1898 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



9 



making many obsen^ations of various things 

 in apicultural lines ; and if the editor does not 

 choke me off I will try to tell you of them 

 during the months to come. 

 lyOveland, Col. 



SPOILING THE MARKET. 



Not the " Fanner Bee-keeper," but the " Profes- 

 sional " Bee-keeper and the Glucose-mixer 

 the Spoiler of Markets. 



BY EMERSON TAYLOR ABBOTT. 



It is getting to be quite the fashion now for 

 some one to rail about the ' ' farmer bee-keep- 

 ers " in the bee-journals; about having the mar- 

 ket " spoiled," etc. How prone we are to try' 

 to shift the responsibility of our failures on to 

 the shoulders of others, just as though a poor 

 article, or one badly handled, could spoil the 

 sale of a first-class article in the hands of a 

 good salesman ! It is not the farmer with his 

 pure honey put up in bad shape, improperly 

 cared for in every way, and unattractive, who 

 spoils the market, but the slick salesman of 

 the mixer, with his adulterated goods put up 

 in the most attractive form. This is what 

 beats down the market price of a first-class 

 article of extracted honey, and this indirectly 

 affects the market price of all honey. 



Then there is the so-called " professional " 

 honey-producer, with his large crop, much of 

 which he might dispose of in his own home 

 market if he only would, or if he knew how. 

 Instead of this he ships his entire crop to some 

 large city, perhaps follows it up, and, when 

 he finds the market fall of honey, cuts the 

 price a few cents under the home dealers, just 

 to close his crop out, and then goes home and 

 writes for his favorite bee- journal a railing ar- 

 ticle about the ' ' shiftless farmer bee keepers 

 spoiling the market." 



If he does not go to market himself, he con- 

 signs his crop to some commission man with- 

 out ever asking if the market may not be al- 

 ready overstocked. After repeated efforts to 

 sell, the commission merchant who, perhaps, 

 knows but little about honey -as to quality or 

 the amount produced in the country, gets anx- 

 ious for his commission , and so cuts loose and 

 throws the honey upon the market for what- 

 ever it will bring. When our professional gets 

 his returns he adds another name to the string 

 of his condemnation, and rails about both the 

 commission man and the farmer-bee-keeper, 

 one of whom has ' ' spoiled his market ' ' and the 

 other has " robbed " him of his hard earn- 

 ings. He never stops to think that perhaps 

 he has had something to do with ' ' spoiling 

 the market," and that he has robbed himself 

 by a lack of proper judgment as to where and 

 how to market his honey. 



It seems to me that these people who have 

 so much to say about the farmer bee-keeper 

 spoiling the market lose sight of the first ele- 

 ments of success. Does any one suppose that 

 Edison ever complained about the little fry 

 " spoiling the market " for the products of his 

 laboratory ? or a Nordica about the amateurs 

 " spoiling " the people's taste for good sing- 



ing ? Not by any means ! They are not ca- 

 tering to that class of trade. 



A poor article set up by the side of one that 

 is first class always makes the good one show 

 off better. We form our judgments largely 

 by contrasting one thing with another. If I 

 wanted to rail about any one spoiling the mar- 

 ket in our city I would lay the accusation at 

 the door of some professional Colorado bee- 

 keeper who did not know any better than to 

 consign his honey to one of our commission 

 merchants who otherwise would have bought 

 of uie for ras/i. The market of this cit)- has 

 been spoiled more by so-called " profession- 

 als " than it ever has been by " farmers." A 

 gentleman who had much to say at Buffalo 

 about " farmer bee-keepers " spoiling his mar- 

 ket did as much as any man I know of to 

 spoil this market last j-ear. 



Then if all that is said by these writers is 

 actually true, and farmers do spoil the market , 

 what are these gentlemen going to do about 

 it ? Did any one ever reform a man by railing 

 at him ? Not much ! Has not a farmer a 

 right to keep bees and sell hone}', if he feels 

 so inclined? Well, I should say he had, and 

 who will prevent him? You maybe able to 

 teach a farmer a " more excellent way ; " but 

 if you undertake to drive him from the mar- 

 ket he may " buck," as they say " out west." 



I would suggest that we stop trying to get a 

 corkscrew cinch on the market, and go to 

 work to see if we can not produce a little bet- 

 ter honey than any of our neighbors, and then 

 sell it at home, or as near home as we can. 



St. Joseph, Mo., Dec. 1. 



BROOD-FRAMES— SHORT PROJECTIONS. 

 A Friendly Growl at The A. I. Root Co. 



BY chari.es mitcheli.. 



Dr. Miller: — I have concluded to write you 

 a few lines, as you are a sort of medium be- 

 tween the Roots and their readers and custom- 

 ers. 1 am about to change the style of my 

 frames, and have concluded to use some kind 

 of self-spacer, as they will save a great deal of 

 time in carr) ing supers in and out, also in get- 

 ting combs licked off in fall, which I find 

 gives a much better quality of honey the fol- 

 lowing season; and, by the way, I have got on 

 to a way of getting combs cleaned off, which 

 is much better than any thing I have seen yet. 

 Well, to return. 



I just received a sample frame from the 

 Roots, which is, to my mind, a failure. I 

 never saw any one extracting honey who did 

 not do about all the handling and shaking 

 and lifting from the projection of the top-bar. 

 You can not handle heavy combs by the end- 

 bar without sticking your fingers into the hon- 

 ey, or getting stung. Now, if I had wanted 

 to keep peof le from handling combs by the 

 projection I would just whittle down the pro- 

 jec.ion just as they have it; and then if that 

 did not keep them from jerking or shaking off 

 the bees I would get a staple like theirs and 

 drive it in just where they do. That settles it. 

 Besides, I have shaken off several frame pro- 



