,]ULV, 1919 



Cn-EANINGS IN BEK (' U I. T U R F. 



419 



ritoiy, there is no need of poaching on do- 

 main that by riglit of discovery or priority 

 of occupation belongs to tlie other fellow. 



CALIFOENIA — or, rather, the southern 

 part of the State — usually has the first hon- 

 ey ready to market. 

 California There is early hon- 



Gossip on ey in other States, 



Honey Prices. in the South, but 



not in such quanti- 

 ties as to have much bearing on the market. 

 When southern California has a large yield, 

 and some cars are read}' to be shipped to 

 the East, the market is inclined to start off 

 at a moderate pace. Last season California 

 had a good crop; but the market did not 

 drop, because war-time conditions were mak- 

 ing an abnormal demand; and the prices, in- 

 stead of sagging, as soon as the full truth 

 was known began to go upward. 



As already explained, the world was starv- 

 ing, and there was a ban on sugar. The 

 housewife and the manufacturer could not 

 get all they wanted, and they took honey, 

 even tho they had to pay several times as 

 much for it as for sugar. Then when the 

 sugar ban was lifted the price of honey be- 

 gan to tumble. Buyers stopped buying and 

 began to "unload" — some at considerable 

 loss. ' Every one got cold feet, and some 

 frankly confessed that they got 'em ' ' frost- 

 ed. " No, sir; no more lioney for them. 

 When there was a prosj^ect of another big 

 California yield, buyers began to say that 

 honey would do well if it brought ten or 

 even eight cents. 



All at once it began to be apparent that 

 unless there was six or eight inches more 

 of rain in California, and that right soon, 

 sage would be a failure, or at most only a 

 light crop. The rains didn 't come. At that 

 time it was figured that orange, usually re- 

 liable, would furnish its usual quota of 

 honey; but when it, too, showed up with 

 only half a crop, producers began to talk 

 higli prices again ; for had they not been 

 told by the Editor of Gleanings that sage 

 and orange were used largely by the bot- 

 tlers? They began to talk 20 and 23 cents 

 for their sage and orange, and they were 

 going to get it. 



The buyers and brokers in the mean time 

 were all at sea. Not one of them was buy- 

 ing honey — didn't dare to, because, they 

 said, the figures asked were too high. They 

 were all waiting for the "other fellow" to 

 start the ball rolling. Some of them with 

 their frost-bitten feet didn't want to get 

 them frozen stiff, and so they held back, 

 fearing that, if they made the "first 

 break," they would either buy too high and 

 lose, or let the "other fellow" scoop all the 

 desirable lots offered, and they be left high 

 and dry — no honey and no profit. 



One buyer said: "It would be much bet- 

 ter for the producer to be content with a 

 more moderate figure. It would be saner 



and safer to start off at 16 or 17 cents, and 

 let the market rise, if it would, than to start 

 off at 23 and then have the market begin 

 to tumble and crash away below 15 cents." 

 Said this broker further: "History repeats 

 itself. This thing has happened time and 

 again with beans and other commodities and 

 it is possible that it may happen this year 

 with honey. ' " 



There were some purchasers, more con- 

 servative, who were inclined to accept the 

 view last expressed, for they argued that, 

 if there should be a large crop of alfalfa 

 and of white clover in the East, 23 or even 

 20 cents would be too high. 



The matter was laid before General Man- 

 ager Justice, of the California Honey Pro- 

 ducers ' Co-operative Exchange. Said Mr. 

 Justice: "I welcome high prices for my 

 members, and should like to get them; but 

 as we don't know what the yield from al- 

 falfa and eastern clover is going to be, I 

 am inclined to take a more conservative 

 view of the situation until we know. To get 

 the price too high at the start is more dan- 

 gerous than to get it too low. ' ' 



Justice holds the key to the situation to 

 a great extent. His organization has near- 

 ly a thousand members with an aggregate of 

 about 150,000 colonies. The other organiza- 

 tion, the Southern California Beekeepers' 

 Association, also has a following; and it is 

 reasonable to suppose that the day has gone 

 by when the small beekeeper, simply because 

 he has to have the money, will sell at low 

 prices. There are several of the large pro- 

 ducers who are not in either organization; 

 but there is no danger that they will sell too 

 cheap. 



The all-absorbing question with producers 

 and buyers in California the first of June 

 was, "What are the prices to be?" The 

 sequel will be shown by the market quota- 

 tions in this issue. 



no^op: 



AS IN THE EAST, so in the West, bees are 

 often pretty cross just as the honey flow is 



tapering off. This 

 Bees Just is particularly no- 



"Awful Cross." ticeable when the 



flow is heavy and 

 then chokes off suddenly. Bees are usually 

 very good-natured in an ordinary clover 

 flow because the yield is heavy at no time; 

 and when it does stop it does it very grad- 

 ually. 



This is not so in the case of eastern bass- 

 wood or California orange. The honey in 

 either case fairly drips from the blossoms, 

 so heavy is the flow when the conditions are 

 right. Very often the flow will let up rather 

 abruptly with either, and then "wow! how 

 the beggars do sting!" The Calif ornians 

 are sort o' used to this; but an eastern 

 "tenderfoot" wants a good veil with wire- 

 cloth facing and a good smoker. Even the 

 Californians seem to prefer wire veils, and 

 there is a reason. 



