18J7. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



729 



bee-papers and bee-books, and many bee-keepers, of holding 

 out to the public the idea, that, for the capitai invested, bee- 

 keeping is the most profitable business that a man can enter 

 Into; and trying to persuade "the butcher, the baker, and 

 the candlestick maker," and all others, to go into it. It is not 

 strange that the supply dealer, or even the publishers of the 

 bee books and papers, should do this, because the more bee- 

 keepers there are the greater demand it makes for their 

 wares; but, it is passing strange that bee-keepers can't see 

 that every new recruit that enters the ranks is a new rival 

 that will take away a share of their profits. 



I know that bee-keepers are, as a class, inclined to be 

 free-hearted, and like to see others prosper as well as them- 

 selves ; and this is right. I believe in unselfishness, and in 

 doing all in my power to help my neighbor, and if he wishes 

 to engage in bee-keeping it is his right to do so; and if he 

 needs any assistance I will give it freely, even tho I know that 

 every pound he puts upon the market prevents me from selling 

 a pound. But if be asks my advice about embarking in the 

 business, I will tell him frankly and candidly that he had bet- 

 ter keep out of it; and I believe that I would be just as un- 

 selfish in giving such advice as in assisting him if he was in 

 the business and needed my assistance; for the business is 

 already overdone, and in nine chances out of ten Ue would be 

 disappointed and lose his time, if not all the money that he 

 put into it, for it is a fact that ninety out of every hundred 

 that engage in the business make a failure ot it, and nine out 

 of the other ten only make a partial success ; so I think that 

 it is not only for our own interests, but it is an actual kind- 

 ness to others, to use all our influence to keep them from en- 

 gaging in an enterprise in which the chances are largely 

 against their succeeding. John A. Pease. 



Surely the foregoing is passing strange when its author 

 puts forth a claim to "unselfishness." He might as well say 

 that if a new man goes into wheat raising, that will make the 

 market just so much more overloaded for the producers 

 already in- the field. Therefore, no one should encourage peo- 

 ple to go into wheat growing. Or, it is a kindness to discour- 

 age any one from planting orchards, for every bushel of apples 

 or other fruit grown by the newcomer will displace a bushel 

 produced by those already in the fruit-growing business ! 

 Strange arguments, indeed. 



While we do not believe in holding out the hope to the 

 prospective bee-keeper that bee-culture competes successfully 

 with the newly-discovered Klondike in its golden results, still 

 we do believe that if a man wishes to try to better his condi- 

 tion, and thinks he can by industry, study, and close applica- 

 tion, make a success of keeping bees, you may be sure that 

 we would be the last man to advise him to "stay out," or 

 " keep off the grass." No, sir, we are not built that way, and 

 we don't take any stock in the argument that the few pounds 

 that a beginner produces is going to displace the crops of the 

 experts or materially affect the market price of honey. And, 

 besides, if nine-tenths of them make a failure of the business, 

 why be so afraid of their competition ? 



Another thing, every leader in bee-culture to-day was 

 once a beginner — once ran the risk of getting into the nine- 

 tenths failure crowd. Of course, the Doolittles, the Dadants, 

 the Millers, the Elwoods, the Hetheringtons, the Mclntyres, 

 yes, and the Laugstroths, should all have been strangled be- 

 fore their bee-keeping infancy began, in order to be in line 

 with the arguments of the Peases, and a few others who are 

 so " unselfish " that they can't rest easy when they see a poor 

 fellowman put forth an honest endeavor to gather in some if 

 earth's wasting sweetness ! 



Wo are more and more reaching the conclusion that if 

 some of the time now devoted to whining about low prices of 

 honey were Invested in an honest effort to extend its consump- 

 tion, there would soon be no time left for whining. We are 

 endeavoring to do our part toward helping to increase the 

 demand for pure honey, and sincerely believe that the field Is 

 practically unlimited. Why, there are millions of people in 

 our cities that never have tasted pure bees' honey. They 

 don't know anything about its healthfulnessand deliciousness. 

 They have been trying to make themselves believe that the 



mlxt-up glucose slops, put up by the adulterating devils, Is 

 red/ /io)ici/, and many of the consumers are fearing to buy, 

 lest they get the disgusting glucose mess in place of the 

 genuine article. 



Talk about over-production of honey, with 70,000,000 

 people In this country, and not one-half of them ever tasting 

 pure honey ! Why, it's the rankest kind of nonsense. Dr. 

 Miller had over 17,000 pounds of honey this year, and sold it 

 all in one lump, at a good price. Suppose he had secured 

 twice as much, do you think he would have had to beg for a 

 buyer ? No, sir ; he would have shipt the 34,000 pounds just 

 as promptly as the 17,000, and at the same price. 



It will be some time ere we can be induced to believe that 

 too much of the nicest comb or extracted honey is being pro- 

 duced. We know there is too much of an inferior grade, 

 indifferently put upon the market, but there Is no law prevent- 

 ing bee-keepers from putting forth their best efforts toward 

 improving th^ir honey product, and then doing their best to 

 get the public to eat it. 



Tl?e Weekly Budget. 



Mr. B. S. K. Bennett, of the Pacific Bee Journal, has 



quite an extended write-up of his Eastern trip in the Novem- 

 ber issue of his paper. He reports a splendid time all along 

 the way. The "associate editor," Mr. B. S. Eaton, reports 

 that their paper "has never been self-sustaining." 



Editor Hutchinson, of the Review, gives in his October 

 number a very graphic discription of his visit to Niagara 

 Palls just before the Buffalo convention. Mr. U. is an adept 

 at giving clear and interesting descriptionsof things or places. 

 He ought to travel and then write up his experiences for some 



of the best home journals. 



V 



Mr. Chas. H. Lake, the apiarist of the Maryland Agri- 

 cultural College, is given a complimentary notice in the Som- 

 erset Journal, a newspaper publisht in that State. He is 

 credited with having four apiaries in Kent county, five in 

 Baltimore county, and 50 to 75 colonies at the college apiary. 

 Seems to us he must be a busy bee-man. 



"Friend York: — The "old reliable' American Beo Jour- 

 nal comes every week as regular as clock-work. I have got 

 so used to looking for it every Saturday morning that I should 

 certainly feel lost if it failed me; and there is always some- 

 thing in it that to be without would seem to me a greater loss 

 than the price of a year's subscription." — E. S. Lovesy, Utah. 



Dr. Miller, in a "stray straw" in Gleanings, says this 

 about his honey crop for 1897 : 



"This year, from 239 colonies, spring count, I got 

 17,150 pounds of honey, all comb but 390 pounds. That is 

 the biggest yield I ever got, but not the biggest yield per 

 colony." 



Editor Hutchinson, when commenting on the Doctor's 

 crop, in the Review, said : 



"And this in a locality where there have been very poor 

 crops for several years. This is the best possible answer to 

 the question, ' Will the good years come again ?' " 



Editor E. E. Root, when on his trip "down East" in 

 August and September, took along his kodak, and some of 

 the " shots" he has since been reproducing in Gleanings. Mr. 

 Root is quite a photographer, and we are glad of It. We 

 should like to do likewise, but with the Bee Journal issued 

 weekly, we are held too close to our office to ever have time to 

 ramble over the country very much to " take picters." But 

 after all, we doubt If it pays for an agricultural journal to 

 try to compete with the high-class and highly-illustrated liter- 

 ary papers of the present day. Still, if a publisher feels that 

 he can go deeply into the liberal use of a costly Hue of half- 

 tone engravings, it is all right. We don't object, for we like 

 fine pictures, and would likely have more of them in the Bee 

 Journal, if— well, if about a thousand of our good subscribers 

 were a little more prompt in paying their subscriptions. 



