54 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



was: "What is the crop of white 

 honey in the North and East?" This 

 inquirj' came from Texas where the 

 crop was ready for market, and this 

 member had his plans all made to g:o 

 to a certain State to market his tons 

 and tons of honey. The information 

 that Mr. France could give him, 

 enabled him to change his plans and 

 go to altogether a different part of the 

 country than he had intended — a State 

 where the crop had been light. This 

 is given simply as an illustration of 

 how the gathering and publishing of 

 statistics can help in the marketing. 

 It will tend to prevent gluts in the 

 market, and help to maintain prices. 

 If a man knows there has been a 

 bountiful crop, generally, he will sell 

 his crop at a fair price, if it is oiifered, 

 instead of holding it until prices fall 

 still lower. If there has been a gener- 

 al shortage, he would feel justified in 

 holding his crop if the prices are low. 

 Consultation with Messrs. Hershiser, 

 Marks, France, Root, and others, 

 allows the publication of the following 

 plan: As soon as the harvest is over 

 in the Southern part of the country 

 and California, let the General Mana- 

 ger send a return postal card to each 

 member residing in the South and in 

 California, and in other portions of 

 the country having an early harvest. 

 It may, and probably will, require 

 some correspondence, and judgment, 

 to correctly divide the countr}^ into two 

 districts, the early and the late, but it 

 can be done. Let the postal sent out 

 have blank spaces for writing down 

 the following: Number of colonies 

 run for extracted honey, number of 

 pounds secured, and retail price; then 

 the same in regard to comb hone}'. 

 When the postals come in, let the 

 Manager tabulate the results, print 

 them on a sheet of paper and mail 

 them to all the members. Liiter in the 

 season, let him send out similar cards 

 to the members in that part of the 

 country having a late harvest, tabu- 



late the results and mail them to the 

 entire membership. 



These tabulated results will show, 

 for instance, the number of men who 

 have reported from New York, the 

 number of colonies run for extracted 

 honey, the number of pounds produced, 

 the average yield, and the retail price. 

 The same facts will be shown regard- 

 ing comb honey. What is shown in re- 

 gard to New York will also be shown 

 of all of the other States. Of course, 

 these reports will not show what the 

 entire crop is of any State, simply the 

 crops of the men who are reporting, 

 but if we can get accurate reports 

 from fill, or nearly all, of the members 

 of the National Association it will be 

 a most reliable indication regarding 

 the entire crop of the country. After 

 this system of gathering reports has 

 been continued for a series of years, 

 we will finally establish what might 

 be known as an average for each State. 

 In ten years from now we may be able 

 to say that an average crop of extract- 

 ed honey, in New York, is 50 pounds: 

 then, if our statistics for the next year 

 show an average of 75 pounds, we will 

 know that New York is away ahead of 

 the average. 



This proposed plan is published that 

 it may be criticised, and suggestions 

 made. If any reader sees weak points, 

 or can suggest new ones, will he please 

 write the Review? 



One thing more, the taking up of 

 this work will entail a lot of extra 

 labor upon a man who is now earning 

 twice his salary as General Manager, 

 and it would seem no more than fair if 

 he were allowed a little extra compen- 

 sation for this extra work. He is now- 

 receiving only 15 per cent, of the gross 

 receipts, while the constitution allows 

 us to pay him 20 per cent, if we see fit. 



I believe the time is now ripe for 

 adding this valuable feature to those 

 already possessed by the National, and 

 that it would prove a most powerful in- 

 ducement in securing new members. 



