ESTABLISHED -laei ^m) 

 'the OLDEST BEE-PAPER -AMER 



PubUsbed ^Veekly, at 9i-00 per anniiin. 



Sample Copy sent on Application, 



36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 30, 1896. 



No. 18. 



How Houey- Producers Cau Help Themselves. 



BV EMERSON T. ABBOTT. 



Honey-producers, falling in with the general drift of 

 things in these times, seem to have gotten the idea that there 

 Is only one road to success, and that is by having the Govern- 

 ment or some combination of men do for them what they con- 

 fess by their theories they are not able to do for themselves — 

 namely, make life a success in their chosen calling. 



I believe in organization, in unity of action, but I also be- 

 lieve in individuality, in personal effort, and liberty. We are 

 drifting very close to the danger-line, in this matter of or- 

 ganization, it seems to me, when we begin to talk of combin- 

 ing to " compel men " to do what we want done. It is a 

 favorite saying of mine that all I want is health and to be let 

 alone. The man who enjoys the privilege of these two God- 

 given blessings, should be able to at least hold his own, and 

 keep his head above water. If he is not, it will only be an 

 application of the doctrine of the "survival of the fittest" to 

 let him go under. Crutches and Government help should be 

 reserved for invalids, cripples, and the constitutionally weak. 

 A man who enjoys a fair degree of health, and has all the 

 opportunities earth offers to obtain a livelihood, should hesi- 

 tate a long time before he asks aid from any source. But 

 this is not what I started to write about. 



I was impressed by a little incident which I read the other 

 day, from the pen of Mr. Terry, under the head of " How to 

 Increase Consumption." He and a friend sat down to dinner at 

 a hotel. They found little dishes of very nice-appearing but- 

 ter beside their plates, but when they put their knives into it, 

 it was not fit to eat. They also discovered that they had 

 made a mistake and gone to the wrong hotel. They left the 

 butter on the dishes, and left the hotel as soon as they got up 

 from the table. Mr. Terry said that they would have eaten 

 all of the butter on the dishes and called for more, had it been 

 of the best quality, and this' would have made a market for 

 more butter ; but as it was, the butter was left to glut an 

 overstocked market — overstocked, I presume, with that kind 

 of butter. All the laws and help in the kingdom could not 

 create a demand for goods of that quality. Probably the man 

 who sold it went home complaining that the price of butter 

 had gone down below the cost of production. Perhaps it had, 

 but there is no possibility of building up a market with any 

 such a product. 



Cannot the honey-producer learn something from this lit- 

 tle incident? 



I saw an advertisement in one of our city papers stating 

 that two pounds of comb honey could be had for 25 cents at a 

 certain store. I stepped in to Investigate, and when I saw 

 the honey I said, " Is that the stuff you sell two pounds for a 

 quarter ?" Turning to another lot, I asked, " What for this ?" 

 "Two pounds for 35 cents," was the answer. "This?" 



" 20 cents per pound. That is first-class. That came from 

 the man in Colorado who knows how to put up honey. We 

 got all he had. No trouble to sell that." 



Investigation proved that honey was not so cheap, after 

 all, for the first lot was not fit to put on any market. You say 

 that such honey is put on the market by farmer bee-keepers 

 who do not know anything about the business. Not always : 

 I remember ordering honey once from a leading producer, 

 who has set himself up for a specialist for years, and it was 

 such a poor quality of extracted honey when it came that I 

 had not the face to offer it to my regular customers. I sold it 



M. Marvin — See page 277. 



to a man down in the country who was looking for some clieap 

 honey. It did not bring very much, but I should have called 

 It dear at any price. 



Now. for the other side : I ordered some extracted honey 

 for my own use the other day from the alfalfa regions of Col- 

 orado, and I took occasion to say to the party to whom I sent, 

 that the last honey I got of him was very fine, and I wanted 

 some more of the same kind. He wrote back thanking me for 

 the good words I had said for his honey, as I had taken pains 

 to recommend it to others, and then he wrote a sentence 

 which I commend to all extracted honey-producers, viz.: 



"■ I liave no trouble notv in selling all the honey I can pro- 

 duce, witlmut any advei-tising." 



The italics are mine, but I do not want the reader to fall 

 to get the force of this statement. It is refreshing In these 



