378 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Juke 



ready more thaii, my share, so I think I will 

 stop right here and not make any comments 

 in regard to your $4.00 investment. 



P. S. — It jnst now occurs to me, when you 

 settle down on the most appropriate hat for 

 a bee-keeper to wear, we ought to have them 

 for sale in the counter store, and I was 

 thinking of putting them on the five-cent 

 counter ; but the prospect for honey is so 

 good now I do not know but we might af- 

 ford to go a little higher, if we could suc- 

 ceed in getting a hat that would never irri- 

 tate the l)ees. 



PKODUCING AND SELLING HONEY. 



FRIEND WILTSE CONSIDERS THE MATTER A LITTLE. 



r>TOW much does a pound of honej' cost?" is 

 the heading- of Mr. Doolittle's article in 

 the May No. of Gleanings. " Selling 

 honey," is Mr. Hutchinson's. These two 

 articles look well in print, and they help 

 to fill the pag-es of Gleanings— two strong argu- 

 ments with the editor of a journal, when items are 

 scarce. With commendable zeal for the welfare of 

 the fi-aternity, each has endeavored to impress his 

 views upon the readers of Gleanings, and, so far 

 as the writer is concerned, he is ready to admit the 

 truthfulness of what they say, so far as it relates to 

 themselves. The conditions under which these two 

 men do business, and the circumstances that sur- 

 i-ound them, differ very materially from those that 

 surround the masses of bee-keepei-s, and render 

 that which is untruthful to manj' others, true to 

 them. Mr. Doolittle has to pay cartage, and he has 

 to pay rent for ground in which to establish his 

 apiary. Most apiarists have vacant grounds near 

 their houses, which they ornament by dotting their 

 surface with hives of bees, and they generally keep 

 teams to use in the pursuit of other lines of business, 

 which they press into service when the interests of 

 the apiary demand it. These teams would have to 

 be fed and cared for if not in use, and are, there- 

 fore, of but little more expense to their owners than 

 they would be if not used. Under unfavorable cir- 

 cumstances, no one can manage 100 colonies of bees 

 successfully; and nine-tenths of those who can 

 manage 100 colonies successfully when the condi- 

 tions are favorable, would fail to attain a position 

 paying a salary of $1000 a year, for lack of the nec- 

 essary qualifications. Ownei-s of farms, in sections 

 of country where the main honey-flow is in August 

 and September, can employ their fai-m-hands in 

 their apiaries during these months with little deti-i- 

 ment to their farm interests; for their small grain 

 is then harvested, and there is little to do. In June, 

 when the flow of basswood honej' is good, and the 

 pressure of work great, some inconvenience arising 

 from the labors of the apiary is felt. Ordinarily 

 the occupation of apiarist approaches that of 

 sinecure the closest of any known to the farmer. 

 selling honey. 

 But little charity enters into the business trans- 

 actions of men. If the necessities of a man are 

 such that he must sell a given article of any kind, 

 advantage is taken of that necessity, and he is com- 

 pelled to make it for the interest of the purchaser 

 to handle the article, or no transaction will follow. 

 If the salesman igine-xporienced, it i§ at once known 



to the person desiring to purchase, and still less is 

 oftei-ed for the commodity. Under such circum- 

 stances a sale at reduced rates is generally made, 

 and the party selling becomes dissatisfied with his 

 business, and, naturally enough, he has allowed 

 himself to be out-generaled, and his profits have 

 passed into the hands of another. An experienced 

 man of business should see at a glance the tendency 

 that affairs are taking, and, being the boss of the 

 situation, seek a place where business can be trans- 

 acted to his own interest. Opportunities of this 

 kind occur in every community, and the tact by 

 which salesmen get the confidence of strangers is 

 readily acquired. Probably the honey that Doolittle 

 parted with at 6 cts. per lb. would have brought 10 

 or 12 cts. elsewhere. Probablj- the honey that Hutch- 

 inson put in his half-pint pails would have sold 

 elsewhere as readily from a half-barrel. 



OUR OWN experience. 



From early childhood to the present time, we have 

 been familiar with bees. Never have we known a 

 time when honey could not be sold at remunera- 

 tive prices. We have secured yields, varying from 

 nothing to 122 lbs. per hive, and these variations 

 are not due to any superior skill at one time, or lack 

 of it at another, but principallj' to the favorable or 

 unfavorable conditions under which the bees had 

 to labor. We have noticed but little difference be- 

 tween the amount of honey stored in 1-lb. frames and 

 the amount stored in boxes holding from 4 to 8 lbs., 

 when the conditions were the same, and the hon- 

 ey sells as readily from the boxes, if they are allowed 

 to i-eturn them after the honey is used. We realize 

 20 cts. per lb. for our comb honey, less a commission 

 of 10 per cent. Our last year's crop was about 1600 

 U)S. comb honey, and 8000 lbs. extracted. The latter 

 we put in half-barrels, 10-gallon kegs, and quart jars. 

 The last retails at 60 to 6.5c. each. The honey in kegs 

 we sell at from 124 to 1.5 cts. per lb., furnishing the 

 keg free, and sometimes paying freight, sometimes 

 not. AVhat we do not find sale for, which is the main 

 part, we ship to various towns in Kansas and Ne- 

 braska, to be sold on commission, allowing 1.5 per 

 cent. It retails at ISy, to 20 cts. per lb., varying in 

 price as the distance from home varies, and as the 

 freight varies. On the whole, after the freight and 

 loss and commission are paid, we realize about 12'/^ 

 cts. per lb. Jerome Wiltse. 



Falls City, Neb., May, 1884. 



Friend W.. we are glad to see you again. 

 It sounds just like you, to intimate that ar- 

 ticles for our pages are scarce, and that 

 friends D. and II.' have not given the sub- 

 jects on which they write quite as much 

 study as they might have done. Well, per- 

 haps you are right a little, any way. I do 

 not think friend D. pays any rent on his 

 place, and I am inclined to tl'iink he lias a 

 team of his own ; but for all that, the place 

 and the team ought to pay something for the 

 money invested, as they would if they were 

 hired." Your thought, that farmers often take 

 care of bees and the honey-crop when they 

 would not do much otherwise is a good one, 

 and I believe it refers to people in other 

 kinds of business as well. A great many 

 farmers and tlieir wives and daughters spend 

 quite a little time playing croquet, so as to 

 get outdoor exercise ; and many who keep 

 bees — that is, on a small scale— occupy iust 

 about as much time Avith them as the otners 

 do with their games. 



