THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



35 



The Markets for Honey. 



We have, for a long time, advocated 

 the plan of bringing the producer 

 and seller of honey into a closer bond 

 of union. This would, if carried out 

 to its fullest extent, no doubt, be 

 found greatly to the advantage of 

 the honey-producer, for this reason. 

 Those more likely to understand the 

 demands of consumers are those who 

 are brought into contact with them 

 most; and when settling upon a plan 

 of marketing our crop, nothing could 

 be more advantageous than to have 

 the consumer, the merchant, and the 

 producer all in perfect accord. The 

 consumer to determine what is the 

 most captivating and attractive, the 

 merchant to ascertain the best pack- 

 ages to handle and sell, and the pro- 

 ducer to decide upon the best plan to 

 meet the views of the merchant and 

 consumer. 



Last summer, we noted the fact that 

 the merchants were now reaching out 

 after the most desirable crops of 

 honey, and that Messrs. Thurber & 

 Co., of New York, and Messrs. 

 Crocker & Blake, of Boston, and 

 others, were in search of fancy arti- 

 cles of honey, and that Mr. Kipley, of 

 the latter firm, had given us a call, to 

 enquire after some of the larger pro- 

 ducers of honey. We were very much 

 pleased with Mr. Ripley and his mis- 

 sion, and did all we could to forward 

 it. We have just receiyed the follow- 

 ing letter from him, which gives his 

 views of the honey market and will 

 interest our readers : 



Thos. G. Nem'man, Esq. — Dear 

 Sir: It has been my earnest desire to 

 write and thank you for the many 

 courtesies that I enjoyed at your hands 

 when in Chicago and Toledo, but we 

 have had a good business, and that, 

 to-day, means hard, honest work, and 

 we have devoted ourselves to it to the 

 best of our ability, and neglected you. 

 I will endeavor to atone for past neg- 

 lect. I have read, with great interest, 

 the honey reports in your valuable 

 journal, and the notice of my being in 

 the West, which you kindly gave me, 

 gave me an acquaintance with tlie 

 bee-keepers of the country that we 

 never dreamed of proving to us wliat 

 our personal acquaintance has always 

 shown, that bee-keepers, as a class, 

 are ready and anxious to know any- 

 thing that will improve their bees or 

 bring them a higher price for their 

 honey, and to accomplish that, what 

 should they do V Subscribe to the 

 Weekly Bee Journal. As soon 

 should a sailor go to sea without a 

 compass, an astronomer be without a 

 telescope, as a bee-keeper wittiout the 

 American Bee Joltrnal. 



We have had large consignments of 

 comb honey from the West, and from 



New York, and, from letters we have 

 received, know that our consignors 

 are well pleased with their Boston 

 venture. We have had all of J. E. 

 Crane's honey, of Middleburg, Vt., 

 and it has all sold well. In our judg- 

 ment, it is not well to put the price of 

 any article too high ; it drives trade 

 away and it takes one season to make 

 it popular again. We have noted, 

 with anxiety, the discussion about tlie 

 half-pound section, and tind that the 

 demand is credited to come from Bos- 

 ton, and we want to set ourselves 

 right with producers in the mi(,tter. 



In the lirst place, we want it dis- 

 tinctly understood that we do not 

 advise any one to use the half-pound 

 section exclusively. Mr. F. C. Bene- 

 dict expresses our views on the sub- 

 ject perfectly in your issue of Jan. 3. 

 No producer can afford to use half- 

 pound sections exclusively. One- 

 pound sections are small enough to 

 please 9.5 out of 100, and producers 

 must respond in this proportion. We 

 sold J. C. Newman & Sons, W. S. 

 Benedict and F. C. Benedict's half- 

 pound sections, and rendered 30 cents 

 per pound for all, and could have sold 

 more, but the demand is limited. 



Some dealers say they are too small ; 

 others say, one-pound sections are too 

 small, and it is only for the variety 

 that we may sell every man who comes 

 along and wants honey. 



Our demand for extracted honey is 

 limited, and we are not able to get 

 over 10c. per pound. Our demand for 

 honey is falling off, and our advice to 

 all is to market your honey early, be 

 the crop large or small. What we 

 mean by early is, before January 1. 

 Yours Respectfully, 



Frank L. Ripley,- 



of Crocker d- Blake. 



Boston, Mass., Jan. 6, 1883. 



Honey in the Rocks. 



The Baltimore Sun, gives the follow- 

 ing, to illustrate the provident sagac- 

 ity of bees. It says that in the moun- 

 tains of old Virginia there is a mam- 

 moth natural bee hive, and that a 

 lot of courageous youths captured the 

 fort, killed the inhabitants and plun- 

 dered the stronghold. It is a fine 

 story, but lacks confirmation, and 

 should be strongly doubted, unless 

 more evidence is produced than that 

 given by the reporter of the Sun. 

 But here is the item. 



Bee-trees are found widely scattered 

 through the woods, and honey hunters 

 make a business of felling trees, to 

 which they trace the flight of bees. 

 But now bee-rocks are being found 

 where, in broad horizontal clefts, these 

 industrious insects have for years 

 been adding swarm to swarm, and 

 accumulating vast yearly surplus 

 stores of honey. The cells being her- 

 metically sealed, the fluid never cry- 

 stallizes: and floral bee pasture so 

 abounds from February to December 

 that not half the winter stores are 

 consumed before spring flowers cover 

 the heather and invite the bees to 



feast on fresher sippings. The over- 

 provident workers make no account 

 of accumulations, but go on storing 

 the same over-supplies year after 

 year— a rare instance of Imperfect 

 sagacity. 



For fifteen years people have ob- 

 served bees flying towards the high- 

 est peak of the Butte mountain sum- 

 mit, 2,000 feet above their camp in 

 Tehama county. They called it the 

 mammoth bee hive. In October, a 

 party of courageous youths undertook 

 to climb the rocky ascent and make 

 a raid on the great hive. They found 

 what they expected, and proceeded to 

 drill holes and blow up the rock. In- 

 stantly they were enveloped in a dense 

 cloud of bees. Stung in every part, 

 inside their underclothes included, 

 they fled in dismay, and spent the 

 night in repairing damages and pre- 

 paring to renew the onslaught on the 

 morrow, when, after a batlile of three 

 hours, they achieved a victory and 

 captured the stronghold. The dead 

 bees would have filled several grain 

 sacks. The plunder consisted of one 

 solid mass of honey in the comb, 5 

 feet long by 2i^ feet bv 3 ffeet in 

 depth. 



What Bees do in Georgia. 



The Monroe, Ga., Adwrtiser gives 

 the following account of an interview 

 had by its reporter, with Mr. Wilder, 

 abee-keeper of that locality : 



'• How is your apiary coming on V" 

 we asked Mr. Frank Wilder. 



" My bees ares getting on nicely but 

 they have not gathered honey to 

 amount to anything in the last few 

 weeks. The storm of the ninth of 

 September seemed to stop the honey 

 flow in some way or the other. At 

 any rate my bees have not obtained 

 much honey since then." 



" Have you sold many bees this 

 year r"' 



" Not a great many bees, but quan- 

 tities of honey. I have made enough 

 on my apiary to pay the provision bill 

 of my family this year, and also the 

 expenses of my farm." 



We expressed surprise at this state- 

 ment, but Mr. Wilder assured us it is 

 a fact. " What is the biggest yield 

 you have had this year from a hive ?" 



" I have one hive, from which I ob- 

 tained three hundred and fifty 

 pounds. I would not take $50 for 

 that colony. That is the biggest 

 yield I ever heard of, except in one 

 case. There is a man in Texas who 

 reports seven hundred pounds as the 

 product of one colony in one year. 

 That is enormous and I never heard 

 the like before." 



" I have now fifty hives," continued 

 Mr. Wilder, "and I cannot attend to 

 them and do my other business. I 

 believe I lost a thousand pounds of 

 honey in September, by not being 

 able to attend to the bees when they 

 needed it. I intend to bring out a 

 young man from Ohio next spring— 

 if I can get the right sort of one — and 

 put him in charge of my apiary ; I am 

 satisfied that I can make a deal of 

 money by it." 



