670 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



a little more than the same article in bulk. 

 With a label and a trade-mark, together 

 with self-evident cleanliness, all the virtues 

 of the small i:>ackage are retained. Even 

 ten i^ounds of honey is not an excessive 

 amount if the cook can be told not to keep 

 it in the refrigerator. 



The whole trend can be summed up in a 

 paragraph by Mr. Envin McDonald in The 



Forecast (New York) : " Any going back to 

 old conditions would mean a relaxing of 

 watchfulness, a removal of responsibility, 

 and a consequent loss of all that has been 

 gained. In a pure-food movement there is 

 no looking backward toward unsanitarj' 

 methods because carelessly handled and un- 

 identified foods cost a few cents less." 



THE FACTORS THAT CONTROL THE PRICE OF HONEY 



BY BENJAMIN P. KIRK 



Honey " boosting " is just the best ever 

 if properl}^ done; but it must be done at a 

 ))rotit. It may not be that it must yield an 

 immediate profit, but it must show symp- 

 toms of an ultimate profit. One con-es- 

 pondent for an American bee journal advo- 

 cates the reduction of the price of honey in 

 connection with increased publicity. An- 

 other suggests that an additional charge 

 nmst be made to cover the expense of print- 

 ing posters, display cards, newspaper ad- 

 vertising, furnisliing displays for grocery 

 stores, etc. Now, in the light of ordinary 

 business sense, which, one is right? 



" Large sales and small profits " is a 

 catchy phrase, and many are deceived by it. 

 The trouble is, too many fellows who are 

 doing a 5000 or 10,000 pound business seem 

 to think they are the giants of the honey 

 business. It seems to me that no one han- 

 dling less than 100,000 pounds annually is 

 justified in thinking he belongs to the " big 

 business " class. If the Standard Oil Co. 

 were selling only a few thousand gallons of 

 oil yearly, instead of millions, the price of 

 oil would necessarily be much higher. If a 

 beekeeper does not get such a price that he 

 can pay interest on the capital invested, 

 depreciation on the equipment, hire every 

 stroke of work done from the nailing of the 

 hives to the .selling of the honey, and still 

 have a profit left, his business is a failure. 

 The i^ublic will pay the i:>rice if the bee- 

 keepers demand it and furnish quality 

 goods. 



In a large part of the United States the 

 bee and honey business has many uncei'tain- 

 ties connected with it. Nearly eveiy year 



the beekeepers in some part of the country 

 have to feed to keep the bees going till the 

 next year. This uncertainty has driven some 

 good beekeepers out of the business. But 

 for some reason it rarely seems to affect the 

 box-hi^'e apiarist very much. It's true he's 

 out of business for a year or two, and then 

 he catches a stray swarm or two, and again 

 starts his business of throwing chills up the 

 spine of the neighbor who is ti'ying to make 

 a living in the business. In many ways the 

 correspondent's idea of licensing the bee- 

 keepers sounds well; but where would it 

 end? Wouldn't the bog men, the cattle men, 

 and others ask for the same method of elim- 

 inating the undesirables, and, at the same 

 time, unpleasant competition? 



I do not believe there is one city of 10,000 

 inhabitants or over in a certain central state 

 that is using the amount of honey that there 

 is a market for. When I speak of the pos- 

 sibilities of a market I mean the profitable 

 possibilities. A town can be worked so 

 frequently and so thoronghlj' that the last 

 time over will not yield a j^rofit. Along an- 

 other line of business an old gentleman used 

 frequei'tly to say, " Go slow, and learn to 

 peddle." It takes considerable will power 

 for some people to force themselves to do 

 the house-to-house selling stunt. But it is 

 where the average beekeeper will find the 

 profit. A medium-sized production of lioney 

 sold direct to the consumer at the retail 

 price pays more profit than a much lai'ger 

 production wholesaled. But it's a good (hing 

 for some beekeepers that most other bee- 

 keepers are too timid to canvass. 



Indianapolis, Ind. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF LARGE HIVES 



BY P. A. CONNOR 



The tendency for som.e time among sever- 

 al progressive apiculturists is toward the 

 adoption of a hive that prevents the swarm- 

 ing propensity, gives sufficient capacity for 



the most prolific queens, and can be con- 

 tracted or expanded according to tlie re- 

 (|uiiements of the colony. A hive should 

 be adapted to the production of comb or 



