(Entered as second-class matter Jaly 30, 1907. at the Post-Offlce at Chicago, III., under Act of March 3, 1879.) 



Published Monthly at 75 cents a Year, by George W. York & Company, 146 West Superior Street, 



GEORGE W, YORK. Editor. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associate Editor 



CHICAGO. ILL.. NOVEMBER. 1909 



VoLXLIX— No. II 



jiKiforial ^ofes 

 and CommeTifs 



The Price of Honey 



Further reports confirm the view that 

 in many places there is a shortage of 

 the crop, and where is no more than 

 can be consumed in the home market 

 the bee-keeper has the matter of prices 

 to an extent in his own hands. The 

 slipshod bee-keeper may put what little 

 he has on the market at a price below 

 what is reasonable, but that cannot last 

 long. The up-to-date bee-keeper can 

 bide his time, holding his honey for 

 what he thinks is a reasonable price. 



Just at this point — deciding what is 

 a reasonable price — there is one mis- 

 take that even well-informed bee-keep- 

 ers are apt to make. In a good season, 

 when there is enough honey produced 

 in the vicinity to supply the local mar- 

 ket and a little more, Mr. Bee-Keeper 

 decides between sending to a commis- 

 sion merchant and selling in his own 

 market, and concludes that after taking 

 into consideration freight, commission, 

 risk of loss in transportation, etc., he 

 prefers to sell comb honey in his home 

 market for 2% cents a pound less than 

 the price quoted by the commission 

 man — a fair way to do, providing he 

 has made the proper estimate. 



Then comes a poor season; all the 

 home product, and more too, is needed 

 to supply the home market. Mr. B. 

 follows the saftie rule ; looks at the 

 commission quotations, and fixes his 

 price at so much below. He reasons 

 just as he did before, that it is all the 

 same to him whether he sends what 

 little he has to the commission man, or 

 sells it at home for lyi cents less. 

 Well, if it is all the same, suppose he 

 sends away. The grocer will, in that 

 case, send to the commission man, and 

 the cost to the grocer will be the quo- 

 tation of the commission man plus the 



freight. Even if he sends none away, 

 the grocer will buy from the commis- 

 sion man afterthe home product is dis- 

 posed of. Now is there any sort of 

 reason why the grocer should not pay 

 the bee-keeper at least as much as he 

 pays the commission man, to say noth- 

 ing of the freight? 



A case may easily happen where an 

 injustice to others may happen by fol- 

 lowing the same rule in a year of fail- 

 ure as in a flush year. Mr. B. is the 

 only one who has any surplus in the 

 place, and sells it to a grocer, Mr. C, 

 at the usual 'Z'/i cents below the com- 

 mission price. The other grocers, who 

 have to send oflf for their honey, must 

 meet the price set by Mr. C, or else 

 wait till he is sold out. Mr. B. gains 

 nothing by it; he loses. He should 

 learn tliat in short seasons, when there 

 is no more honey produced locally 

 than will be consumed in the home 

 market, his price should be at least as 

 much as the price quoted by the com- 

 mission man. 



Top Hive-Protection for Winter 



To insist that for winter protection 

 it is of greater importance to cover the 

 top than the sides of the hive is noth- 

 ing new. So far, however, there has 

 been nothing said to lead one to be- 

 lieve that with a given amount of top 

 protection there would not be an ad- 

 vantage in having along with it the 

 most protection possible for the sides. 

 Now comes Jay Smith, in Gleanings, 

 and argues that it is important that the 

 sides be colder than the top. His rea- 

 soning seems good. If the sides be 

 colder the moisture will condense 

 there and run down without disturbing 

 the bees. Otherwise it will condense 



overhead and drop upon them. He 

 uses top cushions of ground cork, 

 sewed through and tied like a com- 

 forter; paints the inside of a telescope 

 cover, drops in the cushion on the wet 

 paint and lets it dry there, so as to be 

 a permanent part of the cover. 



Texas Enterprise in Fair Exhibits 



Tlie plan of having as a permanent 

 outfit for the Texas State Fair observa- 

 tory hives and attractive containers for 

 honey is something that deserves com- 

 mendation and imitation. Many a 

 would-be exhibitor is deterred from 

 exhibiting by the unusual trouble and 

 expense of getting up these things. If 

 they are provided he can send his stuff 

 almost any old way, just so that it will 

 arrive in good condition at the fair 

 grounds. 



Bees Killed Near Smelting Works 



In the British Bee Journal an ac- 

 count is given of great fatality among 

 bees near copper-smelting works. The 

 smelters started in November. The 

 bees in that vicinity wintered well, but 

 began dying in March, and toward the 

 end of May every colony within 1.5 

 kilometers of the works was extermi- 

 nated. It seems almost incredible that 

 the effect of the fumes should carry so 

 far — more than 9 miles. The British 

 Bee Journal raises the question whether 

 similar cases have been known. K few 

 years ago heavy losses from smelters 

 were sustained by Utah bee-keepers, if 

 indeed any colonies in their vicinity 

 finally survived. 



SjTwp for Feeding Bees 



In the German Praktischer Weg- 

 weiser it is advised to make syrup of 

 equal parts of sugar and water, adding 

 an ounce of citric acid (likely tartaric 

 would serve the same purpose) to each 

 30 pounds of sugar. This is to be 

 boiled slowly for a quarter of an hour. 

 Some have said that sugar has already 

 been thorougly cooked, and that the 

 syrup will be all the same whether 

 boiled a long time or the sugar merely 

 stirred into cold water. In this case, 

 however, the presence of the acid is 

 supposed to produce inversion of the 

 cane-sugar, and although there may 



