CI.KANINCiS IN BEE CUI/rURE. 



;iiui imiiiilaiiiiiiK llu- supply in poor soasoiis. 

 This lui'tlKul is alsd cxpcftt'd to fiiniisli at all 

 tiiiu'S a tiiK' appcariiii: protiurt fttr llif I'loclor 

 Stool* Tower uradc ol coiiili lumcy. This will 

 bo hoiH'v in iianio Diily. irhu-usc in icality. with 

 liio ••boo-y"" taste atidod. but wholly lacUiMR 

 tl\o lino tlavor ami delicate aroma of tiie llow(>rs. 

 Some of till' most extensive packers of adnl- 

 terated honey in the Ivist hav(> approached ns 

 for l)ee- bread. This ijives ghicose a twangy 

 taste, and causes many consumers to believe it 

 gonnine honey. It is suggested that th(> author 

 of this bi'e-gliicose scheme add. as an especial 

 attraction to believers in the pollen theor\. the 

 staiemiMit that it will t'nrnish them a desirable 

 homo market for their bee-bread. Ijaslly, Mr. 

 Taylor, when yon emliark on your voyage of 

 discovery. do not fail to take with yon the Punic 

 boo. It is now surmised that the remarkable 

 success of .Fohn .Vllenwas caused by his haxing 

 privately obtained the very lirst importation of 

 the I'miies. The matter of increase will tluMi 

 not be overlooked, for it will not be a secondary 

 atTair. while for every other dosiralile [)ur|)ose 

 under heaven these bees aie modestly claimed 

 to oclipso all other varieties. 



DOOI.ITri.K-S FKillJKS SISTA INKD. 



.Inst now a" friend at my elbow"' calls at- 

 tention to the fact that the editor wished me 

 to take sid(>s with Doolittle. and therefore write, 

 not on thi> lowest possible cost of jiroducing 

 oomb lioney as already exemplilied by the 

 twelve years" experience of Mi'. Hilton, or as to 

 be exemplilied by the future experience of Mr. 

 Taylor and others, but write on the actual cost 

 with the average bee-keeper. This cost estab- 

 lishes, or sliould largely establish, the market 

 price. Of course. I am sorry I got on the wrong 

 side, but I can climb over the fence as others 

 have done. 



On reading over what I have already written, 

 I judge I may be wrong in concluding that Mr. 

 Hilton has sold mucli of that increase. If this 

 be so. and he has them standing around in the 

 woods waiting for customers to buy them, and 

 un worked for the laclv of students, or even if he 

 has had them worked oii shares where the hon- 

 ey cost him a dollar a pound (see page 57. Jan- 

 uary l.")th (;i.KANiN<.s). all of these items will 

 have to appear in the account. If we charge 

 up only tlie interest on their value. .*;3.")().(Kj(), and 

 say nothing about that dollar-a-p(>und honey, 

 we shall run u[) the cost of ijroduction to more 

 than four times Dooliltle's figures. There must 

 1)0 S(jme important omission in his at-count 

 which calls for a yearly prolit of 1 11 percent, 

 or he would hardly be dropping his beir-business, 

 as slated in last Revleir. to engage more exten- 

 sively in the supply-business. Or is it true that 

 we have been paying that much or more prolit 

 on our hives, sections, crates, foundation, etc.? 

 If so. how would it be to have now a discussion 

 on the cost of >upplies'.' Mr. H."s account says 

 nothing about cost of shop, honey-house, honey- 

 extractor, wax-extractor, smokers, etc.. the cost, 

 interest, and wear and tear of which for twelve 

 years would amount to more than a thousand 

 <lollars at Taylor's low estimate. The account 

 also says nothing about rent for the bee-yard, 

 which in twelve years, at the low pric<' the av- 

 erage bee-kf!eper pays, would amount to from 

 #1.")0 to ?!:.'(K»: and as Mr. H. keeps bees success- 

 fully without any of these necessaries of the 

 average bee-keeper, and as he has had no dis- 



* Steel should bespolled witli an awlieii bcie-ffhiccj.se 

 is sold as the author claims a descriptive mark 

 should l)e used. The Proctor Steel Tower is to l)e 

 erected on the Chicago Woi'ld's Fail- /^rounds, and 

 will be IIUO feet high, or 1(H) feel hijfher than the 

 Eiffel tower. As no superlative has been found for- 

 Chir-.nrit tr)p trrado, this is suKKosled. 



astrotis wintoi' losses to report, no radical and 

 expensive changes in hives, lixturos, or man- 

 agement to meet the changed re(iuirements of 

 the mark<'ts and of impi'o\'ed bee-keeping dur- 

 ing the jiast twelve years, no dolhir-a-pound 

 hom'y.(d.id I promise to say no nnne about this'.'i 

 and has no expensive mistakes or other items (»f 

 loss to charge to i ho business, we conclude he is 

 so far above the avi-rage bee-keeper that his 

 account can have but little bearing on cost of 

 production with the average honey-prfxiucer. 

 Further conlirmation of this is found in the 

 cost of manipulation, w hich is given at fifty 

 cents per cohuiy. which I doubt whether an- 

 other skillful bee-ke<'per in the Iiiited States 

 can report as low for as long a time. 



Mr. Taylor, in his last, calls for "critically 

 exact slatements. with full details of the actual 

 m^cessary exijense of money and tinu'." After 

 these are obtained, the present l)one of conlcui- 

 tion will still remain: the amount the av<'rage 

 honey-producer may have apportioned to hint 

 as wages or salary before the cost of production 

 can be dotortniiu'd. We liave an illustration of 

 this in the accountof C. K. Thomas in March 

 l.">th (;i.KAXiN(;s. in w liicli this item is left out. 

 As I understand. Mr. Thomas, in estimating 

 profits in his hardware business, does not reckon 

 in a salary for himst^lf asa part of the cost of 

 conducting his business. Hut let me say to him, 

 and to honey-producers who figure in the same 

 shortsighted way. that, if a tax on net prolits 

 were likely to hit them they would hustle 

 around for a salary fully as lively as Doolittle, 

 and probably make it quite as high. It seems 

 to me that Mr. Doolittle has stated the case 

 fairly in his last by saying that the average 

 bee-keeper or bee-keepers on an av<n'age could 

 get two dollars a day, or six hundred a year, 

 without board, in some manufacturing town; 

 and that this amount, when he is engaged in 

 the production of honey, is as much a part of 

 the cost of it as any other item. 



To make a long story short, we will say that 

 honey-i)roducers on an average earn oi- make a 

 hundred dollars a year outside of their business. 

 This will leave live hundred to charge to their 

 business. Then accurate statistics will give all 

 other data necessary to show actual cost. In 

 the last quotation from Mr. Taylor, the word 

 ■■ necessary ■■ should have been loft out by him; 

 for, in the, actual expense account, past, present, 

 or future, will be found many items not neces- 

 sary, and such will have to be audited if we 'are 

 seeking the real cost of honey-production in 

 this country. If the lowest possible cost is 

 sought by taking only the accounts of the most 

 skillful apiarists, the same items will be found, 

 though neither so numerous nor so costly. The 

 ditTorenco between the average and skillful 

 cost will show the profit of being skillful, for 

 the market price will be usually regulated by 

 the general cost. If tln^ past governs or fore- 

 casts the future (and we have no right to judge 

 otherwise), then will unexpected and unavoid- 

 able reverses always b(^ a very heavy item in 

 cost of production. For Mr. Hilton and Taylor 

 to |)resent accounts and estimates with the re- 

 verses and losses left out is to overlook one of 

 the nuM eei'tdiii sources of cost; it is to disre- 

 gard the fact that man is and always will 

 remain a costly blunderer, and that his environ- 

 ments are such that his business is liable to 

 constant lo.ss from diouth and flood, fire and 

 frost, disea.se and death, etc. At the end of a 

 few years I predict that Mr. Tavlor will report 

 that— 



'I'lie l)esl-laid .schemes o" ini<'e an' men 

 Gnng aft a-g-ley; 



for. in addition to the items he now spt^cifies as 

 suthcieiit, he may have to chronicle heavy losses 

 fioni some new bee-disease or enemy; from dis- 



