364 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



buyers are fools, and, do not for a mo- 

 ment think the commission men are, if 

 you do, 'tis onlj^ necessary to com- 

 mence with, say, the Aug-ust number 

 (any year) of any of the Bee Journals, 

 and read carefully until, say, April 

 1st, the market reports and free adver- 

 tising given the commission men. 

 Note how adroitly all are worded, see 

 how gently and carefully the bee- 

 keeper is dropped — and — proceeds 

 pocketed — and — what are you going to 

 do about it ? 



Birmingham, Mich. Oct. 22, 1904. 



[I did not get the idea from Mr. 

 Townsend's article that the honey pro- 

 ducer was to enter into an actual, bid- 

 ding contest with the commission man, 

 but, rather, that he was to seek out 

 and cater to the class of trade that 

 usually buys its honey of a commission 

 man, or a jobber. Even if the pro- 

 ducer sells his honey at the same price 



as the commission man sells his honey, 

 there is a saving of freight, cartage 

 and commission. It is probably true, 

 as Mr. Townsend said, that the com- 

 mission man will continue to fill his 

 niche, and, for the reason given by Mr. 

 Townsend, viz., that there is a class 

 of bee-keepers who don't care to put 

 forth any effort to sell their own crop. 

 It is true that the commission man has 

 not the incentive that the cash buj'er 

 has to hold up the price; at the same 

 time it is true that men have realized 

 more for their honey when sold on 

 commission than when sold out and 

 out. The man who planks down the 

 hard cash for honey must save to him- 

 self a wide margin, much wider than 

 is needed by the man who puts no 

 money into the deal. I agree with Mr. 

 Smith that to sell honey for cash down 

 is, as a rule, more satisfactory, and 

 that we should do all wecan to encour- 

 age cash buyers. — Ed. Review.] 



^^^>"^>^^^| 





BY A. G. MILLER. 



TN the October Review the editor and 

 -^ Mr. Lathrop made some comments 

 on wintering which have led me to put 

 in my oar. 



POSITION OF STORES IMPORTANT. 



There are some points in Mr. La- 

 throp's article which deserve special 

 emphasis. Quantit5' of stores is pretty 

 well understood; quality is more in- 

 definite in the minds of many; but the 

 need of having the stores in the right 

 place is almost unknown. Notwith- 

 standing all that has been written 

 about it, no impression appears to 

 have been made. 



If the combs are not changed about 

 after the bees have put the stores in 

 them, and if the hive is not turned 

 about on the bottom board so as to 

 change the relative position of the en- 

 trance, the stores are sure to be in the 

 proper place for the best results. The 

 bees know far more of this than we do. 

 Fall feeding of a little honey or syrup 

 often enables the bees to perfect such 

 placing when they have been stopped 

 by frost or other natural interference. 



In the same issue Mr. Townsend at- 

 tributes the favorable results of such 

 fall feeding to sugar syrup, whereas, 

 honey given under the same conditions 



