September, 1917 



G L K .\ N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



trouble was nor what caused it ; but judiiiny 

 bj' tbe fact that it disappeared as soon as 

 warm dry weather came, it looks as tho 

 excessive and long-continued wet weather 

 was responsible. Of course, Great Britain 

 has lots of weather each year such as we 

 have been describing', and naturally we at 

 once thought of tlie dreaded Isle of Wight 

 disease. Who can tell us for sure just what 

 the trouble was and what caused it? 



ARE WE NOT JUSTIFIED IX ASKING A GOOD 

 PRICE? 



I read with interest what my friend Hol- 

 termann says on page 594; and while I have 

 no intention of "throwing stones" I should 

 like to ask a question or two. Yet never- 

 theless while asking these questions I might 

 as well admit that I sympathize with his 

 attitude, for in common with Mr. H. we 

 happen to hold some views that are looked 

 upon by the world as peculiar, to say tbe 

 least. In selling your honey at ^4 cent a 

 pound more than last year, did you have 

 any assurance that the purchaser would not 

 cause the consumer to pay four or five cents 

 a pound more than he paid last 3'ear? If 

 such assurance was not given, all your good 

 intentions are pretty sure to be nullified 

 unless the purchaser is different in disposi- 

 tion from the ordinary run of people. 



Money is the medium by which we trade, 

 and for the beekeeper honey must be turned 

 into money, which in turn is traded for the 

 necessities of life. A few examples of the 

 increased cost of living miglit not be out of 

 order, altho I fear they are painfully com- 

 mon to all who work for a living and buy 

 the things they need — a condition with 

 which the majority of us are confronted. 



Altho not heavy meat-eaters, yet our fam- 



ily are not strict vegetarians. Yesterday I 

 walked into the butchei''s shop and was 

 asked 45 cents per pound for bacon. For- 

 merly we could buy it for about 15 cents. 

 The baker called today and we handed him 

 G6 cents for three loaves of bread. We used 

 to get bread at 11 loaves for a dollar. Our 

 family all wear shoes. We have to in win- 

 ter, and they say it looks better in summer. 

 From 50 to 100 per cent would be a safe 

 estimate on advances in that line. We also 

 wear clothes. Cold weather demands it in 

 winter; and that social thing called civiliza- 

 tion, whatever it may mean, demands that 

 we wear some clothes all the time, whether 

 weather be cold or hot. A suit that cost 

 $5.00 for one of my boys would now be 

 about $10 ; and when it comes to replenish- 

 ing the family wardrobe, whether for boys, 

 girls, or the old folks, about the same ad- 

 vances are noticed. Honestly I am up 

 against a problem; for while I dislike to 

 pay these high prices and dislike to see 

 others pay them, how am I going to keep 

 square with the world and pay honest obli- 

 gations and still sell my product at any- 

 where near the old prices? As to the apple 

 crop, it is almost a total failure in our 

 county, and I have no idea where I could at 

 present get the promise of even a barrel of 

 good winter fruit. 



Now, as a man with a large family to 

 support, am I not justified, in view of the 

 low purchasing value of the dollar and the 

 great advance in all the aforesaid neces- 

 saries of life, in asking more than i/4 c^i^t a 

 pound for honey above last year's i^rices? 

 Seriously, we expect to ask and get more 

 than that advance for the small crop we 

 have, and at present we feel quite justified 

 in so doing. 



I 



T never rains, 

 but it pours. 



FLORIDA SUNSHINE 



F i g uratively 

 speaking, all 

 things seem to have combined to make 

 our regi'ets more poignant this year 

 down in our Florida. Orange honey a 

 failure: scrub palmetto almost so. Man- 

 grove yielding nothing, cabbage palmetto 

 is blooming, but giving almost no honey. 

 It seems that fall flowers must be our only 

 source of nectar this year. Of course, at 

 this writing (end of July) it is a bit too 

 soon to jDrophesy for the partridge-pea dis- 

 tricts, and yet that honey, wherever secured, 

 is not a fine table honey. So it is pretty 

 certain tliat Florida will furnish but little 



first-class table 

 honey this sea- 



E. G. Baldwin, Deland, Fla. 



son. And, to re- 

 cur to our head- 

 line, our regrets are double because the 

 piices just now are unusual. Bad enough 

 to have no honey when prices are low. We 

 could console ourselves bj' saying, "Oh, 

 well! not much loss, anyhow." But now! 



HONEY PRICES. 



What few beemen have any honey to offer 

 are securing from 10 to 11 cents now for it, 

 often f. 0. b. their own town stations; and 

 word has reached me that dealers in the 

 North are paying even 12^/2 cents per 

 pound in some instances for good extracted 



