E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



EDITORIAL 



THE OTHER DAY the editor stood at one 

 of the Brooklyn docks, New York, and saw 

 2000 tons of honey 



STARTLING 



MARKET 



CONDITION. 



ready to load on a 

 ship for Italy, and 

 more to follow. 

 Two thousand tons, 

 or a whole shipload, and selling at 14 cents 

 per pound on the dock ! A little of it was 

 mountain sage from California, but most of 

 it was from the bellflower, from Cuba. All 

 of it was honey, as the marks showed, and 

 as the ooze from between the cracks of the 

 barrel-staves plainly showed. If the reader 

 can imagine a stack of barrels and cases 10 

 feet high 50 feet deep and extending the 

 length of a dock for some 300 feet he will 

 be able to form some idea of the quantity. 

 We were anxious to secure a photo ; but, no. 

 Strict government regulations prevented. 

 On asking the superintendent of the dock 

 he assured us that, while he would be very 

 glad to grant us the i^rivilege of taking a 

 picture, he had jDositive instructions to per- 

 mit no camera to be used. 



This large amount of honey was bought 

 and sold to Paton & Crowell, of NeAV York, 

 to agents of the Italian government. 



Fact No. 2. — We learned of another ship- 

 ment going to the same government, consist- 

 ing of 1000 barrels of West India honey, 

 selling for slightly less than 14 cents. 



Fact No. 3. — A lot of 100 tons of honey 

 from the West Indies was sold to a broker 

 for 66 cents a gallon. Fifteen minutes after 

 arrival at the dock the entire lot was sold at 

 $1.80 a gallon— a net profit of $20,000 all in 

 one deal. Said the broker, with a twinkle 

 in his eye : 



"You may call that robbery. Say, Mr. 

 Root, if a honey-producer would otfer you a 

 fine lot of honey at a ijrice below its mar- 

 ket value, would you say to him, 'My dear 

 fellow, I love you so dearly that out of the 

 goodness of my heart I am going to tell you 

 that the honey is worth more than that, and 

 I will pay you the full market price?' Or 

 would you say, 'I will take it,' as I didf 



And, again, when a buyer, seeing that 

 honey, called me up on the phone and asked 

 me what I would take for it, I was afraid 

 to make him an offer. The fact was I want- 

 ed time to catch my breath. I told him I 

 did not want to sell that day. When he 

 said, 'AVell, make me an offer,' I thought I 

 would make a price that he would not be 

 able to accept, as I did not want to sell at 

 the market prices then i:)revailing. But 

 when he did accept, do you think I was 

 going to say to him, 'My dear fellow, you 

 are paying too much?' Not on your life. 

 When the buyer and producer do not know 

 what a commodity is worth they have got 

 to pay me for what they do not know but 

 ought to know. I ain't in business for my 

 health." 



Then he gave a little chuckle and a twist 

 of the hand, suggesting he would do it 

 again if he had a chance. 



Fact No. 4. — ^The Italian government is 

 buying enormous quantities of honey. Their 

 agents have been buying recklessly. In the 

 meantime Great Britain and France, more 

 conservative, seem to have dropped out, 

 altho they are watching their chances; but 

 apparently they are not willing to i^ay the 

 prices that Italy has been paying. 



Fact No. 5. — There appears to have been 

 a large crop of Cuban and West India 

 honey the i^ast season. All of it has gone to 

 Euroi^e. 



Fact No. 6. — There is a shortage in the 

 crop of extracted honey in the eastern 

 states as eomiDared with last year. Some 

 estimate it at 25 per cent of last year's 

 crop and others 50 per cent, while a few 

 report a normal yield. There was a failure 

 in Texas, short crop in California, a light 

 yield in Colorado, and a fair yield in Idaho. 

 Fact No. 7. — All last year's honey, comb 

 and extracted, has been cleaned up. 



Fact No. 8. — Brokers and big buyers are 

 scouring the market for extracted honey. 

 One broker is bidding against another, all 

 of which lias a tendency to "bull" the mar- 

 ket. Said one broker : "Tlie market is de- 



