OcTiiBKK 19 JO 



G T. E A N T X O S T N B K E C I' T. T I' R E 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



agreeing that they are right, and dwelling 

 largely on the virtues of your own honey, 

 which, aside from any moral standpoint, 

 would be poor policy. ' ' Knocking ' ' one 's 

 competitor never did any one permanent 

 good. The ethics of beekeeping should 

 prompt us to offer to gamble on the purity 

 of our competitor 's honey in such cases, pro- 

 vided it is represented by him to be so (even 

 if gambling, perhaps, isn't ethical). Your 

 competitor may be broad enough to do the 

 same — not that the writer advocates a policy 

 of ' ' scratching each other 's back, " so to 

 speak, but it precludes further spread of a 

 false impression. 



It also seeins to be a mistake to speak 

 to the layman of feeding bees sugar for win- 

 ter stores. No amount of explaining will 

 quite convince hira that he isn't being asked 

 to pay 40 cents a pound for some of that 

 sugar. 



Another subject which, in such cases, it 

 would seem better not to bring up uuneces- 

 t'ssarily is that of bee diseases. Foul brood, 

 paralysis, dysentery, etc., sound ' ' simply 

 awful ' ' to unaccustomed ears, and mention 

 of them had better be reserved for discus- 

 sion in company where they are better un- 

 derstood; otherwise they do not tend to 

 create an appetite for our product. 



A. G. Van Ronzelen. 



St. Louis, Mo. 



THIS YEAR'S HONEY CROP 



The Amount ot Honey Obtained in New York 

 and its Probable Price 



It has been noted by some that a good 

 honey season follows heavy winter losses, 

 but this season has proved an exception in 

 many localities. In beekeeping as well as 



in other occupations there are always some 

 important "ifs" to be taken into consider- 

 ation, and, in this case, if the dry weather 

 of last season had not occurred and killed 

 much of the young clover and if we had 

 not had a cold spring that held back brood- 

 rearing and if we had not had very dry 

 weather during the spring and early sum- 

 mer just when we needed the moisture to 

 develop the clover that survived the drouth 

 of last season and if no other "ifs" inter- 

 vened, we would have had the expected 

 good honey crops from the bees that sur- 

 vived. As it happens, a very poor honey 

 season is the lot of the beekeepers in 

 western New York except where local 

 rains last summer saved the clover. How- 

 ever, in some localities in the State the 

 crop has been normal, notably in central 

 New York. 



The prospects for late summer and fall 

 honey are good. Since the first of July 

 there has been a gOod growing season, and 

 all fall flowers, such as goldeurod and 

 aster, as well as buckwheat, of which the 

 usual acreage has been sown, are in un- 

 usually good condition. 



Besides the conditions above noted that 

 prevented a good crop of clover honey, the 

 quantity that will be available" for market 

 will be curtailed, owing to the activity of 

 beekeepers in making up their winter losses 

 of bees. Increases in excess of 100% are 

 common, and this will consume a large 

 quantity of honey that otherwise would be 

 available for market. 



In such localities as have a poor crop 

 all honey produced will be consumed local- 

 ly, and good prices will be obtained with- 

 out difficulty. Where the amount of honey 

 produced is in excess of local needs, of 

 course the prices ruling thruout the coun- 



Thp snow was deep in Tlios. Murlin's apiary at \Vaii»ti';i<l. Ontario. 



