THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



143 



bee-jouruals, I am happy to say, have be- 

 come very reliable, which canuot be said of 

 (inotations in some of the daily papers. I 

 have Jviiown honey to be quoted coutiuually 

 at two cents per pound less than tlie real 

 price ; possibly so that commission men 

 could please their customers by making re- 

 turns above market quotations. I have 

 sometitut^-i known quotations to be given at 

 luLjlier prices than were realized. It looked 

 a little as though this was done to draw 

 trade. 



To a greater or less extent, bee-keepers 

 make their own prices. Suppose Jones has 

 a crop to dispose of. He linds that honey 

 sells in his nearest city market at 14 cents, 

 and that freights, commission, etc., reduce 

 the net price to 12^2 cents. He may better sell 

 in his own market at 12^, cents, as he runs 

 less. risk. He may also do well to take his 

 pay in part, or in wliole, in trade. It is all 

 the same if he gets cash from his grocer for 

 honey and then pays the same grocer cash 

 for his groceries, but, generally, the grocer 

 is better pleased if he agrees to take pay in 

 trade. But it does not follow that Jones' 

 home market should be olways l^i cents 

 below the city market. Suppose the crop 

 in his vicinity is very light; so that the city 

 market must be drawn ui>on to finish out 

 the supply. The pi'ice in the city market is 

 14 cents, and .lones sells what little he has, 

 to his grocer, at 121.3 cents. The grocer 

 then sends to the city, and pays 14 cents, 

 besides freight. Is there any reason why 

 Jones should not have had the same price ? 

 You see it makes all the difference whether 

 it i« the city, or the home market, that holds 

 the balance of trade. ( )ne item in favor of 

 a home market is that shipping cases can he 

 used over again, which is not possible, 

 usually, in city markets. 



A commission man who handles honey 

 should know something about it. Because 

 you know Mr. Smith to be a reliable com- 

 missioii man, one who has always sold your 

 calves well, it does not necessarily follow 

 that he is a fit man to handle your honey. 

 Send it to some one who makes something 

 of a specialty of handling honey. 



Mabengo, 111. July, 21, 1890. 



Troubles in Shipping — Peddling Honey is 

 Profitable but Unpleasant. 



.1. A. BUCHANAN. 



1^ UR BEE JOURNALS have been de- 

 voting much space recently to the sub- 

 ject of "Marketing Honey;" with a 

 view, no doubt, to stimulate the price 

 or provoke a greater effort on the part of 

 producers to secure the highest jjrice for 

 their honey. 



Quite a little has been said about the trou- 

 ble growing out of the disposition among 

 small producers to sell at prices that are ru- 

 inous to the market. While there is some 

 truth in this, yet there are few who are will- 

 ing to sell goods of any kind" at less than it 

 is possible to obtain in the market. A few 

 simple minded ones sell the fruits of their 



labor below their value, but their business 

 must necessarily be small and cannot have 

 much influence on the general market. 



There are many good fields for the pro- 

 duction of honey tliat do not nfford the best 

 l)rices. Bee-keepers so located must depend 

 upon distant markets Now, the only thing 

 of importance in the discussion of this ques- 

 tion is, liDW and to whom shall the honey be 

 sent ? Right here steps in the commission 

 man, and you can't keep him out of the pie, 

 either. The worst feature of the affair is 

 that there are many bad men, among some 

 good ones, in this line, yet those who sell 

 through commission dealers cannot avoid 

 them. As I buy from 3'J,0U0 to .W,OOU pounds 

 of honey every fall, I have some experience 

 that will be useful to shippers. 



Sometimes I think it is not to be wondered 

 at that dealers pay so little for honey when 

 it so frequently arrives in such terrible 

 shape, which is largely owing to the man- 

 ner in which it has been stored by the bees 

 and put up by the bee-keeper. Honey that 

 must be shipped ought to l)e attached to the 

 sections all round, which may be done by 

 using narrow strips of foundation in the 

 bottom of the sections or by reversing the 

 supers when the combs are partly finished. 



Last fall I got one lot of 2,000 pounds of 

 comb honey which was all loose in the sec- 

 tions, caused by the combs not being attach- 

 ed to the bottoms of the sections. The hon- 

 ey running out over the cases caused dirt to 

 adhere until the sight was sickening. The 

 shipper said he had placed the sections with 

 the tops or attached sides down, but he did 

 not think how often the cases would be 

 turned "tother side up " in the transfers. 



Being practical bee-keepers, we could fix 

 up this honey in jars so as to get out with 

 little loss, but what would this honey have 

 brought in the hands of the average com- 

 mission man ? 



Some employees of the transportation 

 companies seem to take particular pains to 

 see how roughly they can handle comb hon- 

 ey and how much they can break up. No 

 matter how careful the packing, the honey 

 often arrives in miserable condition. The 

 worst of it is there seems to be no way of 

 remedying this unpleasant condition of 

 thiJigs. Thousands of dollars are annually 

 lost to honey producers by this downright 

 carelessness of carrier companies. 



Even extracted honey put up in strong 

 liarrels or tin cans, often arrives in bad con- 

 dition. By rough usage the hoops are 

 knocked off, or cans are opened purposely 

 and honey taken out, and "what are we go- 

 ing to do about it V " Shippers can use the 

 best care in the |) reparation of honey for 

 shipment that it may withstand rough han- 

 dling, or else they can arrange with the 

 companies, at a higher rate, to deliver in 

 perfect order or bear the loss. 



In your leader you hint at the system of 

 selling honey by canvassing towns and 

 cities, soliciting oiders and then delivering. 

 We have, for years, followed this very prac- 

 tice ; selling our own honey and much that 

 we buy from other Vjee-keepers and even 

 from commission men. As a rule, we can 

 buy cheaper of dealers than of producers. 



