G I. K A N I N G S IN B K K C U L T U K E 



•TuiA-, 1921. 



honeys, whieli are sometimes excellent and 

 occasionally very unsatisfactory. 



While compulsory grading is still in a 

 somewhat experimental stage there is no 

 movement in opposition to the system as a 

 whole nor any suggestion of abandoning it. 

 When, before the state meeting, rumors of 

 an anticipated grading debate spread, coun- 

 ty associations began passing resolutions 

 favoring the grades and instructing their 



delegates to support them. Wisconsin bee- 

 keepers believe that standardization will be 

 the biggest help in the present rapid com- 

 mercialization of the honey industry, as it 

 has already proven a most important fac- 

 tor in the organization of a large co-opera- 

 tive company to improve honey distribution. 

 But that is another story. 

 Madison, Wis. 



DEAR MR. 

 EDITOR: 



We h, a V e 

 your letters of 

 June 2 and June 

 4, transmitting a 

 complaint and a 

 suggested arti- 

 cle for publica- 

 tion in Glean- 

 ings in refer- 

 ence thereto re- 

 garding the ac- 

 curacy of the 

 honey market 

 reports issued 

 by this Bureau. 

 The person 

 making the com- 

 plaint is in di- 

 rect communica- 

 tion with this 

 Bureau and di- 

 rect reply has 

 been made. We 

 do not feel that 



GOVERNMENT MARKET REPORTS 



How They Are Secured, and Why 



They Are Authentic, Dependable, 



and Wholly Impartial 



By C. W. Kitchen 



Specialist in Market News, Bureau of Markets, U. S. Department of 

 Agricuture, Washington, D. C. 



[There are some beekeepers in the country who 

 have not understood how the government market 

 reports are secured. One of our readers not un- 

 derstanding all the fact.s in the case complained 

 that the government figures were incorrect for his 

 section of country. We sent his letter on to the 

 Bureau of Markets, suggesting that they reply, and 

 the following is a general statement, not a specific 

 reply, giving the history of how these reports were 

 first started and how the information is obtained. 

 There could be absolutely nothing more impartial 

 and unbiased. That the reports may be incorrect 

 at times for some localities is possibly true. The 

 Bureau of Markets is always ready to receive help- 

 ful criticisms and any suggestions that will help 

 the beekeepers of the country generally in getting 

 correct information from all important centers of 

 the country. Every honey producer and all others 

 who have honey and wax to sell will be glad to 

 read this. — Ed.] 



r e g u 1 a>r collec- 

 tiou of price in- 

 fo r m a tion on 

 honey market 

 conditions, 

 which informa- 

 tion was to be 

 published semi- 

 m o n t h 1 y. We 

 were informed 

 that prior to the 

 inauguration of 

 our service no 

 reliable or au- 

 thentic informa- 

 tion • on honey 

 m a. r k e t condi- 

 tions was avail- 

 able to the bee- 

 keeper. 



The market 

 reports on honey 

 which now in- 

 clude informa- 

 tion on beeswax 

 are published on 



the nature of 

 this criticism justifies public discussion of 

 the points involved, and, therefore, the spe- 

 cific points mentioned may be left for set- 

 tlement by direct correspondence; but it is 

 believed that a brief description of the 

 semi-monthly market reporting service on 

 honey conducted by the Bureau of Markets, 

 outlining its purposes and methods, would 

 be timely and interesting to the readers of 

 your journal. 



The market reports on honey were started 

 four years ago by this Bureau at the re- 

 quest of Dr. Phillips, the Apiculturist of the 

 Bureau of Entomology of this Department. 

 At that time we were organizing a nation- 

 wide market reporting service on fruits and 

 vegetables based on the principle that those 

 who have anything to sell need reliable in- 

 formation, that they should know the mar- 

 ket conditions surrounding the sale of their 

 I^roducts, and that of all the factors in- 

 volved in the complex and intricate machin- 

 ery used in the marketing of perishable 

 products, the grower or producer is usually 

 least informed. It w^as felt that the same 

 princiiile applied to honey, and, therefore, 

 instructions were issued to our various mar- 

 ket reporters to begin the systematic and 



the 1st and 15th 

 of each month. More than 2000 people are 

 now receiving them direct from our office 

 and the information is wddely quoted. The 

 information is of two classes, one including 

 I)rices and conditions in producing areas, and 

 the other comprising quotations and a state- 

 ment of general conditions in the large city 

 markets. The latter class of information is 

 collected by representatives in charge of our 

 branch offices in the respective cities by reg- 

 ular inquiry of the receivers of honey and 

 bee products. Our representatives are salaried 

 men who devote their entire time to the work 

 of this Bureau and, therefore, in no way can 

 their figures be interpreted as biased or col- 

 ored to correspond with personal opinions 

 or the advancement of personal interests. 

 If errors occur (a reasonable percentage 

 may be expected in any reporting service, 

 official or unofficial), they are due to the re- 

 ceipt of misinformation without detection 

 on our part or mechanical or clerical mis- 

 takes in haiuHing it. 



The quotations from the city markets rep- 

 resent prices paid by jobbers, wholesale con- 

 fectioners, bakers, and bottlers. Reports 

 are received from Boston, Chicago, Cleve- 

 land, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, 



