THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



The Other Side of Bee Culture. 



Under this heading a writer in the West- 

 ern Rural for Aug. 21st says: 



" The outlook for the hoiioy producer is darker 

 to-day than for years past." Put your products 

 where you will, and yt)u meet a competitiou that 

 drugs the market. Take from the market iiiauu- 

 factured honey, and all honey that cost the pro- 

 ducer double' what it is selling for, and there 

 would still 'emaiu a surplus." 



In complying with a request of several 

 of our subscribers, we wrote llio honey 

 dealers for a statement on the market. The 

 folh)wiiig letters are the result, and will 

 fully explain themselves : 



Mr. T. G. Newman : — In reply to your 

 favor of the 14th inst. would say that 

 honey market in this city is not over- 

 stocked by any means — sales a little slow 

 — but a? soon as cool weather sets in I ex- 

 pect to sell tons of it. The sale of honey 

 always is dull here in fruit season. 



S. H. Stevens. 



St. Louis, Sept. 15, 1875. 



Dear Sir: — In reply to your inquiries, 

 I can only say that the supply of honey 

 in this city seems equal to the demand; at 

 least we have found no trouble in picking 

 up all we have required. The season 

 however, is not yet fairly opened. When 

 people get back from the country and 

 trade revives, the demand for honey, no 

 doubt, will be considerably increased. 



Jno. Long.. 



New York, Sept. 20, 1875. 



Dear Sir: — The statement in the Rural 

 that the market is overstocked, is in part 

 true ; but the writer should have stated 

 with what kind of honey the market was 

 overstocked. He evidently means with 

 poor honey ; of this sort we have sadly 

 too much, but of good honey there is very 

 little, and if the "outlook be dark" at all, 

 it is on this account. It stands thus, then : 

 Too much bad honey and too little good. 



Let good honey be put in market at 

 reasonable prices and the evil will be 

 remedied at once. The necessity for 

 "mauulHctured honey," so-called, will be 

 at an end when good honey can be bought 

 as reasonably as good sugar. 



A. Kernberger. 



Chicago, Sept. 23, 1875. 



Mr. Newman : — I have letters from a 

 large number of apiarists, having from 

 Jt 500 to 10,000 lbs of honey to sell, asking 

 what I would pay for it. I have almost 

 invariably requested them to make their 

 own price, stating that as honey seemed 

 to be plentiful, and trade light, prices 

 would probably be low, and I did not care 

 to be responsible for making the price as 

 I had usually done. 



Strictly white comb-honey for repacking, 

 will be in good demand with me; and I 

 shall want a few tons of white extracted 



sage, bass-wood and clover; but as I have 

 a large stock of dark extracted on hand, 

 from last season, I will probably not want 

 any of that for many months to come. 

 Trade is dull generally, and prices of al- 

 most everything lower; a great many 

 things have been over produced, and con- 

 sequently unsalable at old prices. 



I have" reduced my retail prices 25 per 

 cent, and even that makes trade very little 

 better. 



Mr. It. Miller, of Corapton, 111., was 

 here recently, and in the course of con- 

 versation, asked me if I did not think that 

 the numerous reports in the papers about 

 sugar, molasses, glucose, glue, Hour, soap, 

 palm oil, clay, lard, sawdust, etc., mixed 

 with honey, and sold for the pure article 

 was not recoiling on the producers. I told 

 him, it certainly was; and, if they contin- 

 ued, they would turn everybody's stomach 

 against honey. 



I am often asked how I manage to get 

 the wax molded, and honey put into the 

 cells and sealed over as nice as the bees do 

 it. I tell them they give me too much 

 credit. 



There are not many honey producers 

 who understand the relation we bear to 

 each other. The true relation is, they are 

 the producers and I am simply their agent 

 to gather it in and hold it for months, and 

 sometimes for years, (however, my money 

 is in it^not theirs,) and distribute it as it 

 is needed all over the world, as my trade 

 extends. 



Not many producers or consumers un- 

 derstand that I am placed between two 

 fires. Producers say, because I do not 

 buy all their honey, I must adulterate it, 

 mix it, add to it, or make an imitation of 

 honey— and the consumers say : You sell 

 so much honey, that of course it is not all 

 honey, there cannot be so many car loads 

 of honey raised in the world. I answer to 

 the one that I buy all the honey I can 

 sell, even many times without a profit; 

 and, to the other, that I do not buy one- 

 tenth of the honey that is ofl:ered, in 

 many instances having given instructions 

 how to pack and peddle it in their own 

 towns. (Now don't everybody write me 

 at once.) 



Some producers say they must have 12>^ 

 others 20 cents per lb. for their extracted 

 honey, while I hear that Mr. Crowfoot 

 peddles his honey in Milwaukee at lie. 

 per lb. I am glad that he has found sale 

 for it. I have bought several lots of ex- 

 tracted honey lately at 8c. per lb. 



I should be glad to sell all the extracted 

 honey I could buy at 12c. per lb. in bar- 

 rels. 



There seems to be a great misunder- 

 standing between honey dealers and the 

 producers, and it has been caused largely 

 by producers thinking we made too much 

 money in the business. Let the apiarist 

 step forward who can show a record of as 



