1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



47 



A STUDENT OF F. MAURUS MASSE, BUCKFAST ABBEY, 

 S. DEVON, ENGLAND. 



wide frames, when they can be handled 

 four at a time, making the work neither 

 slow nor tedious. It is advisable to cut the 

 foundation yi inch less than the depth of 

 the section, as this amount of leeway is just 

 enough to make up for any possible sagging; 

 and it also facilitates the work of putting 

 in the foundation. It is sheer folly to at- 

 tempt to fasten full sheets on three sides of 

 a section unless each section is subsequent- 

 ly to remain in exactly the same shape un- 

 til the foundation has been fully drawn 

 out. With wide frames, having a nailed 

 top-bar, this condition is easily and natu- 

 rally met, as the frame at all times holds 

 the sections perfectly true and square. 

 Fort Smith, Ark. 



THE QUESTION OF HONEY PRICES. 



BY JASPER LLLLIE. 



I have read w^ith interest the article by F. 

 L. Pollock, page 552, on "What is the Cost 

 of Honey to the Producer?" and also that of 

 Orel L. Hershiser, page 663, in which Mr. 

 Hershiser differs widely in opinion from 

 that of Mr. Pollock. There is certainly 

 great variance in the prices of honey; and 

 any plan by which this wide-spread irregu- 

 larity could be remedied would be a boon to 



both the producer and con- 

 sumer of honey. 



It would seem that Mr. Pol- 

 lock endeavors to show what 

 the average expense and aver- 

 age income would be in an 

 apiary of 200 colonies, taking 

 that number, as he says, "as 

 about the limit of one man's 

 ability." 



Mr. Hershiser seems to over- 

 look or ignore this average 

 proposition, and bases his crit- 

 icisms on the fact that a large 

 apiary can be operated at less 

 expense per colony than a 

 small one, and in doing this 

 he makes some statements 

 that are, to say the least, sur- 

 prising. For instance, he says 

 a plumber did a small job for 

 liim and charged 60 cents per 

 hour; this I would consider a 

 light charge, as most skilled 

 workmen in our locality, when 

 called out on a small job, 

 charge $1.00 per hour; but, at 

 the same time, if that man 

 were open for a job I could hire 

 him for $2.50 or $3.00 per day 

 and get a skilled mechanic. 

 It is hardly to be supposed 

 that any one running an api- 

 ary would depend on going out 

 and hiring a man by the hour 

 to do work needed in his api- 

 ary; if he did, that apiary 

 would soon change hands, or 

 cease to exit. 

 Again, Mr. Hershiser says, 

 " The apiarist with from 350 to 400 colonies 

 will have an expense account but slightly 

 larger for his greater number of colonies 

 than the man with 200." 



Now, suppose the man with 400 and the 

 man with 200 colonies were both running 

 for comb honey, and each had supers ready 

 to be removed and replaced by new ones; 

 suppose the apiaries had equal conveniences 

 for doing this work, and suppose, for the 

 sake of easy count, that one man could take 

 out and replace ten supers in one hour; now 

 suppose each apiary starts a man on this 

 job and each pays $3.00 per day. Of course, 

 it costs the 200-colony man $6.00 and the 

 400 man $12.00. This I should consider 

 something more than a "slight difference." 

 It is true that a large manufacturing con- 

 cern can turn out goods cheaper than a 

 small one, as a 500-barrel flour-mill can turn 

 out a barrel of flour much cheaper than a 

 50-barrel mill; but it is also true that the 50- 

 barrel mill is often running at a good profit 

 when the big mill is shut down by a dull 

 market. So with the honey trade. The 

 400-colony man often finds the honey mar- 

 ket glutted, and is compelled to hold or sell 

 at a sacrifice, while the 75-colony man may, 

 right in his own locality, be selling all the 

 honey he can produce, at a good profit. This 

 serves to some extent to equalize the per- 



