100 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



June 



can turn out twelve pairs for the same 

 wages he got then for one. 



We will now come up to the present 

 time and I will take my honey and go 

 again to Barber. He is an older look- 

 ing man than he used to be but he 

 smiles when he sees me coming, for he 

 knows that he will get more honey 

 from me now for a pair of shoes than 

 he did the last time. He charges me $2 

 for a pair of shoes, the labor on which 

 cost him one-twelfth as much as the 

 last pair. I charge him 10 cents per 

 pound for honey that cost me almost 

 as much per pound to produce as what 

 he got before. Barber has come down 

 50 per cent, on his goods that cost him 

 one-twelfth as much to produce, and I 

 have come down 60 per cent, on mine 

 that cost me about the same to pro- 

 duce. 



The trouble with us is that honey 

 occupies a lower place in relation to 

 other produce than it did formerly, and 

 that without the excuse of a single 

 over-production to offer for it. 



Now I don't think for a moment that 

 we could by any means make the rul- 

 ing price for honey as high as it was 

 in the "early seventies," but I do 

 think by some means of co-operation 

 among the producers of honey we 

 ought to be able to place it in its 

 proper place in relation to other pro- 

 duce. And until this is done, just that 

 much of our honey goes to Smith, 

 Jones, Barber and Scott in unearned 

 charges, and we are able to retain just 

 that much less of our honey. Now, if 

 friend Doolittle will compare the price 

 of his farm, for which he paid $100 an 

 acre in 1874, with farm land in Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska oi' 

 other western states, he will see that 

 while his farm has gone down in value, 

 the others have come up, which is 

 nothing more or less than an equaliza- 

 tion of the real estate values of the 

 country, which will in time seek the 

 same level as naturally as water. 



Franklin, Pa. 



th:]^ honey market. 



Farmer Bee-keepers not Responsi- 

 ble for lyow Prices— A Reply to 

 M. W. Shepherd. 



Written for the American Bee-Kceper. 



BV C. STANLEY BAXTER. 



^^HE article written by Mr. Shep- 

 ■^"^^ herd in the April Bee-Keeper con- 

 ^^ cerning farmer bee-keepers would 

 naturally lead people to believe that 

 farmers should have no independence 

 as a class; they should keep to "farmin' 

 it" and not enter into the keeping of 

 bees at all. Now, I do not agree with 

 Mr. S. and will endeavor to state my 

 reasons, form observations and ex- 

 perience in this vicinity. The bee-keep- 

 ers in this vicinity consist of Captain J. 

 E. Hetherington, specialist; J. Van 

 Deusen & Sons., of the flat-bottom 

 foundation fame, and several others, 

 who are engaged in farming and keep 

 from five to one hundred colonies. 



I will admit that, if the farmer bee- 

 keepers of today are compared with the 

 farmer bee-keepers of thirty or more 

 years ago, they would undoubtedly 

 have to take the blame; but the farmer 

 bee-keepers of today produce as fine a 

 quality of honey, and it is placed upon 

 the market in as good condition as that 

 of most specialists. Those farmer bee- 

 keepers scrape the sections all nice and 

 clean, assort the honey, if the quantity 

 warrants, placing sections well filled 

 out in one crate; those not so well 

 filled in another; also assort as to color 

 and kind. It is then weighed and is 

 ready for market. How would this af- 

 fect the price — would it lower it? No! 

 Any one would suppose that the ma- 

 jority of our large bee-keepers were 

 farmers. Now, I do not understand 

 how they could care for their honey 

 and bees, and make it pay, if conducted 

 on the system stated by Mr. Shepherd. 



I think the bee-keeping fraternity is 

 large enough to control the price of 

 honey to a certain extent, which I 

 think they do, and as those farmer bee- 

 keepers; they do not produce a quanti- 



