PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK 



AT $1.00 PER ANNUM. 





37 th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., FEBRUARY 11, 1897 



<» Price of Comb Honey vs. Extracted." 



BY G. II. DOOLITTLE. 



It is needless for me to say that I read the American Bee 

 Journal with great interest, for it is indeed a "house full of 

 meat." But there is now and then a thing which I read with 

 more interest than X do others, and one of these things which 

 has interested me exceedingly, is found in the report of the 

 Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Convention, as given on page 22, 

 under the above heading. The original question read, "How 

 much per pound should consumers pay for extracted honey of 

 the same grade, when comb honey sells to the consumers at 

 22 cents per pound." But in putting the question to the con- 

 vention. Dr. Miller changed it from the original to, " At what 

 price per pound for extracted will you be willing to change 

 from comb honey at 22 cents, to produce extracted honey?" 

 Then came answers of 10 cents, 11 cents, and 12}^ cents — 

 one being In favor of 10 cents, four in favor of 11 cents, and 

 four In favor of 12}^ cents. 



Now, I have been at a loss to know on what grounds the 

 one calling 10 cents as right, based his calculations. Taking 

 into consideration that there is greater value in the apiarist's 

 labor, (or any which he may hire) in the summer months than 

 in the winter months, and that the larger share of the labor 

 when working for comb honey comes in the winter and fall 

 months, while the labor in producing extracted honey comes 

 very largely during the summer, I have always believed that 

 the practical value of labor per colony differs very little be- 

 tween producing extracted and comb honey. If this is a fact, 

 and I hardly think It will be disputed, then the one answering 

 10 cents must have argued that he could produce more than 

 double the amount of honey in the extracted form, from a 

 given number of colonies, than he could of comb honey. Does 

 any one believe this possible, and have that extracted honey of 

 the same "grfuZe" as the comb honey? I do not. 



Then if we are right in the above calculations, the four 

 that said " 1 1 cents," believed that just double of the same 

 grade of honey could be produced in the extracted form that 

 could be had in the comb form, Again, I ask, does any one 

 agree, outside of those four ? I, for one, do not. 



Then, the last four say, " \'2}4 cents." They come a little 

 nearer to my figures, but I consider that they are much out of 

 the way. From the years of experience which I have had, if 

 we would produce extracted honey of the same ijrade (and this 

 was the original question) as comb honey, said honey must 

 stay on the hive till fully ripened or sealed over, the same as 

 the comb honey ; for It is not admissible to take that from the 

 hive before it is sealed over. Remaining thus on the hive, I 

 never have been able to obtain more than a quarter more in 

 extracted honey than in comb honey ; but when extracting the 

 honey every third day, or before scarcely any was sealed over, 

 X have been able to double the number of pounds over comb 



honey ; and when leaving till partly sealed over, as was the 

 custom when the extractor first came to notice, I could obtain 

 fully one-third more. But the honey is to be of the same grade, 

 so I have only a quarter more in pounds for the same value In 

 labor, to figure on. Ilence, as a quarter of 22 cents is 5}^ 

 cents, which taken from the 22 cents would leave 16M cents, 

 we have this as the figure at which we can sell extracted honey 

 of the same grade, when comb honey is selling at 22 cents. 



If I have made any mistake In this figuring, I should like 

 to have some of the readers of the American Bee Journal show 

 wherein, for in these things lie our " bread and butter," quite 

 largely. 



At this point, Mr, Baldridge notices that the convention 

 had drifted away from the original question, (as bee-keepers 

 are very prone to do, and in thus drifting they almost always 

 drift onio something often of more importance than to have 

 stuck to the original question) and so rises to a point of order, 

 and calls for the original question. Again, Dr. Miller, with his 

 fatal " don't know," (which, as a rule, always brings our some- 

 thing unique, whether at a bee-convention or in the bee-pa- 

 pers) tries to state the question, but this time he gets it thus: 

 "When comb honey sells to consumers at 22 cents per pound, 

 how ranch per pound should consumers pay for extracted 

 honey, of the same grade ?" 



Now we have the thing in a still different light, and in 

 that light I am going to shock the readers, undoubtedly, by 

 saying. Just what the apiarist asks for his extracted honey. 

 Why not? What is there to hinder ? Have I not a perfect 

 right to charge just what I please for my production? And 

 as I now have my honey in a shape where it will keep for 

 years and years, up to centuries, why shall I not fix whatever 

 price I please on it, and cease producing any more till I have 

 sold what I have on hand, at figures placed to suit my station 

 In life. 



But I am met with, " Some one will undersell you." 



Well, then I will take Mr. Baldridge into my confidence, 

 and I will, with him, form a corporation, and we together will 

 Influence others to go in with us, till we have a monopoly of all 

 the honey in the extracted form in the United States. And 

 then, as time progresses, if Canada Interferes, we'll influence 

 Congress in our behalf, and that body, together with the Sen- 

 ate and the President, will give us a protective tariff so high 

 that the Canadians cannot afford to pay it, and thus they will 

 not interfere to any great extent. But as those Canucks are 

 a determined set, it will propably be better to take Mr. Mc- 

 Knlght and a few others in with us; and then we'll go over 

 the water and get Messrs. Cowan, Gravenhorst, Tipper, etc., 

 till we can control the extracted honey, and make our price 

 for it, throughout the whole world. IVow we can control the 

 production, and thus maintain a price, just as high as it is 

 possible, and not have the seventeen hundred million people of 

 the earth go to using something else In the place of our ex- 

 tracted honey. Is this not a right answer to that last ques- 

 tion of Dr. Miller's? If not, why not? It is only in line with 

 the California Bee-Keepers' Exchange project, and such men 

 as Prof. Cook, Dr. Gallup, J. H. Martin, and others, whose 

 names I love, tell us said Exchange is to our interest. 



If any whose names X have mentioned think there is any 

 flaw in this plan, will they please point It out ? for we can only 

 succeed by a concert of action, a unity of purpose. 



But this article Is already too long, and I have not said 

 half what I wish to say, so I will defer the rest to some other 

 time. Meantime, I request that the reader go carefully over 

 all that was said on pages 22 and 23, under the heading, 



