680 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Exx>laiialor} .— Tbe figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer bad in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring-, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; $ south ; O east ; 

 ♦Owest: and this 6 northeast; ^3 northwest; 

 t>> southeast; and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



The Statistics of the Honey Crop. 



17— G. JI. DOOLITTLE, (40—95). 



How slow we as bee-keepers are to 

 ■work by united action to secure what 

 ■would be of benefit to us all. On 

 page 649 of the Bee Journal for 

 1S84, 1 gave a plan by which I thought 

 ■we might in September, 1885. know 

 the relative amount of the crop of 

 honey for this year in the United 

 States, and reque'sted that if the plan 

 I gave was not thought advisable, 

 some other plan might be originated 

 ■which would meet the approbation of 

 all ; for all realize the importance of 

 such a report, as has been shown by 

 the many efforts in that direction. 

 But however much I had hoped and 

 desired, aside from the sanction of 

 the plan by the Editor, I have not 

 seen a word farther in regard to the 

 matter. To be sure we have gained 

 some valuable ground, in that we now 

 know in what part of the State each 

 correspondent of the Bee Journal 

 lives; but as far as any definite knowl- 

 edge regarding the crop of honey in 

 the United States is concerned, we 

 are no better off than we were a year 

 ago. 



When the Bee-Keepers' Union was 

 proposed, I hoped by this plan to get 

 all the bee-keepers united, and after 

 throwing our united influence to our 

 advantage in the Freeborn suit, we 

 might then through this same Union 

 get at the desired statistics regarding 

 the lioney crop. But alas ! out of the 

 500.000 bee-keepers of America, only 

 about 2.50 liave seen fit to enroll them- 

 selves as favoring a plan of united 

 action to defend our beloved pursuit 

 from disgrace. No wonder Mr. Iled- 

 don thought ray idea of getting any- 

 thing out of tlie Union but defense, 

 ■was out of order. When I spoke or 

 using the Union for other purposes, 

 I did it upon the basis .500,000 mem- 

 bers, and not on less than 300 ! Shame 

 on you fellow bee-keepers ! Arouse 

 from your lethargy and let us up and 

 to work ! Join the Union to show 

 that you are one of us, if for nothing 

 more, and tiien in the near future we 

 will sliow how this Union can be 

 made of great value to each one. 

 What would you have given on Sept. 

 1 to have known the amount of honey 

 in America, so you could have dis- 



posed of your crop intelligently V I 

 would have given $25. at least, for 

 that knowledge alone, and much more 

 to have known that every bee-keeper 

 in the land was one of the Union, so 

 he would not get crazy over his crop 

 of honey, and rush it into market pre- 

 maturely to the injury of tlie whole 

 fraternity. 



To show that I have grounds for 

 the above, I wish to give two illustra- 

 tions : In a neighboring city honey 

 held steiidily at IG cents per pound 

 for No. 1 comb honey, till within the 

 past two weeks when quite a large 

 producer, who admitted that he had 

 not read the bee-papers during the 

 summer, became scared over what he 

 supposed to be an immense amount 

 of honey in the country (judging from 

 his own good yield), and rushed his 

 whole crop in at 12^ cents per pound. 

 The result is that the market is flat, 

 and some grocers assert that they 

 will yet buy honey at 10 cents per 

 pound before the year 1885 is past. 



Another producer having honey by 

 the 10,000 pounds, sold the whole" lot 

 to a merchant in one of our large 

 Eastern cities at a (nice below the 

 cost of production, giving as a reason 

 for doing so, that there was an enor- 

 mous crop of honey in the country, 

 and this with these words found on 

 page 579 of the Bee Journal : " Tlie 

 harvest is past ; the summer ended ; 

 but the bee-keepers generally say that; 

 it was the poorest season for honey 

 that they have known for many 

 years," waiting for him to read. 



Again, reports from Boston say 

 that on account of tlie large crop in 

 Vermont, wliich is being forced upon 

 the market, honey is likely to become 

 a drug there, and this with Western 

 cities and villages writing East for 

 honey. Now had some plan been 

 united upon as I expressed a year ago, 

 by which all could know the state of 

 ailairs really existing, this injury to 

 the fraternity would have been warded 

 off and honey kept at a uniform price 

 throughout the country, thus enrich- 

 ing the bee-keeper instead of bringing 

 discouragement upon him. 



As I proposed in that article found 

 on page 649 of the Bee Journal for 

 1884, to report for Central New i'ork 

 in 1885, 1 will now do so to show how 

 easily the plan there given works. At 

 a cost of a few cents for postal cards, 

 and a few hours time in writing, 1 

 mailed a card to several bee-keepers 

 in each of the the counties embracing 

 Central New York, telling them of 

 the yield in thiscounty,and requesting 

 that tliey impart the same informa- 

 tion in reiurn. To these about two- 

 thirds replied, the other one-third not 

 having time, or perhaps thinking they 

 had gained so much knowledge free, 

 did not answer. This part of it mat- 

 ters not, hovi'ever, as enough did re- 

 ply to show that the average yield of 

 comb honey in the ten central coun- 

 ties reporting, is 66 pounds per colony, 

 spring count ; the lowest county re- 

 porting an average yield of 30 pounds, 

 and the highest 100 pounds. 



Now, if we call, as I did last year, 

 •50 pounds per colony as the average 

 yield, it will be seen that Central New 

 York has 16 pounds per colony over 



or about one-third above the average 

 yield. The rest of the State I cannot 

 vouch for, but I am of the opinion 

 that the bees in the southern part of 

 the State have not done as well, so 

 that probably about 60 pounds would 

 be about the average yield per colony 

 throughout the State. Vermont has 

 a stiiriarger crop, while reports from 

 the northern part of Ohio and a part 

 of Michigan, speak of a good yield. 

 The rest of the United States gen- 

 erally report a light crop, with almost 

 a total failure in California. So it 

 will be seen that if the above is cor- 

 rect ( I cannot vouch for any of it ex- 

 cept Central Ne'rt' York, the rest 

 being gotten from correspondents 

 here and there), there is no need of 

 bee-keepers becoming alarmed and 

 rushing honey upon the market at 

 ruinous prices. 



Now bee-keepers, I again call upon 

 you to take hold of this matter of 

 vital interest to all of us, and see if 

 we cannot, before anotlier year rolls 

 around, have a reliable report from 

 every State in the Union,m time to be 

 of use to us in marketing our honey- 

 product. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



North American B. K. Society. 



H. D. CUTTING. 



Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson and myself 

 met in Detroit on Oct. 16 and 17 to 

 complete arrangements for the next 

 meeting of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society. We succeeded in 

 securing greatly reduced rates at the 

 Antisdell House, one of the first-class 

 hotels, located on Michigan Avenue, 

 and about 20 rods from the City Hall, 

 in the very heart of tlie city. The 

 regular rates are $2 per day, but in 

 anticipation of a very large attend- 

 ance they will receive all attending 

 the convention at $1.25 per day. The 

 Antisdell Bros, have the reputation 

 of keeping some of the very best 

 hotels in the West, and I can assure 

 all who will attend the convention 

 that they will be ■R'ell received and 

 taken care of. 



With the assistance of Mr. E. B. 

 Rose, of Detroit, we secured the use 

 of what is known as " Red Men's 

 Wigwam "—a good Hall directly op- 

 posite the Antisdell House. The Hall 

 is new, well furnished, carpeted, etc., 

 and should it be stormy weather it 

 will be quite an acquisition to the 

 success of our meeting to have a HaU 

 so near the hotel. 



We called on Mr. Geo. E. King, the 

 Secretary of the Michigan Passenger 

 Railroad Association, who received 

 us very cordially, and extended to us 

 every courtesy. He will give us re- 

 duced rates on all railroads in Michi- 

 gan, on all tickets sold from Chicago, 

 Ills., and Buffalo, N. Y. ; and from 

 correspondence already begun, we are 

 in hopes to secure the same rates from 

 New York City and other points in 

 the East, and also from the Far West. 

 Due notice will be given in all the 

 bee-publications as soon as final 



