J*al)7is2ie«i We&lcly, at ^1,00 per anntim. 



Sample Copy sent on j4.pp7ication. 



36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MAY 14, 1896. 



No. 20. 



The Price of Honey — Some Good Advice. 



BY MRS. L. HARRISON. 



There is one thing that has been puzzling my brain a long 

 tiaae, and that is the price of honey. When the " trusts " that 

 control the manufacture of whisky, glucose, oil, etc., see that 

 there is enough to supply the trade, they issue the order to 

 shut down ; control the supply and demand. Overstock the 

 market, and the price will go below the price of production. 

 The bee, in her wisdom, controls the number of her offspring 

 in ratio with her income, and four years ago she was com- 

 pelled to shut down in the production of honey. 



Has this cutting down in the production of honey in- 

 creased the price? This shortage ought to increase the price 

 to one dollar per pound ; has it done so ? We would be laughed 

 at if we demanded one quarter of that. 



In the market report of the American Bee Journal for 

 April 2, white clover honey is quoted in Chicago and Philadel- 

 phia at 15 cents per pound ; in New York, Cincinnati and 

 Kansas City at 14 cents. Who is too blame in this matter ? 

 Let each one ask the question, " Is it I '?" What are we going 

 to do about it '! 



It is true we've been very benevolent. Who is there 

 among us that has not hived swarms, transferred bees, intro- 

 duced queens, and given freely all the information possible ? 

 We felt well paid if our instructions were followed. With 

 our conventions, and by pen and voice, we have increased the 

 number of bee-keepers, and has this reduced the price of 

 honey '? I think not, for it is yet scarce. 



From Illinois to Florida there is a wail, which is echoed 

 back, " I can't sell my honey!" Is it true that a crop of 

 honey cannot be disposed of as readily as corn, wheat or oats 

 and butter ? This state of affairs, of the low price of honey, 

 and want of a market, is due in a great measure to the pro- 

 ducers. A bee-keeper is puffed up with pride when he can 

 ship off to a large city, honey by the carload. These large 

 markets are glutted, and prices rule low, governing the price 

 elsewhere. Offer a groceryman honey, and he will turn to a 

 price-list and see what it is in Chicago or New York, and want 

 to deduct from the price of your honey the transportation, 

 commission, etc., for taking your honey there. 



I've seen extracted honey selling at St. Andrews Bay, 



Fla., at retail for 10 cents per pound, that was shipped from 

 Chicago, more than SCO miles distant, in a tin can ; while 

 local bee-keepers were complaining, "Can't sell honey!" If 

 producers would supply their own neighborhood, and all near 

 towns, at a price a little in advance of what they can realize 

 in a city market, and sell at home all bulged, discolored and 

 unsightly sections, there would soon be a change for the bet- 

 ter in the honey market. If you need a load of coal, drive to 

 a coal-bank with honey enough to pay for it ; take your black- 

 smith some. It need not be the choicest you have, for they 

 will not look for an uncapped cell, or one with bee-bread. 



When a customer calls at you home for honey, show what 

 you have for sale. If he prefers a fancy article, all right; 

 but let him pay a fancy price. If you have honey fallen from 

 the sections, or marred in some way, tell him that it is just as 

 good, but not being in good marketable shape, you will sell it 

 much lower. Many persons prefer to buy dark sections, if it 

 is cheaper. I once saw at a first-class grocery a case of sec- 

 tions with white honey next the glass, and the inside ones 

 very dark. The buyer said that he had been deceived, and 



Mrs. L. Harrison, Peoria, III. 



he could not sell his dark honey to his class of customers, and 

 he wanted me to buy it to feed my bees. 



Honey-producers, lot one and all try to improve the honey 

 market by selling at home every pound possible at a'fair price, 

 and shipping only cases of honey whose every section showing 

 through the glass is a fair sample of those in the center. 



