1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



133 



the price obtained iu these cities has 

 very much to do with home prices ; 

 hence the " market price " is what we 

 have to look to in determining wheth- 

 er overproduction has had anything 

 to do with the matter of prices. 



I commenced bee keeping 27 years 

 ago the present spring, and at that 

 time honey in six pound boxes, hav- 

 ing glass on two sides, brought 25c per 

 pound, delivered at the railroad, while 

 in the fall of 1869 I was offered by a 

 party from New York city, 50c per 

 pound for the little 1 had. the advance 

 of 100 per cent, being caused by a 

 very poor season during 1869, so that 

 the supply was very much less than 

 the demand. 



The season of 1870 being an extra 

 good one, the price fell back to 25c 

 again, at which price I sold my crop 

 of that year, as well as that of 187l 

 and 1872. Owing to the loss of bees 

 during the preceding winter, the sup- 

 ply was insufficient again, so that in 

 the fall of 1873 I sold at 27c., taking 

 my whole crop, light and dark, togeth- 

 er, while in 1874 I received 28|c per 

 pound for the whole of my crop. 

 Those prices brought more persons in- 

 to the business, which, with but little 

 loss in wintering, caused honey to drop, 

 so that 26c was the price I obtained 

 in 1875, while in 1876 the supply was 

 again adequate to the demand, and 25c 

 was the selling price. 



That the readers of the American 

 Bee Journal may know something of 

 the past, without going over the mat- 

 ter for themselves, I have carefully 

 looked up the market reports as given 

 in our bee papers, and here give an 

 average of quotations as I found them. 

 For 1874, 28 to 30c. ; 1875, 27 to 30 ; 

 1876, 23 to 25 ; 1877, 20 to 22; 1878, 



12 to 16; 1879, 20 to 22; 1880, 18 to 

 20 ; 1881, 18 to 22 ; 1882, 22 to 25 ; 

 1883, 18 to 20; 1884, 17 to 19 ; 1885, 

 15 to 18; 1886, 14 to 16; and during 

 the past 10 years the prices have 

 ranged between those of 1886 and the 



13 to 15c of the present. Previous to 

 1874 I fail to find any quotations in 

 any of the bee papers which I have. 



From the above it will be seen that 

 honey quotations at present, and for 

 the past 10 years, are fully 100 per 

 cent, lower than they were in the early 

 seventies. Another thing, which is, 

 that honey in such shape as was sold 

 from 1868 to 1873 at 25c or above per 

 pound, would not net today over 6 to 

 8c in any market. To bring from 13 

 to 15c now, honey must be very fancy, 

 in one pound sections, without glass, 

 which means nearly if not quite six 

 times the labor and expense to the bee 

 keeper that six pounds of honey, in 

 one box, meant 25 to 30 years ago, so 

 that honey really does not bring, tak- 

 ing all these items into consideration, 

 much more than one-third what it did 

 "years ago." Wherein lies the trouble? 

 Is it not overproduction, w'hich my 

 old friend of years ago said would be 

 no factor " in this generation ? " If 

 not in overproduction, wherein does 

 it lie ? Will not some one tell us, for 

 when we know the cause we may be 

 able to apply a remedy ? 



Borodino, N. Y. 



(From the Southland Queen). 



OAENIOLAN BEES. 



BY C. B. BANKSTON. 



I am frequently asked to give my 

 experience with Carniolan bees, and 

 will do so. 



There are some things about this 

 race of bees that are a little strange. 



