(s OLDEST BEE PAPER 

 IN AMERICA 



_A5t»_» 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 14, 1881. 



No. 37. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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The Foreign Demand for Honey. 



On page 236 of our issue for July 27, 

 we assumed that " Honey is Becoming 

 a Staple," and adduced in proof of our 

 assumption the statistics of the rapid 

 increase in importations and sales of 

 American honey in Germany within 

 the past four years. We now have 

 further confirmation in the following 

 letter from Mr. W. M. Hoge, who is 

 connected with one of the large job- 

 bing houses in London : 



If you know of a honey producer 

 who wants to market his crop in Eng- 

 land, consign him to us, if his honey 

 is strictly white comb, and stored in 

 nice boxes. I have an outlet for 

 50,000 pounds. We can market that 

 quantity, and the producer can take 

 the proceeds back in a -month from the 

 time he lands. But he must load it on 

 the steamer himself, and unload it. 

 There is no danger whatever of the 

 honey-combs in tramsit — the danger 

 lies in the loading and unloading. 



London, England, Aug. 25, 1881. 



We now feel assured that with a 

 ready and anxious market for our comb 

 honey in England, and France, Ger- 

 many, China and Japan as eager con- 

 sumers of American extracted honey, 

 all fears of over-stocking the market 

 are happily set at rest, and the time is 

 not far distant when prices will be as 

 quotable, and as generally uniform as 

 for any other product. Nor need we 

 fear a divided market by reason of 

 foreign competition, for no country in 

 Europe is so greatly favored by nature 



for honey producing as is the United 

 States, and none produces honey of 

 finer quality. 



Time was when prejudice militated 

 greatly against our sales abroad, but 

 the cultivation of fraternal relations 

 with our friends in foreign lands, and 

 the assurance of friendly feelings and 

 honorable transactions, have turned 

 their honest prejudice into esteem, 

 and their jealousy into generous co- 

 operation. 



With the assurance of a ready sale 

 for every surplus pound of honey, it 

 now devolves upon our producers, as 

 individuals and in their conventional 

 bodies, to deliberate upon the best 

 methods of meeting this demand. 

 Much depends upon them. 



Centralizing the Honey Traffic. 



After a careful perusal of the able 

 article on page 292, in this number, 

 by Mr. G. W. House, we can heartily 

 commend it to our readers for their 

 best thoughts. Bee-keepers should, as 

 far as practicable, be thoroughly in- 

 formed in the statistical department 

 of their pursuit, so that each may not 

 only know how much helms produced 

 and what it has cost him, but also how 

 much has been produced in the whole 

 country, and its value. To this end, 

 all should furnish detailed reports for 

 publication. 



We cannot agree with Mr. House 

 in the desirability of centralizing the 

 honey traffic in the hands of two or 

 three, or even more, dealers in each of 

 the principal markets. Several years 

 ago this might have been advisable 

 while the trade was in an undeveloped 

 state, when honey was shipped to mar- 

 ket with no reference to grade, that 

 in the comb being packed in tubs, jars, 

 pans, soap boxes, etc., and the ex- 

 tracted in large, hardwood barrels, or 

 whatever else came handiest. No 

 commission merchant, with an estab- 

 lished trade, cared to handle it; and 

 if perchance a shipment was consigned 

 to him, it generally proved a nuisance 

 in the store, and was sold to the first 

 bidder, at any price offered, to get it 

 out of the way and to abate the leaky 

 nuisance. 



Now, however, a wonderful trans- 

 formation is taking place. Any re- 

 spectable commission man will be glad 

 to handle the popular one and two- 

 pound sections, properly crated and 

 glassed, and certainly extracted honey 

 in the neat and attractive five, ten 

 and fifteen gallon kegs, is quite as de- 

 sirable to handle as butter, cheese and 



eggs. Besides, with the custom now 

 universally coming in vogue with the 

 more practical apiarists, of grading 

 and keeping separate each kind of 

 honey, no long experience or especial 

 familiarity with the article on the part 

 of the commission merchant or jobber 

 is required ; but, rather, an extensive 

 business acquaintance, a well estab- 

 lished general jobbing trade, and an 

 unimpeachable reputation for honesty 

 and veracity. 



Again, the proposed centralization 

 or co-operation is impracticable, for 

 the reason that the necessities of bee- 

 keepers vary as much as do their ideas 

 regarding hives, wintering, etc. As a 

 rule, the heavier producers have their 

 outlets to market already established, 

 or have had sufficient experience to be 

 able to sell in job lots to the best ad- 

 vantage ; these men, of course, would 

 see no advantage to be derived from 

 co-operation, and would not jeopardize 

 their established trade by entering into 

 the scheme. On the other hand, the 

 lesser producers, and those "new at 

 the business," asarule, want to realize 

 immediately, and more frequently ac- 

 company their honey to market, or by 

 correspondence and through samples 

 forwarded, sell it outright ; this class 

 would gain nothing, because, being 

 generally inexperienced, their product 

 would grade lower, and their returns 

 would be correspondingly unsatisfac- 

 tory, unless " worked in " with some 

 better grade, in which case an imposi- 

 tion is practiced on the buyer. 



The honey interest of America is of 

 too great magnitude and the produ- 

 cers too numerous, to make successful 

 any attempt to centralize the trade in 

 the hands of a score or less of middle- 

 men. We cannot, however, commend 

 the indiscriminate slaughter of prices 

 by intrusting the sale of honey, or any- 

 thing else, to irresponsible or unprin- 

 cipled agents. With a little prudence 

 and painstaking on the part of the 

 producer, enough honorable, compe- 

 tent and willing men can be found in 

 each city to handle to advantage every 

 pound of desirable honey which may 

 be forwarded to it for a market. 



St. Joseph, Mo., Exposition.— The 



editor has just returned from his visit 

 to the St. Joseph, Mo., Exposition. 

 We will give an extended report in 

 our next issue. We cannot refrain 

 from saying, however, that through 

 the energy and excellent management 

 of Mr. R. S. Musser, the apicultural 

 department was a most complete suc- 

 cess. 



The Honey Harvest. 



The great question now is : " What 

 will the harvest be?" Mr. W. D. 

 Wright, of Knowersville, N. Y., on a 

 postal card writes us : " Why do you 

 not call for universal reports of the 

 honey crop this season, as you did last 

 year V" We reply : For the simple 

 reason that we want to get them all in 

 within a few days, so as to publish all 

 at one time, and it was too early to get 

 a correct report. Several others have 

 expressed a desire to have a statistical 

 table, and we shall, therefore, ask all 

 to send us, on Sept. 26th, a short, con- 

 cise report on a postal card. If ALL 

 will follow the form given below it will 

 aid us in making up the figures : 



I had colonies in spring ; 



have now colonies. 



Have extracted pounds of light 



honey, and pounds dark honey; 



comb honey pounds. Bees are 



now in condition. 



Sign your name, Post Office, 

 County and State, and mail it to us 

 promptly on Sept. 26th. If delayed 

 till after the 26th, it will be of little in- 

 terest to the public, and no practical 

 use to us. 



If promptly furnished, this Report 

 will benefit every producer of honey 

 who desire3 to place his crop upon the 

 market, and while it need not cost 

 more than one cent foreach (thecostof 

 the postal card), it will be of immense 

 benefit to the honey interests of the 

 whole country. Let every one give 

 this prompt attention. 



Apis Americana.— On page 291, the 

 Rev. W. F. Clarke remarks as follows : 

 " The editor of the American Bee 

 Journal has proclaimed Apis Amer- 

 icana the coming bee. But, Mr. New- 

 man, 'bide a wee,' possibly Ajns Can- 

 adensis will win the laurels." Even 

 then, Mr. Clarke, we are right; unless 

 Canada is not a part of America ! We 

 care not whether it is produced in one 

 of the " States," Provinces, or coun- 

 tries on the American Continent ; but, 

 when " the coming bee " is produced, 

 its name will be Apis Americana 1 Let 

 that be distinctly understood in ad- 

 vance. 



lgg° We have received the price list 

 of poultry and nursery stock for the 

 fall of 1881, issued by Thos. J. Ward. 

 St. Marys, Ind. 



8®" We are pleased to learn that Mr. 

 J. T. Wilson has recovered from his 

 late injuries, which we mentioned last 

 week, and is attending to business. 



