^oxxtsjpioniitnu. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



How to Establish a Honey Market. 



Much has been written and said in regard 

 to the marlieting of iioney ; how it should 

 be put up for marltet ; l)Ow we were to 

 create a demand at lioiiie tor it, &c. But it 

 loolts to me that what tliose wiio produce 

 honey by the ton most need, is an establisiied 

 market for their honey, at an establisiied 

 price. At present tliere is no particular 

 price for honey. We pick up a New York 

 paper and eagerly glance over the market 

 reports for honey, but often lay it down in 

 disgust as we find honey is not quoted at 

 all. We try again, and this time we find 

 honey quoted at from 15 to 17 cents, for best 

 white. We take up another, the New York 

 Atlas for instance, and find honey there 

 quoted at 20 to 22 cents, showing to us con- 

 clusively that honey of the same grade is 

 selling at random, so to speak. Nor need 

 we go to the outside press to find that honey 

 has no established price, for in our bee 



fieriodicais we find one quoting honey at 

 rom 17 to 20 cents ; and anotlier at 15 to 17 

 cents. This is not so with farm produce, 

 and other articles of merchandise. If we 

 have a load of wheat to sell, or a few tubs 

 of butter, we can find just what it is wortii 

 in New York, and can take it to any place 

 near home, where they deal in these com- 

 modities, and get what it is worth in New 

 York, less the freight and alightconnnission 

 for handling. If we go to these same places 

 with our honey they say : " What do you 

 expect to do with that stuff ?" We say, sell 

 it. We are asked what we want for it ? 

 Why the market price, of course. The 

 answer is, "We know no establisiied price 

 for honev. We buy pork, eggs, butter, oats, 

 corn, (fee, that have a fixed value in them, 

 but honey we don't want. You had better 

 ship it to some house in New York, Boston, 

 or Philadelphia, to be sold on commissicm, 

 or sell it at home and take what you can 

 get for it." And this is about what most of 

 us do. A few, however, will say, "1 have 

 got but a few hundred pounds ; I will go to 

 our city (which has from 15,000 to .50,000 in- 

 habitants, as the case may be), and see what 

 1 can get for it." They go, stop at a place 

 where they deal in country produce, and ask 

 the price of honey, with the answer, "We 

 have plenty ; we do not wish any." "But 

 ■what is nice honey, in 2 lb. boxes, worth ?" 

 '•Oh, from 11 to 14 cents ; anywhere along 

 there." A sample is shown, which perhaps 

 is looked at, with the remark, " Yes ; that 

 is nice ; but we do not wish any." Perhaps 

 our friend has some butter to sell,. so he asks, 

 "What is butter worth ?" The dealer says : 

 "If you have butter to sell we want it ; we 

 are paying 18 cents for butter, and if it is 

 the real gilt-edge, perhaps we could give 

 you 18>i." 



He passes to the next place, shows his 

 sample, and asks what they are paying for 

 honey. "If it is all as nice as that, we 

 ■will pay you 103^ cents for it." " What is 

 butter worth ?" " Eighteen cents, sharp." 



And so he goes all over the city to find a uni- 

 form price of butter, and possibly gets an 

 offer of 133^ cents for his honey, or a part of 

 it, comes home, and concludes to ship it 

 on commission to some house in New York, 

 and run the risk of getting honest returns, 

 or having it smashed on the cars ; for even 

 Thurber & Co. will not buy honey this 

 season. 



Now, what we want is a fixed price for our 

 honey, as there is for other produce. A cor- 

 respondent writes thus: "1 shipped my 

 honey to , New York, but have no re- 

 turns from it as yet. I think the honey 

 market is the vital question for bee-keepers 

 at present. We could get the honey if we 

 were sure of a ready sale for cash. What 

 we want is an established market like the 

 butter market, so we can sell our honeyany 

 day for cash, at some price according to 

 quality. Can this be accomplished in our 

 day ?" 



1 confess that I do not feel competent to 

 point out a way whereby we can secure an 

 established market for our honey, thereby 

 making it a staple article, but bring the 

 subject before the readers of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, thinking that perliaps 

 by united action it may be accomplished. 

 Could it not be brought about through our 

 National Convention, by appointing a mem- 

 ber in or near each city to get all dealers in 

 said city to keep honey at a uniform price, 

 and have that price uniform throughout the 

 United States ? G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Nov. 13, 1878. 



[This is a vital point. We started the 

 season's prices— buying at 18 cents, selling 

 to retailers at 30, and they retailing at 25 

 cents. Soon we found some producer had 

 come to the city, and within a block of our 

 ofQce had left his honey for sale at retail for 

 15 cents. This was followed by others, and 

 the result is that it has been a loss of 

 thousands of dollars to honey producers. 

 United effort only can grapple with this 

 very disagreeable business.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Apis Dorsata. 



For many years I have taken a deep inter- 

 est in plans for the introduction of this 

 variety of bees into America. The late 

 Mr. Woodbury, of Exeter, England, and 

 myself, were in correspondence upon this 

 subject. Learning from me the steps I pro- 

 posed to take for securing it, he requested 

 as a favor that I should wait until the results 

 of his efforts could be seen ; offering in the 

 most generous manner to give me the bene- 

 fit of all his knowledge and facilities, if I 

 thought best not to postpone my efforts. 

 As he was the first to plan for its importa- 

 tion from its native habitation, and as my 

 knowledge of it came mainly from his wri- 

 tings, I felt that it wad due to him that I 

 should comply with his request. 



His death, so sudden and unexpected, was 

 a great loss to the bee-keeping world ; a'ld 

 I have never been able to carry ou! .uy 



