THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



39 



I have driven to the most business 

 corner in a city and retailed 500 

 pounds in pails, pitchers and jars, in 

 4 or 5 hours, and in this I have not 

 mentioned an exceptional instance. 

 But the greatest excellence usually 

 comes with the greatest labor, and 

 this saying is as true with selling 

 honey as it is with anything under 

 the sun. A good salesman, in my 

 opinion, exercises more home-made 

 science than a dozen who handle bees; 

 and the fact that a grocer makes as 

 much in a few hours by handling 

 honey over the counter, as the bee- 

 keeper does in bending his back over 

 the hives all summer, attests the 

 truth of this statement. 



It requires ingenuity, skill, and no 

 small amount of energy to go into a 

 dull town and collect a crowd to sell 

 them honey. The production of honey 

 is a very pleasant business— it is the 

 down-hill side of bee-keeping. To 

 sell the honey is beginning to appear 

 like up-hill business, and we should 

 not be slow in learning to share the 

 good with the bad, if as such we are 

 disposed to view it. When one finds 

 a soft retreat, and makes it known, 

 he may soon enjoy much company. A 

 perfect honey-producer should be an 

 expert at handling bees and selling 

 honey as well. 



When we have become so numerous 

 that it will pay regular honey buyers 

 in our towns, then it is probable that 

 the usual bee-keeper will take his 

 honey to town and accept the price 

 offered by the buyer, who sells it 

 again, as do the above-mentioned 

 grocerymen. I like to pass by the 

 grocerymen when out selling honey, 

 as then 1 may reach home without 

 being duped. 



In other years I shipped honey to the 

 large markets. The highest price 

 obtained for extracted honey was 6 

 cents per pound, and the lowest was 

 nothing per 300 pounds. This year, 

 being somewhat at leisure, I experi- 

 mented a little in the honey market, 

 and purchased of a producer near by, 

 the finest comb honey, at a price that 

 netted him less money per pound 

 than was realized for my extracted. 



One apiarist shipped his extracted 

 honey to St. Louis and realized 2% 

 cents per pound. 



Yes ; the greatest bar to the con- 

 sumption of honey is adulteration, 

 but the adulteration comes about in 

 this wise : Years ago when Mr. 

 Doolittle and others obtained 2.5 to 30 

 cents per pound for honey, the mer- 

 chants and others found it profitable 

 business mixing honey with sugar, as 

 that was cheap. The improved 

 methods of handling bees rendered 

 honey more plentiful, and conse- 

 quently the price began to fall. This 

 necessitated the use of a cheaper and 

 poorer basis for its manufacture, and 

 as a matter of course it ended with 

 glucose. 



On this the lovers of honey inno- 

 cently feasted until they were sick 

 and disgusted. Upon looking around 

 themselves, they discovered that there 

 was the real " bee-honey " and the 

 adulterated, so they inquired for 

 " bee-honey," and had confidence in 

 bee-keepers. Then was extracted 



honey of good sale. Presently the 

 apiarist, to obtain a larger yield, per- 

 ceived the idea of taking the honey 

 from the combs as soon as it was 

 gathered, and before the water had 

 evaporated from it. 



From some of these reasons there 

 are many who can say that extracted 

 honey ferments, or that there has 

 been too much of the stuff sold. Take 

 a fine article that has remained in the 

 combs until it is thoroughly ripened, 

 and we will find those who will not 

 even look at it, much less taste of it. 

 Others will taste, and buy a trial 

 pound ; the next time it will be 10 

 pounds, and end with a 100-pound keg 

 for winter, the last time around. 



It is not the over-production or 

 present adulteration of honey that is 

 the greatest obstruction to the use of 

 extracted honey. People have been 

 duped and be-fooled so much that 

 they think there cannot be any good 

 honey outside of the combs, and many 

 have not the faith to experiment. It 

 may be seen that the apiarist of to- 

 day must tear down and remove much 

 that has been done heretofore, and 

 begin to build from near the founda- 

 tion. 



Bradford, <f Iowa. 



For tbe Amencan Bee JonmaL 



liMm MarKet Reports, 



M. M. BALDKIDGE. 



On page 771 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1886, the Editor requests his 

 readers to express themselves upon 

 the matters set forth on page 774, in 

 my article on the " Honey Producers' 

 Association," but cautions them " to 

 take time to think before writing." 



On page 810 of the same volume, an 

 Iowa reader hastens to tell what he 

 thinks about my " proposition to ex- 

 clude the market reports from the 

 bee-papers." He says : " If two edi- 

 tions were published to accommodate 

 both factions," that he would "rather 

 have the one containing the market 

 reports." It is evident to me that 

 this Iowa correspondent is not a very 

 critical reader, and that he did not 

 '• take time to think before writing." 

 Why ? Because there is nothing in 

 my article about excluding " the 

 market reports from the bee-papers !" 

 What I had to say was simply in re- 

 gard to excluding, from the bee- 

 papers, the market reports on honey 

 as fixed and manipulated by the 

 wholesale commission men. This being 

 the case, will this Iowa reader please 

 " take time to think " over and an- 

 swer the following question ? Sup- 

 pose the honey-producers of the 

 United States would form an associa- 

 tion, and from its members select a 

 committee competent to fix a fair, 

 living price for honey, based on sup- 

 ply and demand, for both producer 

 arid consumer, which market report 

 would you then rather see in the bee- 

 papers — the one thus prepared and 

 agreed upon by the association, or 

 those fixed and manipulated as now 

 by the wholesale commission men? 

 Come, now, get right down to busi- 



ness and give us your best thoughts 

 upon the subject. 



On page 811 of the same volume, a 

 Michigan reader tells what he thinks 

 about " excluding the market reports 

 of commission men." He says these 

 reports " are generally the first thing" 

 that he reads ; that he would rather 

 dispense with " any other part of the 

 paper," and that they " benefit " the 

 bee-papers " as much as they do the 

 commission men." 



I regret to see that this Michigan 

 correspondent did not " take time to 

 think before writing." But, if he did 

 " take time to think," he forgot to 

 send us the thoughts we so much de- 

 sire. He says the market reports of 

 commission men are " generally the 

 first thing " he reads, but neglects to 

 tell »o%. Will be please tell us why 

 he reads them, and of what value 

 they are to him, or to honey-pro- 

 ducers V Does he read them for the 

 express purpose of being governed by 

 them in the sale or the purchase of 

 honey at home or abroad V If so, then 

 that is one of the reasons we want 

 them to keep out of the bee-papers. 

 If honey-producers wish to donate 

 their honey to retailers or consumers, 

 they can do this without any further 

 aid from the wholesale commission 

 men. 



But, says the Michigan reader, 

 these market reports are of as much 

 " benefit " to the bee-papers as to the 

 "commission men." Now, is this 

 true ¥ Pray tell us of what benefit it 

 is to a bee-paper to have the price of 

 honey fixed and manipulated by com- 

 mission men instead of by honey- 

 producers ? Does any one suppose that 

 it does a bee-paper any good to have 

 its readers disgusted and disheartened 

 by such low prices as the commission 

 men have fixed and manipulated for 

 them in the past to be governed by ? 

 Do you think a bee-paper is benefited 

 when the low prices of commission 

 men cause its readers to quit the 

 business in disgust, and become non- 

 subscribers? Again, do you think it 

 benefits a bee-paper to publish market 

 reports on honey that no honey-pro- 

 ducer would be willing to show to his 

 honey customers ? Nor in fact to a 

 honey-producer whom he thinks 

 might be governed by them ? Per- 

 haps it has never occurred to you, nor 

 in fact to the proprietors of the bee- 

 papers themselves, that there are 

 many subscribers who refuse to in- 

 crease tlieir circulation simply be- 

 cause of the market reports of whole- 

 sale commission men. In fact I 

 know of many subscribers who keep 

 the bee-papers out of sight of their 

 friends and neighbors, simply for the 

 same reason that many grocers do 

 their trade periodicals. Now this 

 practice would be changed in case the 

 bee-papers contained simply the mar- 

 ket reports of honey producers. Then 

 there would be nothing in the bee- 

 papers which the honey-producers 

 would be unwilling to have others see 

 and read. 



Now let me call the attention of 

 the readers to some of the benefits 

 the commission meu secure by their 

 free advertising in our bee-papers. 

 These standing free advertisements 



