1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



307 



low that he can not afford to pay me for the same 

 what it actually costs mc. By page 212, Gleanings, 

 I see he pays 8 cts. per lb. for a nice article of ex- 

 tracted honey delivered at Medina, which he sells, 1 

 suppose, at 10 cts. To deliver this honey in Medina 

 would cost me 1 ct. per lb., or nearly so, so that 7 cts. 

 is all I would have left for what actually cost me 9 

 cts. Thus if I were obliged to sell my whole crop 

 at these figures, I should have my whole salary cut 

 down to $'iM a year, as the other costs for produc- 

 tion can not be reduced. Worse still. I have just 

 got returns for a small lot of extracted honey sent to 

 New York, which nets me only 6 cts. per lb., so my 

 wases must still come down to .'ii!275 per year. I be- 

 lieve I am entitled to as good pay, after spending 

 years of toil and study, sleepless nights in planning 

 and framing ideas to be carried out in the apiary, 

 and days of hard work in the hot sun in carrying out 

 these plans, as are our lawyers, doctors, and clergy- 

 men, who sit in their easy-chairs in cool and shady 

 offices, and have given no more time and study in 

 preparing themselves for their avocation than I 

 have. And yet I am called to come down to a tithe 

 of their income, in order to have honey become a 

 "staple article." 



I here leave the subject by asking if our low prices 

 and dull markets do not denote that the production 

 of honey is being overdone; in other words, is not 

 the supply more than adequate for the demand, at liv- 

 ing prices? 



In the above I said nothing in regard to the rate 

 of increase, for at the low price (!?6.00) I placed the 

 bees, the hives, combs, and oO lbs. of honey in the 

 fall, are worth the ^0.00, so that the increase might 

 as well be destroyed, as sold at these figures. 



Borodino, N. Y., April, 1884. G. M. Doolittle. 



Friend D., you have given us a grand ar- 

 ticle, and I do not know of any tiling we 

 wanted any more than just such an article 

 at this time. The summing-up of it would 

 be. it [ am correct, that we may conclude, as 

 a general tiling, comb honey is worth 14 cts. 

 ])er lb., and extracted honey, i) cts. per lb. 

 IE we can make sales so as to make more 

 than that, we are making a prolit on our 

 honey accordingly. Your figures are fair, 

 and, "so far as I can see, just about where 

 they ought to be. 1 presume, of course, 

 some of the friends liave divined that I have 

 something to add, however, and something 

 to bring up which it seems to me you have 

 omitted. 



]']l\vood thinks a man who can successful- 

 ly manage 100 colonies of bees would com- 

 niand a salary of SIOUU in any other business 

 he might see lit to engage in. While this, 

 perhaps, is largely true. I think there are 

 some great exceptions. We liave people who 

 will manage lUO colonies of bees pretty well, 

 l)ecause tliey love the bees. We frequently 

 lind eccentric school-children who excel in 

 mathematics or spelling, or some other 

 branch, who would not excel in other things. 

 Again, there are many so situated that they 

 could not go away to command a salary, but 

 could take care of bees at home very well. 

 A good many women are making nice in- 

 comes with bees, who could not work for a 

 salary — Mrs. Axtell, for instance, our good 

 friend Mrs. Harrison, and others. 



I do not quite like the way in which you 

 pass over om' small friends who, as you s^y, 



keep from three to five colonies, and get 

 from 200 to 300 lbs. of honey per colony. 

 What do you say "gush over " for? Are 

 they not doing well, and are we not proud 

 of themV Why. I just enjoy visiting a bee- 

 keeper who has live colonies, and has secur- 

 ed 1000 lbs. of nice extracted honey from the 

 live. If you look through Reports Encour- 

 aging, you will find there is quite a big lot 

 of this class also. And, by the way, do thev 

 not get their honey cheaper than the propri- 

 etors of 100 colonies? Jlow about the spe- 

 cialist just heieV Another thing: If we sell 

 our honey for more than l» or 14 cents, we 

 make a profit; and if we make our whole 

 apiary average more than -jO lbs. per colony, 

 we also make a i)rolit. In fact, we standa 

 chance of making two profits, for our honey 

 wouldn't then cost us !» and 14 cents. He- 

 sides, friend D., I know some people who 

 would be quite happy if they didn't make 

 over one-half of S-jOU.'OO a year. iNot only is 

 there a steady stream of applications at our 

 factory for something to do, but men and 

 boys are making journeys to Medina, in the 

 hope of getting a situation, and liundreds 

 would gladly go to work for ^1.25 per day. 

 You may say they are not worth any more. 

 Well, as a rule I think that is true; but 

 what shall our friends do, whose market 

 value is only about $1.2-5 a day? 



Then there is another side still you have 

 not looked at. Hundreds and thousands 

 are spending their lives without making 

 even a dollar a day. In fact, they are more 

 in debt at the end of the year than they were 

 at its commencement. They might have 

 kept bees when they would otherwise have 

 done nothing; and the expense of getting a 

 start is very little where one is determined 

 that the bees shall pay their way. Very 

 likely, friend D., you can not afford to pro- 

 duce honey at 8 cents per pound — that is, 

 unless you have some other business that 

 yields you an income. If I am correct, you 

 have some other business, and I think it 

 is very wise in you to do so. I think a great- 

 er part of our bee-keepers should have 

 something besides bees to depend on. A 

 farmer who raises one crop, or any individ- 

 ual who depends upon one single source of 

 income, is very apt to be disappointed. I 

 would have a garden and some poultry, and 

 small fruits ; and whenever any of these 

 sources of income should for some reason 

 become unprofitable, I would amass my en- 

 ergies and zeal on the other lines where 

 there was a good demand. This is simply 

 my advice and suggestion. Others may do 

 as they choose. 



Bee-keepers sometimes have hard times to 

 make both ends meet. Sometimes a whole 

 season's work has been a losing business. 

 Is it not often so with farmers and grocers, 

 and even the lawyers and doctors and cler- 

 gymen y Do they all sit in " easy-chairs " in 

 , '• shady offices "y I know quite a lot of 

 1 them who ilo not ; and if I am correct, there 

 I are about as many doctors and lawyers who 

 j do not get SIOO a year as there are bee-keep- 

 j ers. In regard to the clergymen, 1 was think- 

 • ing a few days ago, and thinking of it a lit- 

 j tie sadly, that there are so many of whom it 

 can be truthfully said, " That man used to 



