290 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



the only case in which I have known a railroad company 

 to pay for breakage of honey. 



There is less danger of breakage by freight than by 

 express. Besides danger of breakage, there is risk of 

 losing in various ways. You may not be able to collect 

 pay for your honey. If sent on commission, the price 

 obtained may be less than the published market report. 

 You have no means generally to know how correct the 

 claims for breakage may be. In fact, unless you know 

 your consignee to be a thoroughly honest man, you are 

 almost entirely at his mercy. A quarter or half a pound 

 may be taken off each case by the claim that it is custom 

 to reject fractions. 



PRICES IX HOME AND DISTANT MARKET. 



Taking all these things into consideration, together 

 with the cost of freight and shipping-cases, it must be 

 a good price that will justify a man to '^hip off honey to 

 the neglect of his home market. If shipped to be sold 

 on commission, provided he ships to a near market, the 

 price should be at least 2i4 cents per pound more than he 

 can get in his home market, to justify his shipping. If 

 he ships to a distant market the difference should be still 

 more, as the additional freight may make a difference 

 of 1 cent per pound or more, and the risk of breakage 

 becomes greater. 



Not always, however, must I be willing to sell in my 

 home market for less than I can get abroad. If there is 

 a year of dead failure in my locality, or so nearly a fail- 

 ure that the home market must be at least partly supplied 

 from elsewhere, then I should get more for my honey 

 than the grocers will have to pay in the large city mar- 

 kets, for they must add freight to the price they pay 

 there. 



FALL FEEDING. 



Some seasons are so poor that the bees do not get 

 enough throughout the whole season to carry them 



