26 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



February, 



number of colonies over five hundred 

 fold in the last two years. 



Notwithstanding this great increase, 

 last year my crop of honey was 250 

 pounds of comb and extracted, and 

 this year 64^^ pounds per colony, 

 spring count. 



Now, by making specialty of bee- 

 keeping, and continuing to increase 

 my colonies as fast as possible, and 

 thus branch out by starting out api- 

 aries, etc., I should be able, ere long, 

 to possess one thousand or more col- 

 onies. If my crops should Ik? fair!}- 

 good and I should be able to dispose 

 of all my honey at the same price that 

 I am getting at present, great wealth 

 would soon be mine, and my knocking 

 at the door of prosperity would cease. 

 However, no doubt if one thousand 

 colonies proved a success, that suc- 

 cess would only whet my appetite for 

 keeping still more bees. 



But in the meantime an enemy has 

 been sowing tares in our wheat, as it 

 were. The story of manufactured 

 comb honey has gone the rounds of 

 the press at a greatly increased rate, 

 and we find that even fancy white 

 comb honey is an actual glut on the 

 market, notwithstanding the honey 

 crop is light this year; and such great 

 honey-producing states as California 

 have had an almost entire failure. On 

 page 22 of The American Bee-Keeper, 

 January ist, I find the following mar- 

 ket quotation from Kansas City: 



"Comb honey, $2.25 per case. Am- 

 ber, $2 per case." 



Last year I sent ten cases of comb 

 honey to the Kansas City market, 

 for which I received $3 per case, less 

 deductions as follows: Carriage and 

 cartage, 29 cents; commission, 30 

 cents. This left me $2.41 per case. 

 Now, fellow bee-keepers, can I sell 

 my best comb honey for $2.25, after 

 you deduct as follows: 

 Say for freight and cartage. . . .20 cts. 



Say for commission 22 cts. 



Say for cost ot case complete. .20 cts. 



Say for cost of sections 12 cts. 



Say for foundation 5 cts. 



Total 79 ct.s. 



$2.25 — .79 = $1-46. 



What do you think of $1.46 per 

 twenty-four-pound case of best honey? 

 Nos. 2 and 3 somewhere between that 

 and nothing, and counting nothing for 

 your work, cost of hive and other ex- 

 penses. What has brought about 



such a state of affairs? And what is 

 the remedy? The remedy should be 

 administered in very liberal doses un- 

 til a reaction takes place. 



I have taken the Kansas City quo- 

 tations merely as an example, because 

 I sold honey through this firm last 

 year and found them not only honest, 

 but they quoted prices correctly. 



The Boston quotations are highei> 

 for fancy, but say absolutely no call 

 for buckwheat. Rather tough on the 

 bee-keeper with a large crop of buck- 

 wheat honey on hand. And still we 

 are advised to keep more bees so as 

 to pile up ton upon ton of honey. 



At the St. Louis convention a pa- 

 per was read by the secretary pro 

 tem., in which he stated that large 

 consumers of honey, those that use 

 fifty carloads and upwards per an- 

 num, have united their energies with 

 the buyers and commission brokers, 

 and as a result we are left to take 

 what they are pleased to oflFer us for 

 our honey. Or, in other words, sev- 

 eral of our best and most enthusiastic 

 members in the National were openly 

 and publicly charged with being in 

 league with the large honey consum- 

 ers, and as a result we are being rob- 

 bed of our just profits. Considering, 

 that such men as Mr. Geo. W. York, 

 E. T. Abbott, Fred Muth, C. H. W, 

 Weber and other men of unquestion- 

 able reputation are large honey buy- 

 ers and commission brokers, and were 

 present, this statement .caused some 

 surprise. These men declared that 

 they knew nothing of any such com- 

 bine. The reader of the article said 

 he could put his finger on the people 

 who were in this great combine, and 

 could tell exactly who they were, but 

 thought it not well to give it out in 

 public; so the accusation is still un- 

 explained, and we are left to form oiu 

 own opinion as to whether the ac- 

 cuser could prove his accusations true 

 However, a new association or stock 

 company was bron that day, with 

 stock at $100 per share, par value. This 

 is practically a specialists' association 

 and was formed for their benefit. 1 

 have heard suggested that this asso- 

 ciation is to be somewhat on the or- 

 der of the citrus fruit association, ancj 

 is for the purpose of lowering trans- 

 portation and commission charges. h\ 

 has been said that the California Cit-l 

 rus Fruit Exchange has brought aboul] 

 a condition of affairs which enablesj 



