Septembkr, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN B K JO CULTURE 



723 



for 25 C€nts. He is quite a ponKrvninii, 

 and sells eggs in the same way; and wliile 

 lie is delivering' eggs he can, of course, de- 

 liver the honey. He puts 3 pounds of honey 

 in a fruit-jar and gets the jar back at his 

 uipxt call. Well, at our semi-monthly con- 

 vention, others who were getting- 10 cents 

 suggested that he should raise the price. 

 His reply was that he could get 10 cents 

 from some customers, but it would take a 

 gi'eat deal more time. At 8 cents it went 

 riglit olf rai)idly without any arguing, and 

 he could get back quickly to his work. 

 Furthermore, he said that other beekeepers 

 in the vicinity had been retailing at G and 7 

 cents. Another beekeepier who had been 

 selling at 10 cents said he could probably 

 get I2V2 cents from most of his customers, 

 but it would take so much more time that he 

 ]ireferred to make it an even 10 cents — 

 that is, of course, without a "container." 

 Well, just now, Aug. 1, I have a letter from 

 the friend tirst mentioned, saying he had 

 about 3000 pounds which he would like to 

 sell all in a lump, as he had become tired of 

 lieddling- it out. I asked one of our honey- 

 buyers what he could jn'obably give for it. 

 He replied that if it was up to the average 

 Florida honey we could allow him 9 cents, 

 we standing the freight. 



There you have the matter, friends — a 

 beekeeper who is carrying his honey ai'ound 

 to houses, and selling it at 3 pounds for a 

 quarter when he could have spot cash 9 

 cents for the whole lot almost right at his 

 door! Now, this is only an illustration of 

 what is going on all over the United States, 

 and jierhaps more or less all over the world. 

 It is because of the unsettled condition of 

 ]irices, or a want of harmony, if w.e may 

 so express it, among buyers and sellers. 

 Tliere is no such trouble, or very little such 

 trouble, with butter and eggs, becarse pro- 

 ducers and consumers, with the help (?) of 

 tlie middleman, have decided about what 

 would be a fail- valuation considering both 

 producer and consumer. And there ought 

 to be a friendly discussion and agreement in 

 Degard to these matters. With the help of 

 the Department at Washington I think this 

 will soon be brought about. There are diffi- 

 culties, I know ; but when all parties shall 

 agree to the spirit of our Lord and Master, 

 such as is taught in God's holy book, there 

 will be no trouble about settling on a fair 

 lirioe for all parties concerned. 



Suppose we examine briefly some of the 

 difficulties. First, there is a difference in 

 quality of butter, eggs, and honey. Strictly 

 fresh eggs ought to command a few cents 

 moi-e a dozen, and I believe they usually 

 do. Cold-storage eggs, sold for exactly 



what they are, are usually several ceiils a 

 dozen less. 



Secondly, there is this matter of buying 

 up the eggs and cornering the market until 

 there seems to be a scar-city, and then the 

 price goes up. And there might be gam- 

 bling in butter, eggs, and honey a good deal 

 as there is in wheat; but our government is 

 trying hard just now to put an end to this 

 sort of gambling. May the Holy Si)irit 

 g-ive us wisdom and understanding- in tack- 

 ling this bacl evil. You know I have 

 strongly urged short cuts between producer 

 and consumer; but even that may be abused 

 as in the first illustration. At our Braden- 

 town home in Florida eggs are frequently 

 (or have been) down to 15 or 20 cents, say 

 in March or April. Well, this price does 

 not begin to pay for the feed for the 

 chickens; and if eggs did not go up in the 

 fall toward 40 to 50 cents it would nearly 

 wind u}:) the chicken business. 



I have suggested cold storage so as to 

 even things up ; but the idea does not seem 

 to have taken hold down in Florida. If you 

 are reading the papers you are doubtless 

 well aware that> there has been a lot of 

 severe criticism in regard to the middle- 

 men, or those Avho buy and sell the neces- 

 saries of life. Some time ago a lot of good 

 women in Cleveland made a boycott on eggs, 

 jiledging themselves not to use eggs until 

 the price should come down. This had its 

 effect, of course; but without being fully 

 posted in regard to the matter they started 

 their ' boycott just as the hens began to 

 moult ; and instead of blaming the hens 

 they blamed the comparatively innocent 

 middleman. Now, if it were not for these 

 same middlemen or cold-storage men we 

 should have a state of affairs ever so much 

 worse than now. The troubles about the 

 projier price of milk are not exactly like 

 the things I have mentioned, because milk is 

 very jierishable. But I fear that many 

 times both jn-oducers and consumers are 

 criticising severely the middlemen who are 

 really their friends — at least to a certain 

 ■extent. 



A little illustration occuned right in 

 front of our homes here in Medina a few 

 days ago. Just as the basswoods came into 

 bloom an army of tussock moths or worms 

 began defoliating the basswooods. Ernest 

 got out his S)iraying-machine and gave them 

 such a drenching- with arsenate of lead that 

 the worms were wound up in short order. I 

 was a little afraid he might do harm as well 

 as good, and consulted my good friend 

 Neille, the deaf-mule, who is entomologist 

 for the shade trees in the great city of 

 Cleveland. He at once jioinfed out great 



