IS'. IV 



(!LKANIN«iS IN HKK CUl/rURE. 



1;.>1 



luid up l)('sid(>s for a ruiiiy day, as lie lias told 

 us, proves tliis. li is iniito possible that Mr. 

 Taylor tnay liaxf lisrurrd the prirc of labor and 

 the I'ost of ooioiiies in lleddoii liivi'S too low; 

 and it is possible that he has not allowed 

 enouffh for the cost of ineideiitals. We would 

 not. ho\\ev(>r, lifjiire "fioiii!; to conventions" in 

 fh(( cost of prodiicint: honey, for this is the 

 *' fun ■' part of l)ee- keeping. Keadinji i)e(>-j()iir- 

 uals and bee-hooUs is usually to be done at otld 

 hours in theevenintr. and this really should not 

 ligure very laifrely in the cost. 



It will be seen, however, that Mi'. Hilton |)Ut 

 the cost even lower than did Mi. Tayloi". He; 

 is 11 careful and practical bee-keeper, and (tno 

 who has made money witli bees. We are jilad 

 to jrive his article right here. 



have luade no aci'ouiil of tpuMuis sold, nuclei, 

 full colonies, etc, Whil(! tlu^se come from the 

 sixty colonies spring count, it is another ac- 

 count whicli pays for all these and l(^av<is a 

 marj^in. 



Since coinmenciiifi this report the .lantuiry 

 number of the licr-Krrixrx' Revleir has he(Mi 

 placed on my desk. I have stopped long enou}<h 

 to read an ai'licli' from the pen of K. M. lioot, 

 and will iirolit by his ailvice, and make this 

 report short. (Jko. K. Mii.to.n. 



Fremont, Mich. 



[We should be, .sorry to have this discussion 

 stop right here, and we hope our b(;e-keeping 

 friends will gi\ <■ us furtlHM'data along this line.) 



HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO PRODUCE COMB 

 HONEY 



FOK A I'KKIOI) OF TWKIAK VIlAIiS. 



The cost of th(! production of comb honey, 

 like tlu' wintej'iug problem, the grading of hon- 

 ey, and many other things in which latitude 

 and locality are controlling factors, will never, 

 in luy (>i)inion. be satisfactorily settled. Could 

 I have made this report four years ago. when 

 my average for eight years had l)een 75 lbs.. 

 1 could have shown the minimum cost in 

 this locality. Hut the past four years have re- 

 duced my average for a pei'iod of twelve years 

 to Tid lbs. per colony. In making this report I 

 shall mass the twelve years" effort into a single 

 report; and while this (my home yard) has va- 

 ried from ;{.■> to !»() colonies. I lind th(> average 

 has been sixty, or tlie 



Total iiuniber for twelve years 720 



Pounds of Money produced 36,0C0 



« 'asli receipts *.">,200 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



Value of apiary *3,600 



Interest on same at 8 per cent 288 



Cost of manipulation 36il 



4!),(.0.l sect ions at ^..iO 14D 



;»0 Il)s. foundation at 55c 165 



3illK) slii|ii)iiig-cases at 8c 240 



Total i-ost of i)roducl ion .. )i;ll<)3.00 



Cost <if production ikt |)ound 3i\ie 



Net profits iti twelve yeai-s. with an av- 



erajre of si.xty colonies each yeai'... 4i;07.00 

 Net profits pel- pound lln.c 



I suppose this reiK)rtwill be criticised. I<"riend 

 Taylor, in his very able report, places the, cost 

 of production, with an average of .50 lbs., at 

 .'),<i^c: but he has a list of items of costs that 

 are. with me. all included in the cost of produc- 

 tion, as my work is done principally by stu- 

 dents. The work of putting up sections, put- 

 ting in foundation, packing honey in shipping- 

 cases, etc., is all done during the honey season, 

 or immediately at its close. Friend Taylor also 

 figures his gross receipts at 1") cents, and de- 

 ducts freiglit and commission from this, while 

 my sales have averaged me 1") cents, freight 

 and commission deducted, which would in 

 part account for Ww difference. You will also 

 see that my labor costs me much less than 

 Mr. Taylor's. The work is all done with a sys- 

 tem, and up(Mi general principles — so much so 

 that my students tind much time for otlier 

 work, in fact, sliould I give the apiary credit 

 for what they help me in the supply depart- 

 ment it would nearly jjay their wages. Our 

 manner of manipulation might be of iuterciSt. 

 but would be out of place here. I admit tliere 

 are other expenses in the ajjiary than the above 

 — foundation for the lirood-nest; hives and fix- 

 tures for th<' increase: imt in the aliove we 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



KFFKCT OK I'OOK QUALITY UPON THK POPUI.AK 



NOTION THAT KXTRACTEI) HONKY IS 



l-AHOKLY IMPUKE. 



I got both a setback and an uplift from a 

 grocer in Springfield the other day. 1 want(^d 

 him to help us out at our fair by oifering pn;- 

 miumson honey extracted on the grouiid.s. He 

 said, emphatically, " No; it would not pay me 

 or any one else. Exhibiting an extractor, even 

 in operation." he said. " would have little or no 

 effect in r.'moving the largely prevalent opin- 

 ion that extracted honey is generally manufac- 

 tured or adulterated;"' that the only way to do 

 that is to produce and put on the market honey 

 of first-class (juality. He said good (juality 

 would sooner (jr later remove the prejudice 

 against any thing. He cited butterine as an il- 

 lustration. That, he said, is now made of such 

 excellent quality that many prefer it to butter: 

 that it is. in fact. />cttcr than half the country 

 butti'f. I should not be surprised if that were 

 so. that many Chicago merchants advertise. 

 •• We sell butterine." Hut much or all of the 

 popular suspicion as to the purity of honey is 

 due to its inferiority; and that a high standard 

 of excellence would sooner or later remove that 

 impression, we feel sure. He has handled con- 

 siderable of my honey, labeled with my name 

 and addiess. and he says that, after a ti'ial. his 

 customers cease to (luestion its purity. The 

 above reminds me tluit a lady acquaintance, 

 who has been living in Chicago for a few years, 

 was back on a visit last summer, and (•aim^ to 

 me for some lion(>y. While h(^re she told nw 

 she could hardly get any kind of honey there 

 but extracted, and that was hard to get pure. 

 I expressed my doubt as to its impurity as po- 

 litely as I could ; but she insisted that she had 

 iKiught some she km'w had been adulterated, 

 because it was not good — it did not taste like 

 honey. Then I told her it was probably honey 

 that had been injured some way after it was 

 extracted: that, to care for honey properly, is a 

 very choice matter, and that I feared many who 

 produce considerable of it were quite ignorant 

 on that point. 1 admitted to Mr. ii., the grocer, 

 that honey, if ill cared for. would deterioi'ate 

 until it would ijrobabl>- become inferior to the 

 spurious article. 



Of course. I argued with Mr. H. that an ex- 

 tractor in operation would pro\-e a great edu- 

 cator; but I had to own myself convinced, that, 

 to a great extent, what \h\ .said was doubtless 

 true; and I take the aliove method of introduc- 

 ing the subject here. Is it not true, that a great 

 deal of very (loor honey is produced and mar- 

 keted when it need not be so? I know an intel- 

 ligent bee-keepei' who said he kept his honey 

 tightly bunged up in a barrel in the cellar, and 

 thought it kept very well. This honey he after- 

 ward shipped to market. I would not risk 



