1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



729 



left the well-beaten path of box hives, and 

 in their place adopted movable-comb hives. 

 There was no phantom about that either. 

 Also a small minority that left the well- 

 beaten path of keeping black bees, and in 

 their place keep only good strains of Ital- 

 ians—no phantom about that. Yes, and a 

 small minority that left the well-beaten 

 path of squeezing their honey through a 

 bag, and in its place adopted the improved 

 honey- extractors of to-day. No phantom 

 about that; and it has so happened that a 

 small minority at one time left that well- 

 beaten path of producing their surplus comb 

 honey in coarse hemlock boxes holding 15 or 

 20 lbs. apiece, and adopted the nice attract- 

 ive section of the present day— no phantom 

 about leaving that beaten path, that I can 

 see. I might continue to cite many more 

 cases where a small minority have left 

 beaten paths in all lines of business and be- 

 come the leaders of progress. History 

 shows us, in thousands of instances, where 

 minorities have been in the right, and were 

 a target for the arrows of critics who only 

 followed in their wake and drifted with the 

 masses. 



In conclusion I will say that I expect to 

 be criticised as long as I represent a small 

 minority of bee-keepers, especially while 

 my ideas and experience become a part of 

 Gleanings, and through that journal they 

 go to many parts of the world, and are read 

 by tens of thousands of bee-keepers. 



Delanson, N. Y. 



WHAT IS TO BLAME FOR THE PRESENT 

 STATE OF THE HONEY MARKET? 



The MaDufactured-comb-honey Story from the 



Standpoint of a Traveling Man who is also 



a Bee-keeper; Exhibitions of Bees 



and Honey. 



BY GEO. SHIBER. 



There has been considerable discussion of 

 late in Gleanings as to why the honey mar- 

 ket is so dead, and the demand seemingly 

 decreasing. The market price is no better 

 the past fall and winter with, apparently, 

 but half a crop. Of course, there is a rea- 

 son for all this; and that is what we should 

 all like to find out. Everybody has a theory. 

 Some think the manufactured-comb honey 

 story is the cause; more think this the rea- 

 son, may be, than any other one thing. There 

 are other theories, but we will not consider 

 them just now. We will let them crop out 

 in the course of this article. 



Let us consider the question in all its bear- 

 ing. For a number of years I have been 

 "on the road" selling goods at wholesale to 

 grocers; and, being a producer of honey as 

 well, it has given me an exceptionally good 

 chance to dispose of my own crop at good 

 prices. I laave never had enough to supply 

 my demand yet. It has given me a good 

 chance to study the honey question with the 

 retailers. 



Now, then, honor bright, how many or 



what percentage of the people, retailers 

 and consumers, believe that comb honey is 

 manufactured, or that there is something 

 crooked about its production? Well, I will 

 try to be conservative; and from my experi- 

 ence I would say fully ninety per cent! As a 

 corollary, then people ought to believe that 

 eggs, potatoes, peaches, apples, etc., are 

 manufactured; but we know they do not. 

 Why, the city- bred man, the most ignorant 

 of agriculture, would smile at the idea, 

 and why? Because they have been educated 

 on the chicken question by reason of the 

 great poultry shows held in every city and 

 small town in the land; and the more they 

 hold the shows, and the more people engage 

 in poultry culture, the higher goes the price 

 of their products. What would poultry- 

 keepers think of some smart reporter print- 

 ing a story about manufactured eggs? None 

 of the poultry journals would give it any no- 

 tice at all unless it was a passing laugh, and 

 people would keep on eating eggs. 



It's astonishing the number of poultry 

 shows held in the United States in a single 

 season. The smallest towns are having 

 them. Within fifty miles of my home, the 

 past season, shows were held in Corry, Pa. ; 

 Salamanca, N. Y. ; 01ean,N. Y. ; Dunkirk, N. 

 Y. ; Bradford, Pa. , five shows. Suppose, as 

 Mr. Morrison says, we could have a few bee 

 shows next season— what would happen? 

 And, by the way, a bee and honey show 

 with a large class of the different varieties 

 of bees on exhibition in commodious cages 

 would cap the climax over all shows. One 

 or two hundred colonies and nuclei would 

 create more talk and comment among the 

 public and newspapers than the dog, horse, 

 or poultry shows, because of its very novel- 

 ty, and the honey-bee would receive pages 

 of free advertising, that it is entitled to. 

 Then let the newspapers print comb-honey 

 lies. No one would swallow it. Then they 

 would stop printing them. Comb honey has 

 to be sold on its looks and appearance. It 

 has to carry its own story with it to the con- 

 sumer. The only trade-mark or brand to 

 identify it is its own white face, as the com- 

 mission man will not allow any name of 

 producer upon it— just the bare white wood 

 —nothing in its appearance to refute false 

 assertions about it— a thing not so likely to 

 occur if it were plainly marked with the 

 name of the producer and location of apiary. 



This country is the greatest market in the 

 world. I mean for every thing except hon- 

 ey. If there were one pound of honey con- 

 sumed a year per capita, that would mean 

 about 75,000,000 pounds. I have not got 

 the statistical number of pounds produced 

 in the United States by me; but look at 

 ^hat a market we ought to have. I can not 

 see any way to obtain that market except 

 through education; and education, in my 

 opinion, <an be the most cheaply obtained 

 from the show. 



I can conceive how a colony of bees might 

 be exhibited on the eight frames only, no 

 hive-body being used at all. Simply suspend 

 the eight or any number of frames upon a 



