1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1177 



The program is given elsewhere under head of 

 Convention Notices (see page 1225). It will be 

 observed that there are some new and attractive 

 features. Secretary Hutchinson has spent a great 

 amount of time in woricing it up. Every thing 

 at the present time goes to show that this will be 

 a great convention — something that no bee-iceep- 

 er within two or three hundred miles of Detroit 

 can afford to miss. 



The convention itself is to be held in the Sun 

 Palace just back of the Wayne Hotel, and on the 

 water's edge, away from street noises and dust. 

 It has very often happened that our National con- 

 ventions have been held in halls where it was 

 difficult to hear the speaker, owing to the traffic 

 on the streets below. But this year we shall have 

 every thing quiet by ourselves. 



The rates at the Wayne Hotel are $2.50 a day, 

 two bee-keepers in a room, provided 150 register 

 there. There are other hotels near by, with rates 

 ranging from $1.25 to $2.00 a day. 



Remember the date, Oct. 13 to 15, at Detroit. 



WHEN HONEY IS QUOTED ON THE MARKET, OR 

 IS SOLD AT A DEFINITE FIGURE, DOES THAT 

 FIGURE INCLUDE THE WEIGHT OF THE SHIP- 

 PING-CASE AT THE PRICE PER POUND.' 



A SMALL producer inquires, when he sells a 

 case of sections at, say, 15 cents a pound, wheth- 

 er that price includes the shipping-case. In re- 

 ply we would say no — at least that is the rule here. 

 Again he asks, "If a case weighs 24 pounds does 

 that mean the 24 sections alone weigh that, or 

 that the case, sections, and all represent that 

 weight.'" It is a universal rule that the case is 

 not included. Where there are very large ship- 

 ments, a few representative cases maybe weighed 

 up, and an average struck of the weight of a sin- 

 gle case. The whole shipment is then weighed, 

 when the tariff per case, as shown by the afore- 

 said average, is eliminated. In some instances, 

 where the parties are very particular, every case 

 is weighed, and the sum of the total weights of 

 the empty cases is extractt-d from the total gross 

 weight. As a general thing, the buyer will find 

 net weight and tare showing in two separate sets 

 of figures on the case. If the producer is one in 

 whom he has confidence he will be likely to ac- 

 cept the net weights, and render payment accord- 

 ingly. If, on the other hand, the producer is a 

 new man he will weigh up each case and its con- 

 tents separately. If he finds that the net weight 

 and the tare agree with the figures on the ship- 

 ping-cases taken at random, he will likely accept 

 the figures throughout. 



In the Colorado quotations it is the rule to 

 quote honey by the case, say $3.00 or $3.50, de- 

 pending on the market. Each case is supposed 

 to hold approximately a certain weight of honey 

 — that is, all the cases in the shipment must aver- 

 age up such weight. But it is understood that 

 the weight of the case is not included in the fig- 

 ures on the case of honey. See Colorado grading- 

 rules on our honey-market page. 



It very often happens, after the honey has been 

 through a freight shipment, there are some break- 

 ages and leakages. The honey soaks into the 

 wood and makes the case weigh a little more 

 than when it starts. This must all be taken into 

 consideration when accepting the net weight and 

 tare of the producer. 



HONEY MARKET AND PRICES; THE FOLLY OF SELL- 

 ING TOO LATE. 



We made a special effort, as our readers will 

 see by consulting the Honey Column in this is- 

 sue, to get complete reports from all the big mar- 

 kets in the United States. They should receive 

 the careful analysis of every producer, not only 

 that he may determine ivhere he can do best with 

 his honey, but that he may also seek to prevent 

 some conditions that have contributed to a weak 

 market in some sections of the country. 



We observe that Boston and San Francisco are 

 offering the highest prices. It will be remember- 

 ed that the crop was a failure in Maine, and 

 light in many portions of the New England 

 States. This will account for the Boston market 

 being up. Similarly at San Francisco prices rule 

 strongbecause the main honey-producing portions 

 of California gave a light yield. 



The market seems to be weakest in the Central 

 Northern States. Two or three of the honey 

 firms account for this on the ground that a good 

 deal of Western honey was shipped in last win- 

 ter at just about the close of the selling season. 

 About this time the panic came on, and this 

 honey was left in the hands of the dealers. It 

 began to candy, and sales, of course, began to 

 drag. A large portion of it was left at the time 

 the new crop of Eastern clover came on in July 

 and August; and much is still in those markets. 

 This, together with a very heavy crop of white 

 honey, was a strong factor in weakening the mar- 

 ket in the Northern Central States. One dealer 

 at Cincinnati reports a marked decrease in de- 

 mand, while the other speaks of an improvement 

 at that point. Cincinnati is a great market. It 

 has low freights on account of transportation by 

 water, and in our judgment Southern honey, 

 which seems to gravitate easily to the Queen 

 City, has a tendency to affect prices on white 

 honey. 



But Pittsburg seems to be an exception. Not 

 being able to get any definite reports we sent our 

 honey-man to look up the situation. He fur- 

 nishes a statement for the Pittsburg market, sign- 

 ed J. A. W. Pittsburg is in the center of a large 

 number of middle-class people — artisans and la- 

 borers. It is these people who consume honey 

 more largely than those who are able to buy more 

 expensive delicacies. 



Another interesting feature is that the St. Louis 

 market is weak while that of Kansas City seems 

 quite brisk. Conditions around St. Louis are 

 practically the same as those that apply to Cin- 

 cinnati. The Philadelphia and New York mar- 

 kets, especially the former, seem to be fairly 

 good. The former reports that the actual crop 

 of honey secured was not as large as that indicat- 

 ed by the first reports. 



Compared with last season, the Colorado mar- 

 ket is a little weak, owing, no doubt, to the large 

 crop of Eastern honey. This would make a ship- 

 ment of alfalfa honey eastward unprofitable, even 

 if Colorado had good crops, which it did not 

 have. But it is expected that the Colorado mar- 

 ket will improve, after the fruit has been dispos- 

 ed of. 



There is one important fact on which we wish 

 to place special emphasis — namely, the folly of 

 making large shipments of honey to any market 

 after the holidays, or, rather we should say, of 



