Aug. 30, 1906 



American Itoe Journal 



ever pays to ship a small quantity of honey to 

 a distant market. It would seem that a town 

 of almost any size would be able to use nearly 

 all the small quantities of honey produced 

 near it, if the town people were properly ap- 

 proached and instructed as to the value of 

 honey as a food. Of course, the price asked 

 by the bee-keeper would be a reasonable one. 

 The prices for comb honey in a retail way in 

 such localities might be put at 2 or 3 cents per 

 pound above the wholesale prices quoted in 

 the market columns of the bee-papers. Of 

 course, the retail price of extracted honey 

 might well beat least double that quoted in 

 the market reports. In reality, however, a 

 pound of extracted honey is worth more for 

 food than a pound of comb honey, as usually 

 the weight of the section is included with the 

 comb honey, and, of course, the wax in the 

 comb which is of no real benefit to the con- 

 sumer. Some people even think it a little 

 detrimental, although we do not. 



Where a bee-keeper has a large quantity of 

 honey it often is impossible to sell it in a re- 

 tail way in the home market, and so it must 

 be shipped to some larger town or city. In 

 such cases it might be be6t to send a trial 

 crate of perhaps 100 or 200 pounds, put up in 

 12 or 24 pound shipping-cases, and 6 or S of 

 these cases in a shipping-crate, first putting 4 

 or fi inches of hay or straw in the bottom of 

 the crate. After nailing a few boards across 

 the top of the crate, 2 pieces of wood extend- 

 ing 4 or 6 inches beyond the ends of the crate 

 should be nailed on the sides, even with the 

 top of the crate, to be used as handles for the 

 trainmen to take hold of. 



Before shipping honey to a distant market 

 every precaution should be taken to know 

 that it is going to a well-known, reliable 

 dealer. 



While, of course, city people are as anxious 

 to buy honey as any one, still we would urge 

 small producers to sell their honey in the 

 home market, if at all possible. We believe 

 if a proper effort is put forth to do this, a 

 larger financial amount will be realized. 

 There are many bee-keepers who are unable 

 to supply their local demand. They have 

 gone about developing it in a successful and 

 busines6-like manner, and simply have suc- 

 ceeded. What some have thus done others 

 can al60 do. 



The producer's name and address should 

 always be on every package of honey sold in 

 the home or local market. It is a great ad- 

 vantage aUo to distribute literature on the 

 value of honey, telling how and where to keep 

 it in the home, etc., in the local market. The 

 more familiar consumers become with honey 

 a6 a daily table food, the more of it we are 

 certain they are going to use ; but here is 

 where the producer has a large job on his 

 hands. He must educate his prospective 

 consumers if he would reap the largest re- 

 turns, or develop a good demand for his 

 honey. 



Where the producer is shipping his honey 

 to a city market, the name and address should 

 be omitted from both sections and shipping- 

 cases, unless the dealer gives his permission 

 for the name and address to appear. If a 

 certain lot of honey sells well after the dealer 

 receives it, you can rest assured that he will 

 not forget the,man who produced it, and will 



arrange to take his honey every year. So it 

 i6 not necessary for the producer to have bis 

 name and address on honey shipped to the 

 city market. Many a honey-dealer would not 

 handle any honey with the producer's name 

 on it, for the simple reason that he (the 

 dealer) is working to build up a trade for 

 himself, and not directly for the producer. 

 When we were in the honey-business we 

 found that if we left the name and address of 

 the producer on any case of honey, the dealer 

 would sometimes try to buy his honey direct 



the next year from the producer, and thus 

 cut us out of the deal altogether. This, of 

 course, was not very enouraging to us after 

 we had gone to considerable expense in build- 

 ing up a trade in honey. Other dealers have 

 had the same experience, and of course prof- 

 ited by the lesson learned, as we did. How- 

 ever, as before stated, in the local honey mar- 

 ket the name and address of the producer 

 should always be put upon his goods; that is, 

 where the producer retails it himself or 6ells 

 direct to consumers. 



^OHscellaneous 

 flews - Items 



Mr. Orel Jj. Hershiser, of Buffalo, one 

 of the leading bee-keepers of New York State, 

 made us an office call Aug. 18. He reports a 

 very short crop of honey from his 300 colonies 

 of bees. His two small children, that were 

 similarly burned during the past few months, 

 are recovering nicely. Mr. H. has several 

 apiarian inventions of considerable merit, 

 among them being a combined bottom-board 

 and hive-stand, an entrance bee-feeder, and a 

 wax-extractor. Bee-keepers will learn more 

 about these things later on. 



National Report Bound in Cloth. — 



Mr. Grant Stanley asks this question : 



Editor American Bee Journal — 



Why not have the report of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention bound in cloth, so 

 it will come to its members in a condition 

 that it can be read and kept for future refer- 

 ence? Grant Stanley. 



We know of no reason why it can not be 

 so bound, unless it is a question of extra ex- 

 pense. You see, an association can't do 

 everything on an annual membership fee of 

 only $1.00, and perhaps in a majority of cases 

 only 50 cents, where a local association joins 

 the National in a body. The extra cost of 

 cloth binding and postage would be about 20 

 cents per copy. Of course it is worth it, 

 when it comes to handling, reading and pre- 

 serving the Annual Report. 



Perhaps the Board of Directors of the Na- 

 tional will consider this matter when getting 

 out theReportof the San Antonio convention. 



National Financial Condition Gen- 

 eral Manager N. E. France, of Platteville, 

 Wis., has sent us a financial statement dated 

 Aug. 20, 1906, showing the condition of the 

 treasury of the National Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation at that date. He has received in dues 

 $697 since Nov. 1, 1905, 710 members paying 

 50 cents each through local associations, and 

 342 individual memberships at $1.00 each. For 

 advertising in the last Annual Report, he re- 

 ceived $144.50. There was cash on hand Nov. 

 , 1905, $1252. 



The total expenses from Nov. 1, 1905, to 



Aug. 20, 1906, were $1395.36. There was on 

 hand Aug. 20, 1906, $69S. 



The Honey-Producers' League Fund of 

 $1408.27 is held separate, having been raised 

 for special purposes. 



The last Annual Report cost $831.80 for 3000 

 copies, or about 28 cents each, postpaid. A 

 crop report sent to the membership cost $75 ; 

 reporting the last National Convention, $100; 

 printing and mailing, $456.80; and postage 

 and express charges, $200. 



It will be seen from the foregoing figures 

 that the General Manager of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association does quite a busi- 

 ness, for which he is paid a very small amount 

 — hardly to be called a salary. In fact, there 

 are few bee-keepers so situated that they 

 could take care of the interests of the Na- 

 tional as does Mr. France. We don't know 

 just what the exact membership is now, but 

 it is likely somewhere around 2000. It ought 

 to be 20,000, at the very least. 



The Apiarist— a monthly bee-paper, ed- 

 ited by C. S. Phillips, of Waco, Tex.— has 

 been coming to our desk for a few months. 

 As it has been so urgently asking for notice, 

 we simply mvst announce its birth. We ex- 

 pected Mr. Scholl to mention The Apiarist in 

 the department of " Southern Beedom," 

 which he was conducting in this Journal, and 

 even suggested that he do so. But as he has 

 not done it, we give this paragraph. We may 

 say further, that with the exception of some 

 discourteous references to the American Bee 

 Journal for not announcing its advent sooner, 

 the contents of The Apiarist are very good 

 indeed. It is also nicely gotten up, and 

 should have a large circulation. We wish it 

 much success. The subscription price is $1.00 

 a year. 



Getting Subscriptions at Fairs.— 



The season of annual lair6 will soon be here. 

 Perhaps some of our readers would like to 

 take subscriptions for the American Bee Jour- 

 nal at their local fairs. If so, kindly write us 

 for terms and sample copies (telling how 

 many wanted). We would like to have one 

 or more representatives at each fair 



