120 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ykb. 15. 



do all thft necessary work which 150 colonies of 

 bees require during six weeks in the height of 

 the honey season. Whyl the man who has 

 only brains enough to break stone on the high- 

 way is not asked to work that length of time 

 for a penny short of .*52..50. in York State, that 

 being S10..i0 more than Mr. Taylor allows him- 

 self, who is said to be a noted lawyer, a senator, 

 and a man of unusual ability. I wonder if he 

 would not have been mad if it had been said 

 that the Hon. R. L. Taylor earned only #45 for 

 the six weeks he represented his State at the 

 capitol. And is not his time worth just as 

 much in the apiary as it is in the senate or any- 

 where else? 1 do not see any need of this low- 

 ering the standard of our calling, that a large 

 "'net profiV^ can be published to the world. 

 Where is James Heddon, that we hear no warn- 

 ing from him about putting the rosy side of 

 bee-keeping before the world? Is the keeping 

 of bees such a menial service that the one who 

 works at the calling can be allowed only §1.07 

 a day and board himself, while the profits on 

 that same labor amount to $10.50. should the 

 season prove an extra good one? I protest 

 against any such showing. He leaves out 

 many items of cost, such as our bee-papers and 

 books, time to read them, attending conven- 

 tions, taxes on bees, hives to put the bees in, 

 sugar for winter, feeders, and work of feeding, 

 etc. 



Let me try my hand at the matter, and let 

 Mr. Taylor rest assured that I shall make no 

 charges for the fun part of our pursuit, which 

 he fears the "wife and children will not grow 

 fat on." Interest on bees, and wear and tear on 

 plant. S120; double intereston 1.50 Heddon hives, 

 $.54; taxes, $(>; sections. $25; foundation. $30: 

 shipping-crates. $40; hauling honey to railroad, 

 freight, and commission. $125; bee papers and 

 books. $5; attending conventions. $20; sugar 

 for winter stores (10 lbs. per colony where the 

 Heddon hive is used, as the combs are expected 

 to be nearly empty in the fall), $70; time spent, 

 as follows: Reading bee books and papers, at- 

 tending conventions, feeding, making crates 

 and sections, fastening in foundation, packing 

 honey for market, taking bees in and out of cel- 

 lar, and other manipulation. 40 days, together 

 with 41 days required during the honey harvest, 

 making 81 days needed during the year to prop- 

 erly care for an apiaiy of 150 colonies. This 

 time at $5.(X) a day (not an unreasonable figure 

 for an intelligent apiarist), amounts to $405. 

 which, together with the other items of expense 

 mentioned above (which foot up $495). makes 

 $900 as the cost of running an apiary properly 

 for one year. 



Now for the income: Seasons, oi' something 

 else, seems to have changed: and where .50 

 pounds of comb honey was considered an aver- 

 age yield per colony 12 years ago. and 45 pounds 

 five years ago, the average yield at the present 

 time can not well be called more than 40 

 pounds, according as I have summed up our 

 yields during the past three or four years. At 

 an average of 40 pounds for the 1.50 colonies, we 

 should have (jOOO pounds of honey as the income 

 from the bees, which, at 15 cts. per pound, 

 would amount to $<.>0(\ or the same amount that 

 the cost vvas. Hence I conclude that the cost 

 of a pound of comb honey at the present time is 

 15 cents, and all that it brings us over those fig- 

 ures is net profit. When I gave figures very 

 similar to the above to the N. A. H. K. A., in 

 1S87, according to the repoi't of that convention. 

 Mr. R. L. Taylor was the first man on his feet, 

 and said. -'In the cost of honey there are many 

 points to be considered, and Mr. Doolittle has 

 not mentioned all of them: for instance, the 

 losses in winter and from disease. I think the 

 prices given are too low.'' Italics are mine. I 



then called the average yield 45 pounds, and 

 arrived at the conclusion that the cost of a 

 pound of comb honey was 13 cents, and Mr. 

 Taylor immediately arises and says it is '" too 

 low." .What has hap])ened on the hoiizon of 

 his vision that has so changed his opinion dur- 

 ing only about four years of time? I there al- 

 lowed the man the whole year to work th<^ bees 

 at $1.25 per day: but if valuable time is to be 

 used, as Mr. Taylor puts it. and a less number 

 of days be spent, then •■*5 a day is none too much 

 for xkilhil labor. G. M. Dooijtti.e. 



Borodino. N. Y. 



[This question is somewhat complicated, and 

 there is plenty of opportunity for error and in- 

 correct assumptions; and pei'haps our corres- 

 pondent, though usually so accurate, has laid 

 himself open a little. A merchant, after a 

 year's successful business, after deducting ex- 

 penses, has a certain amount of profit. This 

 profit usually represents the price for his labor. 

 So in like manner the amount paid for ordinary 

 labor represents so much profit to the laborer. 

 It is not quite clear how INIr. Doolittle makes 

 his honey cost 15 cts. Ills crop being sold, at a 

 charge of $5.00 per day for his labor, he has $405 

 in pocket — all this made off the bees. This 

 we regard as largely profit, although it would 

 appear, from what Mr. Doolittle says, there is no 

 money in comb-honey production for him. But 

 Mr. Doolittle did. or does, as he has said at oth- 

 er times, all or nearly all the work himself, 

 hiring no laboi'. Much of the preparatoiw work 

 which he does himself at $5.00 per day could be 

 done just as well by a girl or woman at 75 cts. 

 or $1.00 per day; foi' instance, folding sections, 

 putting in starters, tilling hives - crates with 

 sections, scraping sections aftei' being filled, and 

 much other work, could be done by cheap help. 

 If his time is worth to him $5.00 per day it 

 would put more money in his pocket to devote 

 it entirely to expert work, leaving the non- 

 expert work to chea)) help. This would save 

 him $4.00 per day foi- much of the work, and a 

 dollar sav(^d is a dollar earned. 



Now with regard to the work in the apiary. 

 We have no trouble in getting good apiarists — 

 those who can do any thing among bees, such 

 as producing a high grade of queens, or produc- 

 ing honey, for from $1..50 to $2.00 per day. and 

 they will do it just as well as we. providing we 

 supervise or superintend the \\'oik. The, cost 

 of doing certain kinds of labor should not he 

 regulated by what irc can do it for, but by what 

 we can hire it done for, and yet have it done as 

 well. If Mr. Taylor can hire his work among 

 the bees done for $1.07 per day. under his direc- 

 tion, while he can earn by his profession from 

 ten to twenty dollars i)er day. it is to his inter- 

 est to do so. We can hardly see why. then, he 

 ought to figure labor in his apiary at ten or 

 more dollars per day, when, in fact, lie can get 

 it done for $1.07 per day. 



A farmer once said, who valued his labor at 

 $2.(X) per day, that he couldn't make any thing 

 raising crops because they cost him to raise 

 them all he got for them. If he received cash 

 to cover cost accoi'ding to his way of thinking, 

 the fallacy of this argument is shown by the 

 fact that he pockets $2.00 for every day he 

 worked on the crops just as soon as he received 

 the cash. 



From these and othei- considerations we can 

 not see how Mr. Doolittle's honey costs him 15 

 cts. per pound. He doesn't produce honey or 

 raise queens and sell at cost. He is. as we all 

 know, a successful bee-keeper; and when he 

 charges himself $5.00 per day for labor, and gets 

 that much in return, he is getting good pay. or. 

 if you please, profit. The fact that he has a 

 beautiful and comfortable home, and something 



