146 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Topics ol Interest. 



Mictiipn State Bee-Keepers' Coiiyentioii. 



GEO. E. mi/roN. 



(Continued from page 115.)' 



Tho following Is the essay road by Mr. 

 R. L. Taylor as tho 



President's Address. 



Another year has come, scattering its 

 blessings wiiere it listed, and is gone; 

 and whether it has i"avored ns as we had 

 hoped and desired or not, we may well 

 look, iind in no complaining spirit, to 

 discover, if we may, by what rule its 

 larg(!sses have been bestowed, and why 

 our expectations have not bcusn met. 



To the country at large its bounties 

 have be(ni unexamj)l(!d, but to those who 

 pursue that vocation which this (conven- 

 tion is met to promote, they have be(!n, 

 we will pretty g(Mierally agree, in oik* 

 point at least, rnthcH' nuiagre. Hut are 

 we ;iltog(itli(ir right in our estimate? 

 Ar(i W(5 not too much given to cultivat- 

 ing a feeding of disappointment, that we 

 do not g(!t a lunivy crop, ratluM- than to 

 ac(c(*pt an average crop with gratifica- 

 tion, or to make tho most of a small 

 crop ? 



Relatively we liavo of course had a 

 b!uly(iar; some luive oven liad no sur- 

 plus ;it all, l)ut on the average has the 

 year l)cen nec(\ssarily an unprofitable! 

 one V I say n<'.c(>ssarily, because somes- 

 times ones has notions of tlu; profitable 

 character of tins viiuture he is about to 

 I'Ugage in, so elevafjcd that Ih! wastes 

 suflicientto make a fair profit. 



Once, many years ago, a craze for tlm 

 production of hops took possesssion of tins 

 farmers in a, certain locality ne^ir where 

 I lived. Prices wesn-, high, the croj) in 

 their estimation cei'tain, and so tlusy 

 were imi)r(!ss(!d with a certainty that 

 inevital)le wealth must fall to every one* 

 engaging in hop raising. Tlien naturally 

 the absolute certa,inty of coming wesalth 

 ushered in a feeling that it was already 

 in possession, at farthest the gold was 

 only ov(!r \,hv. fence iti th(s soil of tlu! hop 

 field, and a little i)lowing and harrowing 

 in tins Spring would secure it, so tlusy 

 were* alresady wealtliy, and acted on the 

 assumption. No olTort was made to 

 secuni a line of retreat. Victory was 

 sur(!. 



IOxtra,vaga.in(! in the building of hop 

 liouses, in laying in sui)plies for the 



packers, and for the handling, weighing, 

 drying and packing of the hops, ruled 

 the hour. ]{ut the storm came. Insects 

 infested the hops, tho quantity, quality 

 and price wores all hissened, and bank- 

 ruptcy overtook well-nigh all of them. 



The same thing is illustrated by 

 numerous instances in the pine lumber 

 business. High expectations obscured 

 the necessity of care and economy, and 

 waste ki(;k<Ml the profits out-of-doors, 

 and let in disappointment and failure. 



Ruminating upon thes« things in 

 connection with the business of honey 

 production, tho idea suggested itself 

 that perhaps our notions of the status 

 of bee-ke(iping, with respect to profits 

 and ne(;essary (ixpenses, need readjust- 

 ing, and that tho present series of bad 

 years would be a good time to consider 

 the subject. 



It may he, I thought, that we are 

 risking a chance of failure by encourag- 

 ing fanciful prospects of success which 

 are much too highly colored, so that wo 

 IxM'ome content to calculate that though 

 by the spediding of time in tho useless 

 manipuhition of the bees, and by the 

 purchase of (daborate lines of machinery 

 and supplies, we make tho (;ost of comb- 

 honey 12 or 14 cents, wo may yet be 

 sure of a crop large enough so that the 

 differonco b(stwoen those figures and 

 tho sedling price will yield a good profit. 

 I do not question the prospects of profits 

 in fair seasons with good management, 

 but I wish to call attention to the danger 

 of putting too much reliance on the 

 profits, trusting that they will carry us 

 through, no mattesr what the seasons are 

 or to what a high point we run expenses. 



I f OIK! i)ra,ctic(is pro[)((r economy, aiKl 

 thereby keeps expenses down to the 

 lowest reasonable point, he has still no 

 bonanza, to be sure, but a safe, comfort- 

 abl(' business. The criterion of expenses 

 should be actual needs, iK)t what it is 

 supposed tlKs biisiufsss will bear. If w(' 

 irnike this latit;<sr tho t(!st, as tho majority 

 are greatly iiK-lined to do, we are all 

 sufliciently optimistic; to fall into the 

 fatal error of putting the average yearly 

 ])roduction too high, and as a conso- 

 (lUcMU'.e to encounter failure in tho end. 



Mr. (J. M. Doolittle has said that, if 

 capital ami labor got their due reward, 

 tho cost of comb-honey is l.'i cents i)er 

 pound. It would be interesting to know 

 1k)w he arrived at his conclusions. Did 

 he take the average of tho seasons as 

 they are, with him, as a basis? In that 

 case, as (he seasons with him average 

 l)otter than with boo-kcsepers generally, 

 to them the cost would be even gnsater 

 than to him. Then I would like to know 



