices quoted i;ow. This we be- 

 lieve becauve of the feeling ih t w.in- l-.oney is being 

 held back by bee-keepers this .seasiu than in many a 

 year before. 



It is exctet'ingly unfortunate that there seems to be 

 no reliable way in which to ^et at the exact amount of 

 honey produced. Were that a possibility, the matter 

 of prices could the more easily be coutrolled. 



THE JOINT SESSION OF THE AMERICAN PO- 

 MOLOGICAI. SOCIETY AND THE NATION- 

 AL BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION AT 

 BUFFALO, N. Y., SEPTEMBER 12. 



This g-reat meeting- was a success in every 

 way. Just before the opening of the session, 

 the bee and fruit men fraternized in a way 

 that would indicate that there never had 

 been any trouble, and never could be, 

 among the intellig-ent classes of both indus- 

 tries ; and the subsequent discussion bore 

 ample evidence of this. The bee-men were 

 entertained most royally, for, indeed, we 

 were the guests of the pomologists. Presi- 

 dent Watrous called the meeting- to order, 

 and then invited the executive officers of 

 our Association to take seats up in front. 



The first regular address to which we 

 listened was one from Prof. J. M. Fletcher, 

 of Ottawa, Canada, on the subject of "Bees 

 as Fertilizers of Flowers." Prof. F. is 

 always an interesting- speaker, and he 

 gave us a treat. By means of various 

 charts he showed how nature had appar- 

 ently designed that some sort of strong- 

 insect like the bee should scatter the pollen 

 from one flower to another ; how she had 

 even g-one so far in some instances as to put 

 up certain obstructions, absolutely compel- 

 ling- the bee fairly to wallow in the pollen, 

 dusting- itself from tongue to sting- before it 

 could escape. He further gave it as his 

 opiriion that the interests of the bee and 

 fruit men go hand in hand ; that certain 

 kinds of fruit could not mattire properly 

 without the work of the bees. 



We next listened to an interesting address 

 by Prof. S. A. Beach, of the Geneva Exper- 

 iment Station, Geneva, N. Y., on the sub- 

 ject of "Spraying Fruit-trees When They 

 are in Bloom." I have already placed be- 

 fore our readers the main portions of a 

 similar address that he made about a 3^ear 

 ago. I will just briefly state that, after a 

 long series of experiments conducted by 

 him, at Geneva, and by his colleague, at 

 Cornell University, the conclusion was 



