230 



T'ME MBdBRicJSK wmm jQmmnmi^. 



Just try the same course with your 

 honey, that you do with your other pro- 

 ducts, offering only a first-class article 

 in first-class shape, and do'nt try to 

 SHINGLE it. Let the specialists "go 

 and do likewise :" and if they have more 

 than they can dispose of in this way, 

 then sell to the commission men, and 

 they and you, I doubt not, will realize 

 better prices. 



Auburndale, O. 



SPRING WORK. 



Hints to Beirinner§ about Sea- 

 sonable Work. 



Written for the Canadian Advocate 

 BY A SPECIALIST. 



The season in which it is most diffi- 

 cult to manage bees is upon us, and the 

 beginner is apt to make blunders which 

 will decrease his honey crop, if not de- 

 stroy his colony entirely. 



If bees are wintered in a cellar they 

 should remain there if possible until 

 some of the early flowers are out, such 

 as the willows, or even later ; colonies 

 may have diarrhea, which will be in- 

 dicated by the spotted condition of the 

 front of the hive, but unless this is 

 very serious it is better to not take 

 them out of the repository. 



The idea that a colony may be taken 

 out of winter quarters and allowed a 

 cleansing flight upon a fine day, to be 

 again placed in the old quarters at 

 night, has been a very general one, but 

 however much our best apiarists may 

 diiler upon very vital questions, upon 

 this they are almost if not entirely one. 

 A colony loses by such treatment. By 

 keeping colonies in proper quarters 

 through the changeable spring, when 

 it may be bright, warm and tempting 

 to the bees outside one moment, and 

 raw and chilly enough another to cause 

 the loss of all bees away from the hive, 

 much is gained. 



Bees upon their summer stands may 

 be examined if they appear to be weak 

 and short of stores ; if you are satisfied 

 they are not, leave them alone. See 

 that the entrances are kept clear, and 

 if there are many dead bees upon the 

 entrance board, you may upon a fine 

 day when bees are flying, assist them 

 in their house-cleaning operations, by 

 pulling dead bees out with a bent wire. 



Avoid the exposure of any honey or 

 any manipulation of hives that might 

 tend to start bees into robbing. Of 

 robbing, the inexperienced bee-keeper 

 is perhaps more afraid than the experts 

 are ; all dread it after it has been com- 

 menced. By having the hive-entrances 

 facing the prevailing spring winds, 

 there is less liability to rob, the acent 

 of honey, if any is at the back of the 

 hive, being driven by the wind in that 

 direction ; if the opposite way, it is at 

 the front and only an additional guide to 

 the bees to enter at the front ; if at the 

 back they can get no entrance even if 

 they find their way there. If a colony 

 has not lost all fight, instead of con- 

 tracting the entrance, leave it open, 

 and this method is especially to be rec- 

 ommended if robbing has not yet com- 

 menced, and as a preventive. 



SELLING HONEY. 



Oiir Local Honey market, and 

 HoYV to Cultivate It. 



Written for (he Ontario Convention 

 BY B. M'KNIGHT. 



Until the production of honey in 

 Canada becomes much greater than it 

 is likely to be,' the best market will be 

 the home market. I have no sympathy 

 with the class of bee-keepers who con- 

 stantly lament over low prices and slow 

 sales, who strain their eyes to catch a 

 glimpse of the proverbially green fields 

 that are far away, the verdancy of 

 which pales as they are approached. 

 The demand for honey and the prices 

 paid for it are relatively as good here 

 as elsewhere. I believe that this coun- 

 try needs and will take all the honey 

 the bee-keepers can supply. The expe- 

 rience of the past warrants this conclu- 

 sion. 



What was the production of honey in 

 this Province ten or twelve years ago, 

 as compared with its production now V 

 And what is its consumption to-day V 

 Was there not a ton of honey put upon 

 the market last year— poor though the 

 season was — for every one hundred 

 pounds offered twelve years ago V 

 Then the man who had honey to sell 

 carried it to the drug shop. Now the 

 provision dealers are his best custom- 

 ers. Then honey was used as a medi- 

 cine, or partaken of as a luxury— now 

 it is frequently found on the breakfast 

 table, and esteemed a wholesome, epo- 

 nomical treat of diet. What is the 

 conclusion to be drawn from these 

 facts ? Obviously that the demand is 

 keeping pace with the supply ; that 

 honey is no longer associated with 

 drugs or enjoyed only by the wealthy, 

 but is steadily working its way into 

 the homes of the poor, who are begin- 

 ning to recognize the fact that its food 

 value is worth what it costs them. 



It is true that the price of honey is 

 now much less than it was a decade 

 ago, but it is also true that bee-keepers' 

 requisites are better, and cost less than 

 they did then ; while the demand for 

 what they produce is steadier and more 

 extensive. To my thinking, honey is 

 now selling for all it is worth as an ar- 

 ticle of food, and he who looks for high- 

 er prices, either here or elsewhere, is 

 doomed to be disappointed. 



The wholesale price of extracted 

 honey in Canada markets has ranged 

 from seven to ten cents per lb. for 

 some years past, and I know of no mar- 

 ket in which our bee-keepers can net 

 better prices. I see nothing to prevent 

 these prices being maintained if bee- 

 keepers only show themselves equal to 

 the requirements of the business they 

 have embarked in. The general law 

 that regulates the price of industrial 

 and food products is, "a living profit 

 on the labor and capital employed in 

 their production," the supply and de- 

 mand being well balanced. 



It cannot be denied that the demand 

 for honey in Canada has kept pace with 

 the supply, neither can it be disputed 

 that present prices give a fair profit on 

 labor and capital employed in its pro- 

 duction. The wisdom and duty of cul- 



tivating the home market is therefore 

 obvious. It is true that we have good 

 reasons for anticipating a steady in- 

 crease in production, as time rolls on, 

 but we have just as good reasons to 

 look forward to a corresponding in- 

 crease in consumption, and a like in- 

 crease in demand ; but these will not 

 follow without an effort on the part of 

 both the individual bee-keeper and this 

 Association to keep the market active 

 and steady. It will be vain to look to 

 the middle men to do this. 



The output of the apiary is as yet a 

 comparative stranger in the market, 

 and it must be watched and protected 

 by those most interested, and not left 

 to the tender mercies of those who 

 care only for the profits to be made out 

 of passing it from one hand to another. 

 With this end in view, the wants of 

 our immediate neighborhoods must be 

 fully met by keeping the local markets 

 well supplied, and this should be at- 

 tended to by those who have most in 

 stock, and most at stake. Such are not 

 the class of bee-keepers who demoral- 

 ize and destroy the local honey market 

 —their interests lie in the opposite di- 

 rection and their interests will be con- 

 served by not only abstaining from un- 

 settling the market by cutting prices 

 and unwisely putting their goods into 

 every hole and corner, but by prevent- 

 ing their neighbors, who produce but 

 little, from doing so. 



It is, I venture to say, within the 

 knowledge of every one of you, that 

 the cutting of prices, nay the slaughter 

 of honey, is carried on by small out-of- 

 the-way bee-keepers who produce but 

 little, have no regular customers, and 

 whose income is not materially affect- 

 ed whether they sell what little they 

 have at 10 cents or at 5 cents per lb. 

 Such people, having no market already 

 established, and not yet skilled in put- 

 ting up their little honey in attractive 

 forms, are compelled to sell it at or 

 near home for whatever prices they are 

 offered. 



The usual practice of such people is 

 to empty their honey into crocks or 

 milk-pails, drive into the nearest town 

 or village, and there make the rounds 

 of the hotels and grocery shops, dispos- 

 ing of it for whatever prices they can 

 obtain, frequently selling it two or 

 three cents per lb. cheaper to one man 

 than they succeeded in getting from 

 his neighbor, but in most cases trading 

 it off to the shop-keepers for goods. 

 The purchaser getting it by way of 

 barter, is generally willing to sell it to 

 his customers for cash at what it nom- 

 inally cost him. Thus both retail and 

 wholesale prices are unsettled and the 

 market demoralized. 



What is the remedy for this— the 

 greatest obstacle we have to contend 

 against is building up a steady, profita- 

 ble home trade ? I think that the only 

 solution to the difliculty is for the bee- 

 keepers in every community to become 

 honey-dealers as well as honey-pro- 

 ducers. 



Let them arrange with the dealers I 

 have above described, to take all their 

 honey at the close of the season at 

 prices that is fair to both parties, and 

 thus put themselves in a position to 

 control their own market, and I am 

 persuaded that most small bee-keepers 



