Jan. 15, 1912 



erable influence with the officials of the 

 government, to the end that bee culture may 

 receive further recognition, and with Con- 

 gress, if it is in session, and, moreover, it 

 can have distinguished men from the De- 

 partment of Agriculture to deliver addresses 

 at the convention. We understand that 

 the new board is carefully considering the 

 claims of the two cities. 



ARE BEE-KEEPERS MAKING A COSTLY MIS- 

 TAKE? A warning; market practical- 

 ly BARE OF COMB HONEY, WITH A BIG 

 SUPPLY OF EXTRACTED. 



Several times during the last three or 

 four months we have called attention to the 

 fact that the production of comb honey was 

 being dropped by many producers in favor 

 of extracted, .fust before he died, Mr. W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, having observed the same 

 fact, cautioned his readers in the Beview 

 not to make the mistake of going to the 

 other extreme, adding that he feared the 

 time would come when comb honey would 

 be a scarce article, and the market would be 

 glutted with extracted. The prediction has 

 been all but verified. Now that the season 

 is over, we are in position to know pretty 

 nearly where all the comb honey is that is 

 left; and we can assure our readers that the 

 supply is exceedingly limited. The big buy- 

 ers of the country are making inquiries as 

 to where they can get choice comb honey; 

 but aside from little lots, of inferior quality, 

 they are unable to find any. Some three 

 or four buyers have cornered some choice 

 lots, and are awaiting an advance in price. 

 There will be small lots here and there among 

 retailers, but that will be about all. On the 

 other hand, the supply of Western extracted 

 honey appears to be large for this time of the 

 year. 



Our readers will remember that early in 

 the season reports from the West were very 

 slow in coming in. Many of them were mis- 

 leading, and producers in some sections 

 where, apparently, big crops had been pro- 

 duced were evidently holding back the fact. 

 The reports from the West showed almost 

 as much a shortage as those from the East. 

 The result is, there is a big supply of West- 

 ern extracted — mainly alfalfa and mountain 

 sage; but the supply of Eastern white hon- 

 ey, both comb and extracted, is almost en- 

 tirely exhausted. 



There are two reasons to account for the 

 great disparity between the production of 

 comb and extracted the past year. First, 

 breakages from shipment have disgusted 

 many producers with the comb-honey busi- 

 ness; and, second, the honey season through- 

 out all the East, where comb honey is large- 

 ly produced, was almost a complete failure. 

 Eastern bee-keepers do not produce honey 

 on as large a scale as those west of the Miss- 

 issippi; and what they do produce is largely 

 comb. On the other hand, the conditions 

 in the West are almost exactly the reverse. 

 Extracted honey probably forms from 75 to 

 80 per cent of all the honey produced. 



35 



One largo buyer in the East, in talking 

 with a representative of this journal, lament- 

 ed the f ict, and with good reason, that the 

 honey rei)orts in the bee-papers during the 

 last year were misleading— at least so far 

 as they related to t he i)r()duction of Western 

 honey. "This has a tendency,'" he said, 

 "to boost the market on all grades of hon- 

 ey, including extracted. The market on 

 the liquid product began to soar, and buy- 

 ers refused to purchase. Then there came 

 the inevitable slump after prices had been 

 boosted too high; and now the market is 

 overstocked with extracted." 



He then cited the case of a large producer 

 of buckwheat honey who had a fair crop to 

 sell. The general talk about the poorness of 

 the season caused him to put his prices clear 

 out of sight. Of course, no one would buy. 

 He began to offer his honey at lower figures 

 without a taker. Soon carloads of Western 

 alfalfa and mountain sage, of a better qual- 

 ity, both in flavor and color, flooded the mar- 

 ket; "and, "said Mr. Commission Man, "our 

 friend with his big holding of buckwheat 

 would be glad to unload at any price — a sad- 

 der and a wiser man. This is not an isolat- 

 ed case, because some of the Western pro- 

 ducers are finding it hard to unload." 



One other buyer expressed himself most 

 emphatically, saying, "You bee-journal fel- 

 lows ought to be scored for letting some of 

 these Western producers pull the wool over 

 your eyes. Why don't you urge more the 

 production of comb honey? If the facts as 

 to the amount of Western honey had been 

 given in the first place the general market 

 would have been in much better condition." 

 While the bee-papers come in for a fair 

 share of blame, perhaps, yet how are the 

 journals going to get information when the 

 reports of actual conditions are held back? 



Referring to the first reason why bee- 

 keepers are dropping the production of comb 

 honey, it seems to us that almost every 

 mail has brought some complaint about 

 comb honey arriving in bad order, simply 

 because it was carelessly packed. Producers 

 who ought to know better continue to put 

 up their goods in poorly made and badly 

 designed shipping-cases; and, again, they 

 often fail to ship in carriers, with the result 

 that both producers and buyers are disgust- 

 ed with the whole business. Extracted 

 honey, however, can be shii)ped in barrels 

 or cans, with com])aratively little leakage or 

 breakage. It is not injured by candying, 

 and usually there is a fair demand for it. 



But the scarcity of comb honey and its 

 higher price should make producers wake 

 up to the importance of producing more 

 section honey. It will hardly be possible to 

 get too much for the coming year. A\'e 

 never saw a time when fancy or Xo. 1 comb 

 honey would not sell readily at good prices. 

 If the bee-keeper who reads these lines 

 has reason to doubt our words, let him write 

 in to the large markets and see how the de- 

 mand now stands for comb and extracted. 

 The fact is, brethren, we are confronted by 

 a condition and not a theory. 



