The American Apiculturist. 



% Journal b^bottb ia practual ^tchwping. 



EXTKKED AT THK POST-OFFICE, WEXHAM, AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



I'ublislicirMonthly. Henry Alley, Mana(;ki:. 



VOL. V. 



WENHAM, MASS., MAY i, 1887. 



No. 



We deal in first-class apiari- 

 an supplies of all kinds, lowest 

 pric^es. Promiit delivery. 



Send for price list. 



I Established in 1883. Terms:! Any yearly snbscriber is en- 

 $1.00 per year, SO.cents per six | titled to one of our selected 

 months, 2.t cent's per three I queens anytime between .Juncl 

 months. Cash in advance. | and Oct. l", by remitting .50 cts. 



Address all Gommunications, AMBRICAW APICULTURIST, Wenham, Mass. 



THE AMERICAN APICUL- 

 TURIST is not a local paper. Its 

 circulation extends into every state 

 in the Union and largely in the 

 western and middle states. We also 

 have a good number of subscribers 

 in Canada, and our fo7'eign circula- 

 tion equals that of any American 

 bee paper. The Api is as nuich a 

 national paper as any bee journal 

 published. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



HONEY PRODUCING AS A^ 

 BUSINESS, ETC. 



(i. W. Demakee. 



I was gratified to see that so 

 prominent au apiarist and apicul- 

 tural writer as Dr. C. C. Miller has 

 not been carried away by tlie great 

 number of articles that have been 

 published of late urging l)eekeep- 

 ers to repeat the folly of producers 

 in other branches of agriculture ; 

 that is, organize in aclannish way to 

 force consumers to pay more than 

 the market price for their products. 

 In this way 1 said that nothing- 

 can, or ought to be done. 



The rights of the consumers 

 must be respected when it comes 

 to taking the advantage of the 

 times and circumstances. When 

 the supply is below the demand the 

 producers hold for a stiff price, and 

 



they do not fail to get it, and when 

 the supply is above the demand 

 it is the consumer's turn to reap 

 the benefits. Suppose consumers 

 should band together to obtain your 

 produce at figures less than the 

 market price (when I say market 

 price, I mean the price resulting 

 from the amount of produce on 

 hand, and the demand for it for 

 consumption) would you not resent 

 it as little less than robbery? You 

 see the boot is on the other foot 

 this time. I think that Dr. Miller 

 might have gone farther and said 

 that beekeepers if in solid mass 

 meeting, would quarrel and separ- 

 ate without agreeing upon a fixed 

 price. There are beekeepers now 

 in the United States who get 25 

 cents per pound for their honey ; do 

 you suppose these are going to take 

 less as long as the demand justifies 

 it? I am now selling liquid honey, 

 granulated, at 12^ cents in my home 

 market, when I could not get the 

 half of it in Cincinnati. Does this 

 not show that our honey market is 

 undeveloped, and that the city mar- 

 kets do not govern the price of 

 hone3% because honey is not (juoted 

 along with groceries generally ? If 

 this ever takes place, so that honey 

 is as prominent as other articles in 

 the grocery line, then honey will 

 likely take a rise in the cities, and 

 the price will go down in the rural 

 districts. 



(105) 



