July 27, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



473 



and the home market was glutted and prices badlj- cut. He 

 put an advertisement in his own and near-bj- towns, sayinc,-- 

 what the honey was, and that while it lasted he would sell 

 18 pounds for a dollar. Right below this advertisement was 

 a notice from the leading banking firm of the town, saying 

 $100 reward would be paid if any honey sold by C. Daven- 

 port was not the pure article gathered from the flowers. A 

 deposit of SlOO in the bank secured this latter notice. 



Result : He -sold all he had, and some 500 pounds more 

 that he bought. Customers came 20 miles and more, and 

 many sent by friends and neighbors. He made a nice profit 

 over what he would have done bj' selling at wholesale. He 

 has a class of customers who pay 17 cents apiece for sec- 

 tions which weigh less than a pound, their only concern 

 being to get the best honej- direct from the apiarj-. 



Tin Cans vs. Barrels for Honey. — At the risk of being 

 somewhat monotonous on this subject, we wish to refer to 

 an illustration bearing directlj' upon it, which came under 

 our observation about two weeks ago. 



We were called over to see a shipment of honey that 

 was sent in barrels from a Mississippi bee-keeper to one of 

 the Chicago commission men. There were two large bar- 

 rels holding 600 pounds each, or about 1,200 pounds of 

 honey when they were started from the Mississippi railroad 

 station, but when they arrived here there was only 250 

 pounds of honey left in them. The barrels lookt good and 

 strong, and had no evidence of leakage at the bung--holes, 

 but one end of each barrel had the appearance of having 

 leakt. We think the barrels were shipt standing on end. 



It was certainly a big loss of honey, and we couldn't 

 help thinking that had the shipper used cans there would 

 have been no trouble. At least not all of the 20 cans that 

 would have been needed to hold the honey would have leakt. 



We are still in favor of cans, and we believe the Miss- 

 issippi bee-keeeper will be like-minded hereafter. But it is 

 a rather costly experience for him. 



The Market Price of Honey. — Mr. H. S. Jones is a 

 bee-keeper of some 50 colonies in this (Cook) county. Nat- 

 urally, of course, he is somewhat interested in the price of 

 honey. The following, dated July 19, relates a little of his 

 recent personal experience, and also contains a few sugges- 

 tions to honey-producers: 



Friend York : — Last week I called upon a certain com- 

 mission man on South Water street, Chicago. Having 

 made myself known, we started in on the honey-business. 

 My first question was, " How much honey have you on 

 hand "'? 



Axs. — "Just those few cases of buckwheat; no new 

 honey in yet." 



QuES." — " What will be the price of comb honey this 

 season "? 



Ans. — " I could sell some first-class honey for 13 cents 

 per pound." 



OuES. — "That seems to be a low price for first-class 

 g'oods." 



Ans. — "We expect a big crop this season, and the price 

 will be lower." 



OuES. — "Do you know that several bee-keepei-s have 

 lost all. or nearly all, their bees "? 



Ans.—" Oh, yes ; but there are plenty left to gather the 

 crop." 



This same party wanted me to send him some fine comb 

 honey at once, for the small sum of 13 cents a pound, with 

 a low market. It seems to me there is something wrong, 

 somewhere. Mind you, the market is perfectly dry— no 

 honey in to oft'er to buyers, still the price is away down for 

 first-class goods 1 It is quite different with fruit. The first 

 strawberries in the market go away up, and come down to 

 a price where every one can buy. Where is the difi'erence ? 



Can any one inform me where this commission man got 

 his price of 13 cents? Who gave it to him ? Or did he just 

 set that price to suit himself ? I cannot understand why. 

 here in a city like Chicago, the price of comb honey should 



be at such a low figure ; and unless the bee-keepers keep up 

 with the sugar trust, etc., they will have to give their honey 

 away and a silver spoon to eat it with. Come, come, bee- 

 keepers ; to the front, and make a firm stand for your 

 rights. Everything is advancing in price — why not our 

 sweets, which we work hard for ? 



Is there not one amongst us who would dare get up and 

 start a honey exchange, whereby all bee-keepers could be- 

 come stockholders, and share in the profits of what the 

 commission men get ? The florists have their exchanges, 

 the fruit-growers have theirs. It pays them first-class. 

 The orange-growers have their exchanges, where the fruit is 

 sorted, repackt and sold. They are .scattered all over the 

 country, so that no one point becomes overstockt. and is 

 also never out of stock. The prices are governed by the 

 quality of the fruit. 



That is what the bee-keepers want. Let tkcm set the 

 price on their goods, as any other producers do, giving each 

 grade a fair, living profit. Until we have something of this 

 sort the prices will be low, and lower still. We must get up 

 and establish the price of honey, and not leave it to one 

 man to say what the price of honey shall be. 



Come to the front, one and all, and see what can be 

 done before it is too late. H. S. Jones. 



There is no doubt about there being a good deal of 

 truth in what Mr. Jones says, and it seems to us that the 

 United States Bee-Keepers' Association could organize a 

 department to inaugurate a plan whereby at least the honey 

 of its own members could be handled more satisfactorily to 

 them than has been the rule heretofore. It would be neces- 

 sary to have a manager, in some large city (perhaps Chi- 

 cago), to whom would be shipt the honey, or at least some 

 of it that might need grading and repacking. Doubtless 

 much of it could be graded properly before shipping, and 

 then have it go direct to other cities where needed. 



Surely, there are brains and business capacity enough in 

 the present management of the Association to start a plan 

 that would develop into what the honey-producers ought to 

 have in order to dispose of their crops to the best advantage. 



Planting Basswood (Linden) for Honey .—Editor Hutch- 

 inson grows poetic in an apostrophe to " Lovely Linden," 

 and then takes the poetry all out of it by discouraging the 

 idea of planting a linden orchard with a view to profit. He 

 gives a report from A. I. Root, perhaps the only man who 

 ever put as many as 4,000 lindens in one plantation. The 

 trees were planted in the spring of 1873, one rod apart, and 

 the ground cultivated for two years, and no other crops 

 have occupied the ground since the trees were planted. The 

 apiary among the lindens has given much more honey 

 than the home-apiary two miles away, but only a small part 

 of the trees has done much blooming. This is perhaps be- 

 cause the land is low and v\'et, besides being poor. E. R. 

 Root adds that one great fault was that sprouts were al- 

 lowed to grow around the bottom of the tree. 



Mr. Hutchinson thinks the only feasible plan is to own 

 the land upon which the lindens grow, otherwise the wood- 

 man's ax is pretty sure to ruin the bee-keeper's pasturage. 



Uses for Beeswax.— In the Northwestern Agriculturist 

 we find the following recipes which employ beeswax as an 

 ingredient : 



Grafting-Wax.— To make grafting-wax, melt four 

 pounds rosin, and when hot add one pound each of beeswax 

 and beef tallow. When all is melted, pour into cold water 

 and work the same as you vrould taft'y. 



Common Sealing-Wax.— Common sealing-wax may be 

 made by slowly melting four pounds of rosin with one 

 pound each of best gum shellac and beeswax. Cool in thin 

 sheets which can be easily broken. 



Druggist's Sealing-Wax.— A good quality of drug- 

 gist's sealing-wax is made by melting one and a quarter 

 pounds of rosin and adding one ounce each of beef tallow, 

 lard and beeswax. When all is melted stir in one ounce of 

 American vermilion. For use, melt a piece of .this wax and 

 dip the corkt bottles into it. 



