616 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 



1900 



advised shipment. There are a few dealers in honey in this coun- 

 try for whom I would unhesitatingly vouch. I would mention 

 them here, only that it would be a reflection upon the honesty of 

 others who may be Just as honest, only I am not so sure of it. 



After the question of honesty and reliability is settled, comes 

 that of ability and experience. To handle honey to the best ad- 

 vantage and get the best prices a man must know something of the 

 business. I frequently hear of some man sending honey to some 

 commission Arm. perhaps because he has been sending it other 

 produce, that knows almost nothing about the honey-business. In 

 such cases honey is almost sure to be sacrificed. 



Then there is occasionally a dealer or commission man who, 

 while he may be an out and out swindler, that is, he may make 

 some kind of returns for the goods consigned him, yet there is 

 always something wrong. Either the honey is badly broken, or 

 the packages are leaking, or the bottom has dropt out of the mar- 

 ket since the shipment was made. 1 don't mean to say that none 

 of these things ever happen, but there is occasionally a firm that 

 makes such reports, when it thinks it safe to do so. even when 

 they have not happened. Then there are some firms that are very 

 slow pay. As I have said before, write to your bee keeper editors. 

 All of these things come to their knowledge. 



The question of whether a man shall sell his crop out and out, 

 or ship on commission, is one that has been much discust. Both 

 plans have their advantages and disadvantages. It sold out and 

 out for a certain price that has been agreed upon, there is no un- 

 certainty and no chance for a dispute or dissatisfaction. The 

 shipper knows exactly how much he is to get for it, and when he 

 will get it; provided, of course, that he is dealing with a reliable 

 firm. On the other hand, a dealer can aflrord to pay as much cash 

 down, using his own money, as he might be able to get for the 

 goods if he had them on commission. There must be a greater 

 margin for profit if he buys them and puts his own money into 

 them, than when he is doing business on the capital of the shipper, 

 and the latter is taking the risk of a change in the market. If the 

 dealer buys the goods he must buy them at such a price that he 

 can afford to put his own money into them, and then take his 

 chances of making the profit. There has been a lot of talk about 

 the commission man doing business on the other fellow's capital. 

 It is true that he dues, and that is the very reason why he can afford 

 to do it on a less margin. 



Some shippers limit their commission man. They say, " Get 

 15 cents for that honey, or don't sell it." I have done this, and 

 made money by doing it; and I have also lost by the same opera- 

 tion. I knew one bee-keeper who made a large shipment of comb 

 honey, and limited his commission man, and the result was that 

 most of the honey was held until in February, when it began to 

 candy, and was then sold at a greatly reduced price. As a rule, I 

 think it better not to limit the dealer. He is right on the ground. 

 He knows the markets, the supply and the demand, the prospects 

 etc., better than does any one else. I would not send my honey to 

 a dealer unless I had confidence in him, and believed that he would 

 do the best he could, and. having put my honey in his hands to 

 sell, I would not turn around and tie those hands. 



Much has been written and said in favor of developing a home 

 market, and of every man selling his own honey, and all that. If 

 a man has a good home market, or can develop one, or if he is a 

 good salesman, such a course is all right, but the best locality for 

 producing honey is often a very poor one for selling, and the best 

 bee-keeper is sometimes the poorest kind of a salesman. In such 

 cases it is wisdom to seek distant markets, and to employ some- 

 body to do the selling. 



Lastly, comes the question of when to sell, and it is the most 

 puzzling of any. When there is a large crop the tendency of 

 prices is downward. The man who sells early, before the fall in 

 prices, is fortunate. Knowing this, there is a tendency to rush 

 the honey into market when it becomes known that there is a 

 bountiful crop. This puts the prices down still farther; and the 

 bee-journals have been blamed for reporting large crops because 

 such reports tend to lower prices. If there is a short crop it seems 

 to be all right to report it. as it tends to raise prices. 



This matter of when to sell is one of those questions that each 

 man must decide for himself. If there is a short crop generally. 

 and prices are advancing gradually, it certainly seems safe to hold 

 honey a reasonable length of time. As a rule, however, I would 

 not hold honey until winter. Bro. York recently ailvised his read- 

 ers to sell at once if they could get a fair price; and mentioned 14 



cents as what he would consider a fair price for comb honey. I 

 think that he is not far out of the way. If I had honey to sell I 

 should hold it at 1.5 cents. If I could get that I should let it go. If 

 not, then I should hold it and watch the market. It may possibly 

 go a cent or two above that, but I doubt it. 



Yes, there is one more little point, and that is lohere to sell. It 

 often happens that the dealers in the large centers, like Chicago 

 and New York, do not pay so much for honey as can be obtained 

 in some of the smaller cities. A man with a produce of any kind 

 to sell should be alert and watchful. [ once sold my entire crop 

 of comb honey in Detroit at IT cents a pound, when the market in 

 all of the other cities was only 15 cents at the top notch. I saw 

 the quotations in a Detroit daily; took a sample case and skipt at 

 once for Detroit; sold my honey ; came home and shipt it the next 

 day; and, within a week, the Detroit market was glutted, and 

 prices away down. Last year, at the Springfield, 111., fair, I was 

 offered 12 cents. I stopt at Chicago while on my way home, and 

 was offered 13 cents. I came on home, and did some correspond- 

 ence, finally selling it to a Columbus, Ohio, firm for 1.5 cents on 

 board the cars here at Flint. 



In closing, I can only repeat what I said at the beginning : 

 Having workt hard and produced a crop, don't tool it away. Don't 

 send it to a swindler, nor an irresponsible or inexperienced com. 

 mission man. but thoroly investigate the whole matter, and mar- 

 ket your honey in a safe, intelligent, and profitable manner, in- 

 stead of simply sending it off haphazard, and then "kicking" your- 

 self afterwards for some loss that might have been prevented. — 

 Bee Keepers' Review. 



^ Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



OR. C O. MILLER. Marengo, ni. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.1 



Bee-Keepers'. Right to Bee-Pasturage. 



Dr. Miller : — I have been much interested in your de- 

 partment, and I believe there is only one article that I have 

 read from your pen with which I disagree. In that you 

 speak so positively, I think perhaps you have lookt at 

 it only from one point of view. Of course we are all sub- 

 ject to prejudice and especially to that developt by a habit 

 of thought caused by following a generally accepted idea, 

 I am simply going to call your attention to the other side of 

 the question. I refer to the matter of legislation to keep 

 apiarists from encroaching upon each other's territory. 



Assuming that it could be determined with any degree 

 of accuracy, how much territory a given apiary needs, the 

 fact still remains that the right to use that territory as a 

 bee-pasture belongs to the public, and I fail to see how an 

 individual gains possession of that right by occupying and 

 using it for S, 10, 50, or 100 years. If it pays a man ^o en- 

 croach upon another's territory he has a right to ao it ; 

 otherwise the other man would be enjoying a monopoly of 

 that which belongs to the public. Californi.\. 



Answer. — I am afraid you misunderstand just a little 

 the position in which I stand. So far as I hold any view at 

 all at variance with the views of my fellow bee-keepers, it 

 does not lie in the direction you indicate. That a man who 

 has for 25 years kept in a given locality an apiary suffi- 

 ciently large fully to stock the territory, has a better right 

 to that territory than any new comer, is not my view but 

 the view of the entire fraternity, yourself excepted, so far 

 as can be judged from any expression of opinion heretofore 

 given. 



Let me try to give in a very few words the view that I 

 have advocated, in which my brethren do not all coincide: 

 They say, " The man first on the ground has a moral right 

 to the location, and the man that encroaches upon his terri- 

 tory is doing wrong, but you must have no legislation that 

 would make it a legal wrong. It must be left altogether to 

 a man's sense of honor." To this I reply : " I do not see 

 why you should make such distinction. If a man's cow 

 trespasses upon my cornfield, it is not left to his sense of 



