THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



85 



during a long-continued and moderate 

 flow. 2. I think that I would place 

 them above.— C. C. Miller. 



I fear there would not be time to 

 get a full set of combs built before the 

 harvest, without using foundation. 

 I may be mistaken. Some recent ex- 

 periments lead me to hope that I am. 

 It is my opinion that comb built un- 

 der the brood-nest in the spring would 

 be at once filled with brood, and 

 whether drone comb would be built 

 would probably depeud upon the age 

 of the queen and the amount of drone 

 ■comb already possessed.— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



1. I would use full sheets of founda- 

 tion. 2. As soon as the colony is 

 strong enough to build e.xtra combs, 

 I would place frames of foundation 

 between the frames of brood, and add 

 the frames as fast as they could be 

 used. The foundation would not be 

 wired. The super should be of the 

 flame same size as the body of the 

 hive, and the frames interchangeable. 

 Use a queen-excluder between the 

 cases, and continue to add frames be- 

 low, and raise up the frames of brood 

 until as many combs as needed are 

 built.— G. L. Tinker. 



1. This is a mooted question. I 

 apprehend, however, that it will de- 

 pend upon location. Mr. Hutchinson 

 lavors the " starter " idea ; I have 

 found full sheets to work better in 

 my own case. Test the matter and 

 report. 2. Place them above by all 

 means ; at least that is my own opin- 

 ion. I do not think that any differ- 

 ence would be found in the amount of 

 drone comb built, whether placed 

 above or below.— J. E. Pond. 



Use full sheets of comb foundation 

 in or above the brood-chamber.- The 

 Editor. 



Corvcspaudcucc. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near toe center of the State named: 

 O north of the center; 9 south; O east; 

 •Owest; and this (^ northeast: N3 northwest: 

 0> southeast; and P southwest of the center 

 «f the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Tlie Hflney-Prodncers' Association. 



M. M. BALDRIDGE. 



Is there anything practical in the 

 idea of an association of honey-pro- 

 ducers to fix and control the prices 

 on honey ? Mr. Caldwell, on page 808 

 of the Bee Journal for 1886, says 

 " i\^o, most emphatically." And why? 

 i3ecause "honey is one of the products 

 of the farm, and, as such, it must be 

 placed upon the market in precisely 

 the same manner as any other pro- 

 duct." 



WeW, let us see about this. Butter, 

 I believe, is also one of the products 

 of the farm. Xow, is not the price of 

 gilt-edge butter fixed and controlled 



to a great extent, by an association of 

 butter producers? If you do not 

 think so, then study the proceedings 

 of the butter producers, who, through 

 their representatives, meet every 

 Monday in Elgin, in this Fox river 

 valley, and be convinced. This asso- 

 ciation not only regulates the price 

 on all the butter made in factories, 

 by its members, but likewise, to a 

 great extent,that made by the farmers 

 themselves — they who do not patron- 

 ize the factory system. And how do 

 we know this V Because all the dairy 

 butter sold to consumers, in this Fox 

 river valley, and elsewhere wherever 

 these factories exist, goes up or down 

 in price, according to grade, in perfect 

 harmony with that of factory butter 

 as given from week to week by the 

 Elgin Board of Trade. Well, what is 

 the present price of factory-made 

 butter y For Monday, Dec. 20, the 

 price per pound, at wholesale, as 

 given officially, was 30}^ cents, and 

 that for Monday, Dec. 27, was 32 

 cents. And was much butter sold at 

 such " extravagant " prices V I should 

 say, yes. For Monday, Dec. 20, the 

 sales, as given officially, were 68,794 

 pounds, and for Dec. 27, the sales 

 aggregated 232,532 pounds I 



Now, if butter producers can, 

 through their representatives, fix and 

 control the price of their farm pro- 

 duct, why cannot honey producers, 

 through their representatives, do like- 

 wise on gilt-edge honey V I say they 

 can if they will it so. Yes, and they 

 can do this with far less friction, and 

 more successfully than butter pro- 

 ducers. And why V Because the sup- 

 ply of butter never ceases— being pro- 

 duced every day in the year. Not so 

 with honey ; for when we once ascer- 

 tain the supply of honey, at the close 

 of each honey harvest, we are then 

 assured that no more can be pro- 

 duced, with rare exceptions, until 

 there comes another honey harvest. 

 Then, by knowing the supply, as- 

 certained mainly through the mem- 

 bers of the honey-producers' associa- 

 tion, and the probable demand, its' 

 committee can approximate pretty 

 closely to the proper prices to fix upon 

 it in the fall of the year, and without 

 a weekly meeting as butter demands. 



But, says Mr. C, we must place our 

 honey " on the market " in precisely 

 the same way that we do any other 

 farm product, and not as you desire, 

 to-wit : In the hands of retailers to 

 be sold by them at fixed prices and 

 only on commission. 



Let us investigate this rmist idea. 

 Because our parents and grand- par- 

 ents used straw hives, brimstoned 

 their bees, and took their honey to 

 market in wash-tubs, is that any rea- 

 son that we 7)ii(.s« do likewise? And 

 because farmers generally sell their 

 produce to middle men in order to 

 reach consumers, is that any reason 

 that honey producers must do so ? As 

 yet I have seen and read nothing that 

 convinces me that honey producers 

 cannot organize and agree among 

 themselves to adopt new methods of 

 dealing with consumers. It so hap- 

 pens that we live in an age of pro- 

 gression, and that we have the power, 

 if we will it so. to adopt new methods 



of doing business that might appear 

 to some to be impossible and imprac- 

 ticable innovations. But we do not 

 always know what we can do until 

 we try. Then let ua try, for awhile 

 at least, what appears to me, and to 

 many others, to be a very simple, 

 practical, and common-sense method 

 of disposing of our honey, to-wit: 

 Have it sold at our prices to con- 

 sumers, through retail agents, and by 

 them only on commission. 



" I am 'sorry," says Mr. C, that our 

 honey "has gone down in price as it 

 has this season." Well, whose fault 

 is it ? Mainly the fault of the honey 

 producers ! If they will not organize 

 —if they will not pull together, if 

 they will not quit flooding our large 

 cities with honey, and if they will not 

 stop patronizing the wholesale com- 

 mission men, then they have no one 

 to blame but themselves. 



Mr. C. attributes the present low 

 prices on honey to the good honey 

 season ; " one of the best " he lias seen 

 in his "14 years experience." Now, 

 because the honey crop has been ex- 

 tra good perhaps, in his neiglibor- 

 hood, or in his county, or in his State, 

 Mr. C. evidently infers that the honey 

 yield has also been extra good 

 throughout the United States ! Honey 

 producers should remember that the 

 general crop of honey was not last 

 year any above the average, and that 

 when it is extra good in one locality, 

 or in several localities, that there are 

 still many other localities where it 

 may be poor or be below the average. 

 This has generally been the case, in 

 the past, and will undoubtedly be the 

 case in the future. 



" Most bee-keepers," says Mr. C, 

 " when their product is ready for the 

 market, want the money for it, or its 

 equivalent." That is true, but do 

 they now get what they want ? Do 

 bee-keepers now get their money 

 when they ship their product to the 

 wholesale commission men ? Not 

 often, I can assure you. Then if not, 

 why bring up this as an objection to 

 an association of honey producers 

 whose chief purpose is to fix a fair, 

 honest price on honey to consumers 

 based on supply and demand, and to 

 hasten the disposition of it by having 

 it placed and kept on sale by retailers 

 everywhere and at all times. When 

 every proper place for retailing honey 

 in country, village, and city, is kept 

 properly supplied with dhoice honey 

 at all times, and at a reasonable fixed 

 price, why should not the entire crop 

 iDe disposed of each year even more 

 readily than now ? 



"Now suppose," says Mr. C., that 

 " the crop has been a good one," and 

 the price of choice comb honey " is 

 placed at 20 cents per pound, and the 

 market price is only 10 cents." What 

 is to be done ? Why, my dear sir, you 

 are supposing something that would 

 not exist! How could " the market 

 price " on honey be 10 cents when the 

 universal price, in every State in the 

 Union, is fixedby the honey producers 

 of the United States at 20 cents ? 



And "what are we going to do," 

 says Mr. C, " with the farmers and 

 sniall honey producers?" Now, do 

 not worry over that problem. The 



