GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BEEICEEPm(C IN CALIEOENIA 



March and April have paid in full all of 

 the days borrowed from May, The closing 

 days of the month were of a variety that 

 would have fitted the season better in the 

 early spring. Fog, fog, fog, has been the 

 complaint of the beekeeper, and justly so, 

 for it has done no less than cut in halves the 

 crop of sage honey. 



* » * 



" BEARING " THE MARKET INSTEAD OF 

 " BULLING " IT. 



The editor of the Western Honey Bee, in 

 the May issue, throws a bomb-shell into the 

 honey market that will not soon be forgot- 

 ten by the beekeepers of the State. It is 

 hard to imagine any thing that could have 

 been done that would have depressed the 

 honey market to the extent that the article 

 spoken of above has done. The beekeeper 

 is always more or less prone to be nervous 

 over the markets, and such reports almost 

 scare them to death. I have heard year 

 after year just such reports, but, as a rule, 

 from representative honey-buyers; but this, 

 coming from the pen of the very man above 

 all others who should bull the market to the 

 best of his ability, has caused profound in- 

 dignation among beekeepers of this section. 

 The editor of the Western Honey Bee is a 

 personal friend of the writer, and his know- 

 ledge of the bee business is fully recognized ; 

 but it is my opinion that he has made a 

 mammoth mistake in giving such a pessimis- 

 tic report of the market, especially when 

 every condition locally was in favor of a 

 steady market, at least, rather than against 

 it, so far as the outlook for sage or other 

 white honey is concerned. The eastern out- 

 put at that date had not yet begun, and 

 there was a chance rather for a shorter crop 

 than last year if we follow the trend of 

 events in the past. The few carloads of 

 honey in and around Los Angeles is not 

 going to injure the market to any great 

 extent if there is an outlet elsewhere. 



The writer has followed the bee business 

 18 years in the East, and is in position to 

 say that it is indeed very seldom that one 

 honey crop follows another the next season 

 in the same locality. If I may venture a 

 prediction, the East will not have as large 

 a crop this season as last. One of the un- 

 pardonable things said in the above article 

 is the following quotations : " And let us 

 welcome a period of low prices for honey 

 as wonderfully stimulating to its consump- 

 tion ;" again quoting, " When two or three 



sections of good comb honey can be bought 

 by the working man for a quarter, and when 

 the tin pail can be filled at the grocery with 

 a gallon of good extracted honey for 50 or 

 60 cents, then we can do business; there will 

 be a demand that all the beekeepers of the 

 coast will be unable to supply." The last of 

 these quotations is absolutely true, for the 

 reason that, with honey at the price named, 

 there would be few beekeepers to supply 

 any demand that such conditions might 

 bring about. Honey in its purity is a lux- 

 ury, has always been so, and always will be, 

 from the fact that the bee business is uncer- 

 tain at the best, so much depending on the 

 vagaries of nature, the loss by disease, and 

 at the present time the expense of equip- 

 ping for the business. A man can not afford 

 to pay the present prices for hives and 

 equipment, nor even for bees, and sell honey 

 at such prices. It would be the ruin of the 

 industry from hive-factory down. 



I see no reason why the beekeepers of 

 Southern California should sacrifice the 

 first crop of sage honey obtained for three 

 years when, on the very face of the facts, 

 the crop cannot be a large one. Raising 

 honey to feed the poor is folly. 



[There is a chance here for an honest 

 dilferenec of opinion as to the best policy to 

 pursue. Perhaps it would have been better 

 to have kept quiet; on the other hand, if 

 conditions are as the editor of the Western 

 Honey Bee reports (and there are some 

 grounds for his fears) it would be folly to 

 put prices too high, for the result later on 

 would be a fearful slump, smashing the 

 market into smithereens. 



We agree with Mr. Chadwick that it is 

 seldom that one good year is followed by 

 another good one. We do not believe that 

 we shall have as heavy a crop of clover in 

 the East as we had last year. If clover falls 

 down even a little it will boost prices in the 

 West, Avithout question. Undoubtedly our 

 policy at the present time should be optim- 

 istic until we can learn what the East is 

 going to do as well as some parts of the 

 West. A few carloads, either of comb or 

 extracted, here and there, left over from 

 last season, should not depress prices too 

 much. For the present, at least, it is wise 

 for us to " look and listen." Prospects for 

 ■a clover crop are good. Rut prospects have 

 been just as good before, with practically 

 no honey later. — Ed.] 



