106 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



abundant crop of all kinds of bloom, 

 but very little honey, the weather 

 being too wet and cold. On June 1 

 I had to feed 110 pounds of sugar in 

 one of my apiaries, and to have done 

 justice it should have been a barrel 

 of sugar. About June 18 the honey- 

 flow commenced, and continued until 

 July 25, when the heavy rain-storms 

 cut it short. After this we got no 

 honey. I had plenty of fall bloom, 

 but scarcely any honey was gathered 

 after Aug. 1. The honey flow was 

 not much over half its usual length, 

 yet it was a good yield. 



In the spring of 1886 I commenced 

 at my out apiary with 68 colonies, 12 

 to 15 were weak, and the balance in 

 fair condition. From this yard I took 

 2,000 pounds of honey in sections, and 

 3,000 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 put into winter quarters 173 colonies. 



In this apiary I took 2 colonies of 

 Albino bees in April and worked 

 them to see what could be realized 

 from them ; the one I worked for 

 comb honey, and the other for ex- 

 tracted. The one worked for comb 

 honey (counting it in honey and in- 

 crease) netted me $112.30; the other, 

 $56, although the latter was the most 

 promising in the early part of the 

 season. 



I put into winter quarters 20 colo- 

 nies from the stock worked for comb 

 honey. They are all in good condi- 

 tion. If I live and my bees live, I 

 shall keep a record of those 20 colo- 

 nies, and report next fall. At my 

 home apiary I used most of the colo- 

 nies for queen-rearing, so I took only 

 2,000 pounds from it, most of it being 

 comb honey. 



Hagerstown,^ Md. 



For tbe Ametlcan Bee Journal. 



That Organization for Bee-Keeiiers. 



JNO. A. BUCHANAN. 



If it can be made to appear that the 

 .nterests of bee-keepers would be best 

 subserved by forming a compact for 

 the purpose of sustaining the price of 

 their product, the sooner they or- 

 ganize the better. This course has 

 been hinted at quite frequently since 

 honey has been sold by so many at 

 prices that have not justified or paid 

 cost of production. It is claimed that 

 this unhappy state of affairs should 

 not of necessity exist; and that by 

 legislation, or by the organization of 

 an association for the purpose of 

 holding up the price, would be the 

 remedy for the existing trouble. As 

 to the foolishness of any attempt at 

 securing legislation in the interest of 

 the pursuit, I would say such folly is 

 unpardonable. 



As to a "honey-producers associa- 

 tion," and the possibilities of its 

 power ever becoming so great as to 

 be able to control prices, I have grave 

 doubts. Mr. Baldridge says that pro- 

 ducers should know what is a fair 

 price for honey compared with that 

 of other commodities, and then de- 

 mand this price. He also intimates 

 that this association of honey pro- 

 ducers shall fix a price at which their 



product must sell. I would prefer to 

 be left free to buy and sell in the open 

 market of the world. I do not like 

 the idea of being cramped or in any 

 way hemmed in or dictated to. 



" Fix a price " that would fairly 

 compensate the producer. How could 

 this be done V In one State the aver- 

 age yield of surplus honey may not be 

 more than 25 pounds per colony, in 

 another State the average would be 50 

 pounds. In this one case the honey 

 sold at 20 cents per pound would be 

 ?5 per colony, which might satisfy 

 the producer. In the other case, 15 

 cents per pound might be considered 

 good enough. How would an associa- 

 tion proceed to Hx and regulate prices 

 for each locality, and for the differ- 

 ent grades offered for sale ? Specu- 

 lators would upset all the anange- 

 ments every time. No, this is not 

 the way out. 



Still another plan has been proposed, 

 and that is to establish storage-houses 

 where all honey produced shall be 

 stored, then graded and held until the 

 ofliers would justify, or rather satisfy 

 the producer. In order to enable 

 producers to hold out for the best 

 prices, the association is to advance 

 money to the needy ones on their con- 

 signments. If any bee-keepers are 

 willing to go into such an arrange- 

 ment, it appears to me that they have 

 no confidence in their own business 

 capacity, and therefore give their 

 business into the hands of others to 

 manage for them. 



Some years ago a wool-growers' 

 association was organized in this 

 neighborhood. A wool-house was es- 

 tablished first in Steubenville, O., and 

 subsequently removed to Philadel- 

 phia, Pa., where a great many farmers 

 sent their wool to await better prices 

 —which they generally failed to get. 

 A man in whom great confidence was 

 placed was selected to manage af- 

 fairs, and this he did'so adroitly that 

 he cheated them out of the whole 

 business, the concern being left in 

 such a shape as to entirely ruin finan- 

 cially a great many excellent men of 

 this and other neighborhoods. Here 

 the proceeds of a life-time of toil and 

 struggle for a competency was swept 

 away— all for lack of confidence in 

 men to transact their own business. 



Talk about the middle men and the 

 commission men taking all the pro- 

 fits ! This is the way I treat them : 

 Last fall I drove into a town a few 

 miles distant with a load of honey, 

 and went to the principal dealer in 

 honey and stated my price. Said he : 

 " I can buy just as nice honey as that 

 for 10 cents." "And you retail it for 

 20 cents do you." " Yes, and have no 

 trouble to get it." "Well," said I 

 you ivill have trouble in the future." 

 So at the house adjoining his store 

 I commenced selling nice comb honey 

 at 18 cents, and extracted at 121^ 

 cents, or 10 pounds for $1. I visited 

 this town once a week while my honey 

 lasted, selling on each trip an average 

 of 50 pounds of comb honey, and 450 

 pounds of extracted. It is needless 

 to sav that the sales of honey by 

 middle men in that town was com- 

 pletely ruined. 



My crop this season from 70 colo- 

 nies was 2,000 pounds of comb honey 

 5,100 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 $30 worth of beeswax. About 15 davs 

 were spent in selling this honey from 

 a peddling-wagon direct to consumers. 

 The average price obtained was 18 

 cents for comb, and 12i^ cents for 

 extracted honey. By the time all my 

 honey was sold the demand was just 

 booming. 



In conclusion 1 want to say that we 

 will hear no more wails from bee- 

 keepers about dull sales, low prices, 

 and the need of a honey-producers' 

 association, if every one who has 

 honey to sell will go to work, and by 

 a persistent effort sell his honey to 

 his neighbors, and to all within a rea- 

 sonable marketable distance. Let all 

 pursue this course, and keep it up, and 

 I will guarantee that in less than six 

 months from to-day, they will be 

 offered a paying price for tneir honey 

 by commission men who will then be 

 willing to pay for space in our bee- 

 papers for the privilege of quoting 

 the markets, or be left out. 



Holliday's Cove, 5 W. Va. 



Local Cpnyention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meeting. 



Feb. 23-24.— B. Iowa & W. ni., at Davenport, Iowa. 

 J. Wadsworth, Sec, Moliae, Ills. 



Mar. 3, *.— Pan-Hantlle. at Wheeling, W. Va. 



W. L. Kinsey, Sec, Blaine, O. 



1^~ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 tarles are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetlDt^s.— Bd. 



s^MSK^ 



Bee-Keeping in Idaho.— P. H. Mc- 

 Donald, Star, p Idaho, on Jan. 81, 

 1877, writes : 



My bees wintered well last winter 

 on the summer stands without any 

 protection. I had one swarm on May 

 3, and a second swarm on May 13. 

 This winter so far has been favora- 

 ble. My bees have a flight every 

 week. So far the lowest the mercury 

 has been was 6° above zero, and we 

 have not had an inch of snow at one 

 time, and but very little freezing. 



Good Honey-Flow.— Henry Hobn- 

 adle, Chadwick,~o Ills., on Jan. 31, 

 1887, says : 



I put out 30 colonies last spring;, $ 

 of which were very weak, and I in- 

 creased them to 46. We had a good 

 honey flow, audi secured 2,000 pounds 

 of white clover and basswood honey 

 in 1-pound sections,about 1.000 pounds 

 of fall honey, and have 1,000 pounds 

 of unfinished sections. I sold my 

 comb honey at from 12 to 13 cents in 

 my home market, and 500 pounds of 

 extracted at 10 cents per pound. My 

 bees are in a bee-house in straw hives 

 packed with straw under a shed. 



