944 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



press, otherwise there will be a lot of valu- 

 able wax lost.— Ed.] 



CORNERING THE COMB-HONEY CROP IN 



1905. 



The Biggest Honey Deal on Record; a Little 

 Inside History Just Made Public. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



It will be remembered that, during the 

 early part of 1905, the condition of the hon- 

 ey market, so far as prices were concerned, 

 was any thing but satisfactory. Had the 

 season of 1905 been an extraordinarily good 

 one, or even an average one, there is no 

 knowing where prices would have gone. 

 Whether fortunately or otherwise, the sea- 

 son proved to be the shortest ever known in 

 the experience of bee-keepers, and the act- 

 ual returns showed that the crop was a very 

 light one. In the Western States the amount 

 of honey secured was unusually light. In 

 the East no honey of any account found its 

 way into the markets except from Michigan, 

 where the season proved to be good. When 

 it became evident that the crop would be 

 short, prices began to tone up. 



But there was another factor at work 

 stiffening the prices that had already slump- 

 ed to a low level— a factor that the general 

 bee-keeping world knew nothing about, and 

 we bumped up against it only incidentally a 

 short time ago. 



Thos. C. Stanley & Son, formerly of Dixon, 

 111., now of Manzanola, Col., learning from 

 Gleanings that the crop was a very short 

 one, conceived the idea of buying up all the 

 western car lots of comb honey in sight. 

 This would seem impossible if not fool- 

 hardy. But the junior member of the firm, 

 Thos. J. Stanley, relying on the reports in 

 Gleanings, traveled extensively through 

 the West; and where the honey had not al- 

 ready been sold he bought it up until he had 

 actually cornered some 35 carloads of honey. 

 He bought in Arizona, California, and Neva- 

 da, as well as in his own State, Colorado, 

 until he had all the available supply of table 

 honey. Wherever he could hear of another 

 carload he bought that up ; for it would not 

 have done to let a stray carload get into the 

 Eastern markets and knock the price away 

 down, even below some of the prices he had 

 already paid. It was, therefore, necessary 

 to get into the position where he could 

 "bull" the market. He was, therefore, 

 forced to put out an investment of between 

 $90,000 and $100,000, trusting to luck to come 

 out whole, and, if possible, to make a little 

 profit. This took "nerve" to go in that 

 deep when it is remembered that comb hon- 

 ey rapidly depreciates in value, and that the 

 selling season would soon be gone. 



The junior Mr. Stanley figures that if 35 

 carloads had been allowed to break loose on 

 the Eastern market, depressed as it was 

 early in the season, prices would never have 

 advanced. But he held it until they began 

 to tone up, now and then letting loose a car- 



load as the market would stand it, never 

 letting it be known, of course, the big re 

 serve he was holding. After a little the 

 buyers were forced to come to him as he 

 was the only man who had any supply. He 

 kept selling until he had got down to about 

 twenty carloads. This was as late as Thanks 

 giving day. Things began to look a little 

 dubious to him, especially when he heard 

 that Cuban honey was being shipped into 

 New York. But this, fortunately for Mr. 

 Stanley, proved to be a mistake. He held 

 the prices up, selling a carload here and 

 there, until at the close of the selling sea- 

 son he had disposed of practically the entire 

 lot. 



When asked as to whether he had made 

 any money out of the deal he merely remark- 

 ed that, while he advanced and held up prices, 

 he was not sure that he had cleaned up any 

 very big profit. When I ventured to inquire 

 whether he would try it again or not he gave 

 his head a doubtful shake, saying it took 

 too much nerve and worry to handle such a 

 lot of honey; that if the season should be at 

 all favorable with an output of between 600 

 and 700 carloads of comb and extracted 

 honey— well, he just would not try it. 



Probably this feat of Mr. Stanley could 

 not be duplicated except in a like season of 

 scarcity of honey. It is doubtful whether 

 any one else will ever have the nerve to buy 

 up $90,000 or $100,000 worth of honey and 

 trust to luck to get out whole. The very 

 great danger of damage in shipment to 

 comb honey would necessarily make capital 

 very slow about lajing in a big store of it. 



Thos. C. Stanley & Son have been in the 

 bee business for a number of years, having 

 started in 1884, in the swampy lands of Skil- 

 let Fork River in the southern part of Illi- 

 nois. They have had all the way from 500 

 to 2000 colonies, some winters losing large 

 numbers in wintering. The senior member 

 of the firm spent seven years in the Cumber- 

 land Mountains of Tennessee, some 75 miles 

 north of Chattanooga; but it is the junior 

 member, Thomas J. Stanley, who has been 

 the active honey- buyer. We are glad to in- 

 troduce both of these gentlemen— the senior 

 member of the firm in his characteristic atti- 

 tude, for he is devoutly religious, an ardent 

 Methodist, and now in his 76th year finds 

 great pleasure and solace in reading the 

 Bible and other religious works. 



The junior member has appeared at a 

 number of the National conventions, and will 

 be recognized as the active man of the firm 

 of Thomas C. Stanley & Son. He is a gen- 

 tleman of large physique and commanding 

 presence, with a pleasant manner. 



I may state thiit it was with some reluc- 

 tance '^n the part of the younger Mr. Stanley 

 that T obtained the facts for this writeup. 

 He felt that some among the bee-fraternity 

 might misconstrue the facts here given, to 

 the disadvantage of his company; for be it 

 known there are a few bee keepers who be 

 lieve that many of the honey-buyers are but 

 little better than a hungry vulture, ready to 

 squeeze the last cent out of them, buying at 



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