566 



GLEANINGS IN I3EE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 



GAinBI^IAG IN FAKOT PKOBUCTS. 



I PRESUME our readers, in common 

 with the rest of mankind, liave 

 — ■ been touched with the temptation to 

 speculate, since the recent higli prices of 

 wheat, etc. Don't do it! don't do it. If 

 you gain, you are liarmed ; and if you lose, 

 you are harmed. The greater harm will 

 probably come if you should chance to be 

 among the few who gain, for it will unfit 

 you, and spoil your relish and enjoyment for 

 all honest, fair, and square day's work It 

 is only one of the many ways the evil one 

 has of getting good men away from their 

 own good honest work. I can most heartily 

 emphasize the following from the American 

 Agriculturist, especially the item about sell- 

 ing your crops, getting the money, and pay- 

 ing up debts. It is the same with honey. 

 Sell when you can get a fair price; get the 

 money, and pay up debts, if you have any. 



THE GREAT GRAIN SPECULATION, OR "CRAZE," OF 

 1881. 



Never before in this country, or in any other, has 

 there been any thing- at all comparable to the pres- 

 ent speculation, rather " gambling;," in wheat, corn, 

 and oats, and in hog products. This gambling spirit 

 has taken possession of large masses of people, and 

 extends from the great dealers who handle or bet on 

 tens of millions of bushels, down through all ranks, 

 to the hotel-waiter who puts up his week's wages as 

 a "margin" on the purchase of a single hundred 

 bushels. 



So great is the present rage of this kind of specu- 

 lation, that on some days sales reach tens of millions 

 of bushels. On one day (Oct. 1) the "deliveries" of 

 grain, on previous contracts, were reported at 33,- 

 000,000 bushels in Chicago alone I 



This speculation has demoralized the whole trade. 

 The " bulls " have run up prices so high as to nearly 

 stop exports. On Oct. 1, the "visible supply" of 

 wheat (that is, wheat in the elevators and store- 

 houses, and in transit) amounted to 41,~0:i,t)48 bush- 

 els. Last year at the same there were only 37,099,745 

 bushels, showing more available wheat now than one 

 year ago, though prices are fully 40 per cent higher. 

 Nearly the same of corn, the "visible supply" being 

 near 37,649,173 bushels ; last year, 28,289,298 bushels. 



The increased price, produced largely by specula- 

 tion, is beneticjal to all those producers able to get 

 their grain to market while these high rates prevail. 

 But it is deranging almost all other business very 

 greatly. Money is drawn in immense sums from the 

 banks, and from all other legitimate business, to 

 supply the " margins," or to carry the stocks actu- 

 ally purchased and held by speculators. 



Exporting being at a standstill, the inflow of for- 

 eign money we should have is nearly stopped, and 

 European buyers are seeking cheaper supplies in all 

 other parts of the world. 



The high speculative prices arc greatly diminish- 

 ing the consumption, and this alone must, ere long, 

 bring about a decline. The laboring classes are 

 compelled to pay much higher rates for their daily 

 food, the advances mainly going into the hands of 

 the speculators. Labor must therefore advance, 

 and this in turn increases the cost, of manufactures 

 and of all products of labor. 



Of course, every speculator, large and small, ex- 

 pects to sell out before any great decline shall come, 

 and the shrewder ones will do so, leaving the great 

 mass to bear the brunt of the loss. 



Clear-headed business men now greatly fear that 

 in the future, perhaps the very near future, a crash 

 will come that will derange the whole business of 

 the country. 



To the oft-repeated question from our readers, 

 "Shall we sell now, or hold on?" we can only an- 

 swer, that a good general rule is to sell whenever 

 ready; get the money; pay up debts, and keep in as 

 snug and safe a condition as possible. To sell, or 

 hold on for change of prices, is to speculate on great 

 uncertainty. One-half of the speculators who make 

 a business of studying the prospects — viz., the sell- 

 ers for future delivery — believe prices will fall. 

 The other half of them — the buyers— believe grain, 



etc., will go higher, from natural causes, or that 

 they can "corner" the supplies, and put up the 

 rates. The outlook would seem to be that, while 

 speculative intluences may sustain or even advance 

 prices temporarily, there can hardly be a demand 

 for all the grain, etc. Consumers, both at home and 

 abroad, will necessarily curtail their purchases 

 very materially, and these high rates will call out 

 supplies from other sources not usually drawn 

 upon. 



GUEAMmC S m BEE CULTURE. 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



MEDINA, O. 



TERMS: $1.00 PER YEAR, POST-PAID. 



FOR CLUBBING RATES, SEE FIRST PAGE 

 OF BEADING MATTER. 



l^/LJSSJ^T.lS^.A^, i^o-^t". i, leei. 



Let no man deceive you with vain words; for be- 

 cause of these things cometh the wrath of God upon 

 the children of disobedience.— Ephesians 5: 6. 



After this date, the Simplicity smokers will be 

 sold at the same price as the new Clark. 



We have to-day, October 28th, 4,473 subscribers. 

 One more month, and then comes the annual tum- 

 ble in our subscription list. 



By our new price list, dated Nov. 1st, you will see 

 that we have advanced the price of queens for No- 

 vember one-fourth. This is chiefly on account of 

 the greater risk in shipping in colder weather. 



UASSWOOD-TKEES. 



Our friends will observe we have taken the above 

 trees out of our price list. The reason is, that the 

 supply in our neighboring forests is exhausted. We 

 are just now thinking of starting a basswood nur- 

 sery. 



The comb honey we are selling in our lunch room 

 cost. us 21 cts., and we are selling it for 24. It is not 

 in 1-lb. sections, either. If it was, it would cost us 

 more money still. Have bee-keepers any thing to 

 complain of in the way of prices ? 



If you don't want your bees to raise any brood un- 

 til next April, why just take away their queens, and 

 buy some more when you want them, of the friends 

 South. This is my invention, aud I hereby give no- 

 tice, that nobody is to get it patented, or sell it as a 

 secret. 



Please, friends, do not take it for granted, when 

 you do not see your articles or reports in the very 

 next journal, that I do not think them worthy of 

 notice. It takes time to get around to these things, 

 and a pretty good heap of matter is almost always 

 waiting for consideration. 



Friend D. A. Jones sends out a very pretty circu- 

 lar and price list, and gives in it, gratis, his method 

 of wintering bees; also some interesting matter 

 about his new races of bees. As we are much in- 

 terested in friend Jones's experiments and ventures, 

 I presume every one will want it. 



Do not be in haste to decide a colony is queenless 

 this month, even if you do not tind eggs or brood. 

 Unless you have been feeding regularly, it would be 

 singular if you did. Neither is it to be wondered at, 



