42 



THE AMERICAN APICULTUBIST. 



ment of members and it was decided to 

 accept 50 cents as the membership fee 

 for the current year. (The list of 

 members appeared in last numbei'.) 



On recommendation of the program 

 committee the paper of Thomas G. 

 Newman, editor of the "American Bee 

 Journal " on " Marketing Honey " was 

 read by the Secretary. 



Mr. President and Members of the 

 North American Beekeepers' Society. 



I am requested to send you a short 

 article on the above subject, but I shall 

 not attempt to go over the well-defined 

 and oft-repeated rudimentary rules for 

 the management and preparing honey 

 for the markets of the world. These 

 items have been fully discussed at pre- 

 vious meetings, and I have nothing fur- 

 ther to add to the views already 

 expressed. But there is one thing that 

 it will be well to discuss, and not leave 

 it there, but to appoint a committee 

 whose duty it shall be to address the 

 railroad companies of America and de- 

 mand in the name of this society re- 

 dress in the matter of the classification 

 of bees and honey. Hives of bees are 

 classed at double first-class rates which 

 is very unjust, making the charges 

 equal to those for sending by express. 

 Then by the mistaken use of the word 

 " hive " for colony, empty hives are by 

 many railroads classed the same as 

 those containing bees greatly to the 

 detriment of those who buy hives from 

 manufacturers. They should go as emp- 

 ty boxes at about one-eighth of the 

 cost now demanded for freight by some 

 railroads. 



In the matter of shipping honey to 

 market the classification is so high that 

 it amounts to almost a robbery ; and to 

 seek relief some beekeepers ship ex- 

 tracted honey as "syrup" at less than 

 half the rates demanded for honey. 

 Tariflfs ought to be revised and liquid 

 honey should be rated the same as sy- 

 rup. Those beekeepers who have a 

 desire to be exactly right and feel deli- 

 cate about the matter of shipping 

 honey as syrup are therefore compelled 

 to pay double the amount which their 

 less scrupulous neighbors have to pay 

 for freight to the large marts of the 

 world. 



Some grades of syrup sell as high as 

 honey and there is no reason why both 

 should not be graded alike when one 

 is as easily and cheaply handled as the 

 other. 



Eegretting my inability to be pres- 

 ent allow me to suggest that you ap- 

 point a committee to confer with the 

 different railroad companies and in- 



struct them to endeavor to get these 

 things adjusted on an equitable and 

 reasonable basis. 



Mr. Pettit in opening the discussion 

 upon this subject, urged the importance 

 of taking more trouble to induce gro- 

 cers and others to keep honey for sale, 

 as much more honey would be sold by 

 so doing, and that, in Ontario, honey is 

 put into boxes and glassed on one side, 

 and tissue paper is put on the bottom to 

 prevent leakage. 



Mr. Dodge thought that we did not 

 ask a sufficiently high price for extract- 

 ed honey as compared with comb 

 honey. 



Mr. W. E. Clark claimed that the 

 beekeepers were more to blame for 

 the condition of the honey market 

 than the dealers or consumers, and ex- 

 plained that the local market in Oneida 

 County could have been kept at 20 cts. 

 had not a neighbor of his, who had a 

 good crop of honey, rushed it on the 

 market early in the season at 16 cents 

 per pound and broke the market. He 

 had rather sell his extracted honey 

 at 15 cents than his comb at 20 cents, 

 if the honey is extracted before being 

 capped. He advocated holding on to 

 our honey and advised that holders 

 should not all endeavor to undersell 

 each other, thus glutting the market 

 and lowering the prices. 



Mr. Betsinger advocated making an 

 eflbrt to secure reduced freight rates, 

 and ui"ged that we take care not to 

 overload the local markets. Last year 

 he saved one-half of freight in ship- 

 ping honey. 



Comb honey will always be a lux- 

 ury and never come into general use. 

 He would urge the production of ex- 

 tracted honey to take the place of 

 butter, etc. 



Mr. Bacon believed that the trouble 

 in marketing honey is that the people 

 are not properly educated and do not 

 understand why comb honey should 

 bring a better price than extracted. 

 He never sold his honey less than 18 

 cents, but this season another party 

 came in and sold honey for 15 cents, 

 while he was selling at 18 cents. 



Mr. Dodge agreed with Mr. Clark 

 that local markets could be built up to 

 a certain extent, but where a bee- 

 keeper has 150 colonies of bees and 

 produces 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of 

 honey, he must ship it to the large 

 cities. 



Mr. T. O. Peet claimed that ex- 

 tracted honey was not as good as comb 

 honey, unless extracted after it was 

 capped. 



