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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU 



A Kair Price. — A correspondent 

 asked Mrs. L. Harrison this question : 



What do you consider a good price by 

 tlie crate for the very best white clover 

 honey, in one and two-pound sections ? 



She replied through the Prairie 

 Farmer thus : 



I would like to ask the querist what 

 he considers a fair price for a pound of 

 butter. Some years it ranges all the 

 way from 10 to 40 cents per pound ; 

 the price is governed by the law of 

 supply and demand. And is there any 

 reason why honey should not be gov- 

 erned by the same law ? 



There has been but a light crop of 

 honey in many localities for several 

 years, owing, in a measure, to long 

 protracted drouths. During the past 

 Winter, in Peoria, choice crates of 

 white clover honey, in pound sections, 

 brought 20 cents per pound, and two- 

 pound sections about the same figures 

 per pound. There was no choice, owing 

 to the scarcity, seldom any being offered 

 at all. 



I have seen choice white clover sec- 

 tions sold at retail by producers who 

 were forcing it upon the market. Those 

 bee-keepers who were producing honey 

 during the war, and for a few years 

 subsequent, can never forget the high 

 figures then obtained, and since have 

 been watching the decline in price with 

 anxiety. 



Honey is not a staple article, like 

 butter and potatoes, and may never 

 become one, as many families never use 

 it at all. 



A producer may create a market, and 

 when he has educated the people to use 

 it, and the demand has been made, 

 another person knowing of it will bring 

 in a large supply, and undersell him, 

 which is not obeying that good old 

 Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you 

 would that they should do to you." 



We hope that no bee-keeper will 

 presume this year to break down the 

 prices in the way mentioned by Mrs. 

 Harrison. We know that such has been 

 done, but is a very foolish practice. Let 

 all honey-producers keep prices stiffly 

 up to the market standard, and thus 

 reap the just reward of their labors. 



EarljMn the present year Mr. Grubb, 

 of Nebraska, obtained a patent on a 

 " comb frame for bee-hives," which, on 

 page 181, we described, and added: 

 "There was absolutely nothing to patent 

 — the same having been in use for years." 

 It consists of a deep top-bar, having a 

 V-shaped cut in it to receive the comb 



foundation, and then a smaller V-shaped 

 piece of wood is tacked on the founda- 

 tion, to hold it in place, as will be seen 

 in the engraving. 



We know that it is an old plan; we 

 have repeatedly seen it in use, but 

 cannot now recall the places where it 

 was seen. Will any one having used 

 such please report, at once, and thus 

 substantiate our words ? 



Deatli has claimed our old friend 

 Henry linger, of Rochelle, Ills. He had 

 reached the age of 65 years. 



Samples of Punic bees are received 

 from E. L. Pratt, Beverly, Mass. They 

 are well developed and very lively. Mr. 

 Pratt says they are bred from stock 

 which he has imported from Africa. It 

 is interesting to study the "hardiness" 

 of the samples of bees sent to us. Some 

 which were received two weeks ago are 

 lively, while others which came a week 

 later are all dead. The food, perhaps, is 

 the cause of the early demise of the latter. 



