338 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 28, 



it until large flax fields were grown here. So we call it " flax- 

 honey." If I am wrong, I beg Flax's pardon. It took two 

 years to outgrow the result of putting that poor stirff on the 

 market. 



I give this experience to put newcomers on guard, that 

 they may not take this step backward. 



Another mistake I made was in sending away a sled load 

 of cases, that were just as they came off the hive. The man 

 who settles my bills, when the honey fails— in return for which 

 I settle many of his when it don't — he offered to take a load to 

 W. city to see what he could do with it. We carefully chose 

 full supers of white, even sections, and both believed that 

 they would carry better in the sleigh if we left them just as 

 the bees had fastened them. One merchant took $50 worth, 

 half store pay, the balance to be cash, paid as soon as he had 

 sold .?25 worth. The merchant wished them left in the 

 supers, as they " took up less room." So the sections were 

 sold by count after he had examined them carefully. 



Afterward, when pay day came, this gentleman claimed 

 that some of the sections were unfinished — " a few had noth- 

 ing in them." Now, as you cannot afford to quarrel with the 

 the country merchants, or have them dissatisfied in any way 

 with your dealings, never trust a super out of your hands 

 until it is repacked, cleaned, and the honey graded. These 

 are all stumbling-blocks. 



If you have your honey well in hand I cannot imagine a 

 pleasanter duty than soliciting orders at retail stores or busi- 

 ness houses. No matter what my need may be, from a wheel- 

 barrow to a set of store teeth, I have been able to obtain it 

 with honey, and the other party always acts as if he was get- 

 ting the favor. 



I seldom meet with unpleasantness in my sales. I re- 

 member one case where I offended a merchant, and he let his 

 displeasure make itself manifest. I had tried to sell him some 

 fine section honey for 15 cents a pound. I had sold several 

 cases readily at that price in other parts of town. He offered 

 me 10 cents a pound. When I refuse.d, he triumphantly 

 brought around a large platter with an immense piece of 

 honey that had been taken from the largest frame I ever saw 

 — or perhaps broken from a barrel. " There," said he, " I 

 can get all the honey I want as nice as that for 10 cents !" 



It was nice looking honey, sealed over with white cap- 

 pings. While he was talking, customers gathered around, 

 and one man said, "I'll take 25 cents worth of that." I 

 wailed, for I wanted to see the comb under the cappings. As 

 I expected, when the light honey run out, the comb was old 

 brood-comb. 



"What makes the comb so dark?" said the customer. 

 " Oh, I don't know ; honey is 'most always like that," said the 

 salesman. 



" Beg pardon," said I, " section-honey is not." 



The customer asked me why section-honey did not have 

 black comb. " Because the bees never use it to hatch young 

 bees in," said I. I pointed to the broken comb on the platter, 

 and proved it by bee-bread and pollen in some of the cells. I 

 said, " There have been several generations of bees hatched 

 in that comb. I am very fond of eggs, but I never eat a hen's 

 nest. Neither do I fancy bees' nest." 



An old gentleman, who stood near the plate of honey, be- 

 gan to laugh and joke the merchant about his purchase of 

 bees' nest, while I went to make some purchases in another 

 part of the store, but that merchant has not forgiven me yet. 

 A farm paper, long ago, advised farmers to have a post in 

 a conspicuous place on the road near the house on which to 

 advertise anything they have to sell. We long ago adopted 

 that plan, and "Honey to Sell "leads all the rest. This 

 method brings cash, and has but one objection. It has to be 

 taken in over Sunday, as this country is getting to be quite a 



famous summer resort, and people "resort" more Sunday 

 than all the rest of the week. And my kind of bees don't 

 gather honey to sell on the Sabbath day. 



Centre Chain, Minn. 



Uader-Consumptiou of Honey, Not Over-Pro- 

 ductiou. 



BY S. B. SMITH. 



I was very much interested in the communication on page 

 163, from G. M. Doolittle, entitled, "The Past and Present of 

 Bee-Keeping." Mr. Doolittle has evidently given an honest 

 opinion as he views the situation or condition of the honey 

 market from his stand-point, but we in the West, having a 

 different stand-point, view things quite differently. Mr. 

 Doolittle's mind seems to be burdened with the over-pro- 

 duction theory, that has been so much written upon for the 

 last few years. Let us look at this subject candidly, and with 

 all fairness, and see if over-production is the true cause of the 

 low price of honey. I claim that the word " over-production " 

 is a misnomer. A better word would be " under-consump- 

 tion." Let us look at some of the other products of the soil 

 and see if I am wrong in that opinion. 



A few years ago, about the beginning of what is called 

 the " hard times," our Minnesota wheat dropped in price be- 

 low the cost of raising It. We were told that the cause of the 

 low price was over-production. At the same time there were 

 not only thousands, but hundreds of thousands, in the United 

 States that were so near starvation that they were fed from 

 soup-houses and bread-counters. A large portion of these 

 destitute people were willing to work for something to eat, but 

 could find no employment. Over-production with hundreds of 

 thousands of people nearly starving — bosh ! 



Last year, Minnesota had a large crop of wheat, and the 

 price was the lowest that has ever been known in the State. 

 Over-production was again the cry, as the cause of the low 

 price ; at the same time the world's crop of wheat was over 

 100,000,000 bushels short. Was over-production the cause 

 of the low price? Nay, verily. 



The price of cotton has declined steadily for some years, 

 but there has been no over-production to cause the deprecia- 

 tion in value. Over-production is not the cause of the low 

 price of the products of the soil, incUidin'g honey, but the 

 scarcity of money in circulation. The farmer is not paid for 

 anything he produces a sufficient amount to pay the cost of 

 producing it. A majority of tradesmen are paid starvation 

 wages; they do not receive sufficient pay to purchase the 

 necessaries of life. Put more money into circulation, so the 

 farmer can receive for his products what it costs to produce 

 them, and pay the laborer a fair compensation for his labor, 

 and this over-production theory will disappear like dew before 

 the sun. 



Mr. Doolittle says he commenced bee-keeping 27 years 

 ago, and compares prices then and now. I commenced bee- 

 keeping more than 40 years ago, and sold many hundred 

 pounds of honey in those 'o-pound boxes that Mr. D. speaks of, 

 at 25 cents per pound, and now honey put up in much better 

 shape will hardly sell for half of that amount ; but over-pro- 

 duction is not the cause of the decline of price, but under- 

 consumption. 



Early in life I lived in New Hampshire, and I remember 

 the time when a barrel of flour would last a family one year, 

 and now a family of the same number will consume six or 

 eight barrels. If the laboring class were receiving a fair com- 

 pensation for their labor the consumption of honey would in- 

 crease in the same ratio. Bread is something a man must 

 have ; honey is something he can do without. Honey has not 

 depreciated in value any more than all other products of the 

 soil. 



