1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



311 



always to the interest of such persons to buy 

 at as low a price as possible, and, consequent- 

 ly, such persons quote the lowest prices that 

 will bring the honey to their market. Then 

 to be fair with these people we must admit 

 that they can hardly atford to be in a posi- 

 tion to "bull" the market; but they must, 

 on the other hand, "bear" it. Why should 

 Mr. Commissionman have such a great love 

 for the bee-keeper that he should talk about 

 the fact that prices ought to go higher against 

 his own interests? and why should he ever 

 intimate that there' is any danger of their go- 

 ing higher? If he is seeking prospective lots 

 of honey he will not be fool enough to " bull " 

 the market to a point where he will get a lot 

 of goods on hand, and then have to sell 

 below the market. He would be dubbed a 

 tii'st-class fool and go into bankruptcy soon. 

 If he buys outright he will be the loser. If 

 he buys on commission, no amount of "ex- 

 planation" as to his "good intentions" will 

 satisfy the bee-keeper, who, having been 

 baited by his higher quotations, shipped to 

 that market only to find his net returns away 

 below what he had reason to expect. 



We have said that the present scheme of 

 furnishing quotations has a tendency to 

 "bear" the market rather than to "bull" it. 

 When consignments come in liberally, the 

 market begins to drop. If it drops in one 

 market, other mai'kets fall to a greater or 

 less extent in sympathy. 



Now having shown the dilficulty, what is 

 the remedy? If any reader or association of 

 bee-keepers can throw any light on this in- 

 tricate proposition, we shall be glad to hear 

 from them. 



But as illustrative of the very condition we 

 have been describing, note that some commis- 

 sion men do not believe that the pure-food 

 law is going to advance prices. If they did 

 believe it, the honey market would become 

 firmer, and then, perhaps, weaker after they 

 bought. We must ))e fair to these men. 

 They will, and you would too, endeavor to 

 protect yourself. 



BEESWAX IN THE AKTS, AGAIN. 



Under the action of the pure-food law, 

 beeswax will have a much larger use than 

 ever before. Indeed, there is already a no- 

 table increase in the price. Druggists (and 

 there are thousands and thousands of them 

 in the country who formerly used paraffine, 

 ceresin, and the like) will now be coinpelled 

 under the new law to use nothing but pure 

 beeswax, and the amount will run up into 

 the hundreds of thousands of pounds. But 

 what do druggists do with wax? They use 

 it for making plasters, certain kinds of oint- 

 ments, and for certain medicines known to 

 the pharmacopoeia. 



There has always been a large use for par- 

 affine and ceresin for making candy; but 

 now these can be used no more, while bees- 

 wax will be permitted as before. These two 

 industries alone will increase the demand for 

 the product of the hive to a great extent; and 

 while we do not expect an immediate ad- 

 vance in the price of wax over and above 



what has ah'eady taken place, the time is no 

 far distant when bee-keepers with dark hon- 

 eys will do well to consider the possibility of 

 making wax-production a business. 



Under the action of the new pure-food law, 

 the bleached table sugars will gradually go 

 out of market, and a cheaper and better sub- 

 stitute in the form of unbleached cane sugars, 

 costing all the way from 1 cent to 1^ cents 

 less, will take their place. These sugars are 

 richer in sweetness; and, taking into consid- 

 eration their reduced price, it would not be 

 at all strange if the cost of feeding bees for 

 the production of wax, or for any other le- 

 gitimate purpose, will be from 30 to 50 per 

 cent less; for it must be understood that these 

 unrefined cane sugars will go further than 

 the so-called refined sugars bleached with 

 chemicals that extract some of the flavor as 

 well as some of the sweetness out of the ar- 

 ticle, substituting therefor a deleterious resi- 

 due that can't be eliminated. 



The new pure-food law will have no effect 

 one way or the other on the use of paraffine, 

 ceresin, and the like in any compound or 

 mixtures that do not belong either to the 

 food or drug classes. Electrotypers can use 

 a substitute for taking impressions, although 

 the great majority, we understand, prefer to 

 use pure beeswax, even at a higher price. 

 Natural-wood finishers can still use paraffine 

 and ceresin; but a good many will tell you 

 that there is nothing that will compare for 

 that purpose with pure beeswax. As we for- 

 merly pointed out in these columns, the first 

 mentioned will give a greasy smeary finish, 

 while our pi'oductwill give a highly polished 

 surface — one that will stand wear as nothing 

 else will; and such a finish is cheaper than 

 hard oil — not cheaper by the gallon, but 

 cheaper to apply. 



The Roman Catholic Church uses large 

 quantities of beeswax in the form of candles. 

 That organization will not tolerate paraffine, 

 ceresin, nor any of the mineral waxes, all of 

 which give off a nasty greasy odor in candles 

 while burning, while one made of beeswax 

 leaves a delightfully permeating perfume. 

 Then, too, the burning of mineral wax leaves 

 a deposit that injures the pictures, while 

 beeswax mellows and preserves them. 



There are certain grades of blacking, har- 

 ness oils, and luljricants that require pure 

 beeswax in their manufacture. A blacking 

 using beeswax will stand more dampness 

 than that made of any other substance 



The electrical supply business is a consum- 

 er of our product. The windings of the wire 

 are soaked in paraffine or beeswax — prefer- 

 ably the latter, because it seems to be less 

 affected by extremes of heat and by mois- 

 ture. Pattern-makers ai-e also users of our 

 article. The profession of dentistry takes a 

 large quantity of pure wax every year, ref- 

 erence to which has already heen made 

 elsewhere. 



In all the arts, paraffine, ceresin, and cer- 

 tain other mineral waxes can be used; but, 

 if we are correctly informed, none of them 

 have all the desirable qualities of the product 

 from the hive. 



