T'HE rnvmrnwiemm mwm j€nj!Mrfa.iL. 



863 



COMBINATIONS. 



Can we Control our Honey 

 market by Combining. 



Read at the Oneida Co. Bee-Keepers' Convention 

 BY J. ASITNWAXL. 



This subject seems to be agitating 

 the minds of many, or I had better say 

 a few, of the prominent bee-men at the 

 present time. It is an important sub- 

 ject, and one worthy of much thought. 

 We may, bj- combining to control the 

 market, do ourselves some good, but 

 the chances are that we will do our- 

 selves much harm. To assert that we 

 can so control the honey market as to 

 place the price where we please is 

 preposterous, and to my mind so far 

 fi'om possible, under the present con- 

 dition of things, as to lead me to think 

 that some other motive prompts the 

 promoters to take the step. Let me 

 put the facts more plainly before you : 

 What is it that regulates trade ? What 

 is it that causes fluctuations in anj' 

 business not controlled by a specula- 

 tive board, as in the case of stoclss and 

 grain ? I answer it is supply and de- 

 mand. Coal is controlled, we know, 

 by great combinations who place the 

 price where thcj' please to a certain 

 limit, until some firm drops out, and 

 cut-throat prices are the order of the 

 day, to the detriment of all concerned. 

 But is it to be supposed that because 

 this combination owned all the coal 

 fields in a certain very large district, 

 that it could put the price of coal to 

 flO per ton ? No, they could not hold 

 those prices three days before coal 

 would be coming in from the West, 

 . South, North and East to fill the mar- 

 kets at such a i)rice as the market will 

 allow. Controlling a market is a pre- 

 posterous proposition, if we liave not 

 demand to act as the chief factor. 



The honey interest has not the ad- 

 vantages which exist in other indus- 

 tries, such as iron, coal or petroleum ; 

 for in the first instance mines and 

 wells can be bought outriglit and con- 

 tl'oUed. but who can buy up the flowers 

 of the field, or who can control the 

 flow of nectar ? Only He, under whose 

 providential care bee-culture always 

 rests. 



Suppose you gentlemen of the Oneida 

 Bee-Keeper.s' Association were to com- 

 bine together, and declare that comb 

 honey should be sold by the members 

 for not less than 20 cents per pound 

 for the best qualitj% and I was an out- 

 sider, not belonging to your associa- 

 tion. Is there any law to prevent me 

 from bringing my own honej', and as 

 much more as I chose to buy in other 

 parts, and selling the lot right under 

 your very noses at 18 cents a pound ? 

 Where would you gentlemen get your 



money from to continue your business, 

 if you found buyers loath to pay 20 

 cents per pound for the same article 

 they could obtain from me at 18 cents? 

 I leave the answer to yourselves. 



What would you think of a lot of 

 enthusiasts getting together to control 

 the egg-market, in country towns and 

 elsewhere. How many farmers' wives 

 would they control when it came to 

 the question of selling a dozen eggs to 

 pay for a new shawl, or to buy bread 

 for the children. In this case, the 

 egg-men have an ailvantage over the 

 honey-man, in that eggs are a far 

 greater necessity than honey, and con- 

 sequently there is a conslant demand. 

 Supposing a man depended on honey 

 for a living, and the "combine" of 

 bee-keepers, to whom he belonged, 

 should say the honej- market must be 

 20 cents, and some fellow comes along 

 otfering honey at 18 cents in this man's 

 market, and gluts it. Where is the 

 member of the " combine " going to 

 get the bread from ? He will go out 

 of the bee-business next year, and the 

 fellow will reap the harvest in a mar- 

 ket the first bee-keeper has toiled so 

 many years to ci'eate. Combination, 

 you see, was a curse here instead of a 

 blessing. 



I ofier the following suggestions, not 

 as a solution of the problem, but some- 

 thing towards a solution. I would 

 propose the formation of a honey com- 

 pany headed by some experienced men 

 in the honey business, and the estab- 

 lishing of headquarters in New York 

 city, with branch establishments at the 

 different centres of commerce. This 

 to be a stock company who shall buy 

 honey outright, and not sell on com- 

 mission, and whose principal work 

 shall be the creation of a market bj' 

 circulating pamphlets tending to edu- 

 cate people to the numerous uses to 

 which honey can be jwt, and above all 

 inspiring the minds of the general 

 public with the absolute confidence 

 that when honey is bought from this 

 company and labeled " pure honey," 

 it is " the truth, the whole truth, and 

 nothing but the truth." 



CONVESfTION DIRECTORY. 



1HS8. Time and Place of Meeting. 



May 31.— Wi«. Lake Shore Center, at Kiel, Wis. 



Ferd. Zastrnw, Sec, Millhume, Wis. 



AuB. 3.— Ionia County, at Ionia, Mich. 



H. Smith, Sec, Ionia. Mich. 



Aug. 14.— Colorado State, iit Denver, Colo. 



J. M. Clark, Sec, Denver, Colo. 



Aug. 27.— Stark County, at i:anton, o. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Sept. 8.— Susquehanna County, at Montrose, Pa. 



H. M. Seeley, Sec, Harford, Pa. 



E3^ In order to have this tahle complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward fuU particulars of 

 time and place of future ujcetinKB.- En. 



stissi^MmM 





Early Swarms.— J. M. Hambaugh, 



of Sprin«, Ills., on May 21, 1888, writes : 



I liad a natural swarm of bees to issue 

 May .5— the earliest ever known in this sec- 

 tion of eOHiitry. I have since had two 

 more, notwith stand hig the cool, backward 

 weather. With the weather favorable, we 

 expect a bin year for honey. 



Bees Wiiiter«-d Fairly Well.— E. 



W. Councilman, Newark Valley, N. Y., on 

 May 17, 1888, says : 



Bees have wintered fairly well in this 

 locality. I have succeeded in carrying 

 through safely 70 colonies out of 79, win- 

 tered in the cellar. Five months is a long 

 time to keep bees in confinement. We have 

 had a week of cold, damp weal her, and it is 

 still raining to-day. Bees have hardly had 

 a flight during the whole week. 



Cold and Cloudy liVeatlier.— C. 



Thielmann, Thielmanton, Minn., on May 



IS, 18!38, writes : 



The rain ceased for about six days, but it 

 is cold aod cloudy most of the liiue. My 

 bees are getting light in stores, as they 

 secured but little the past three weeks ; 

 otherwise they are strong and in a healthy 

 condition. 



Improperly Caring; for Bees. — 



Dr. E. W. Parker, Larrabee, Iowa, on May 



19, 1888, says : 



I put 32 culonies of bees into the cellar, 

 and have butH now. Two colonies starved, 

 and 9 had the diarrhea, caused by late honey 

 improperly ripened, or rather, not ripened 

 at all ; so my loss is entirely my own fault ; 

 and I am of the opinion that nine-tenths of 

 the losses where bee's are wintered in good 

 cellars is chargeable to the bee-man himself. 



Ciood Prospects for Honey.— D. 



Daiiiher, Madison, Wis., on May 17, 1888, 

 says : 



The weather is poor for bees— raining all 

 the time. 1 have .30 colonies alive, 3 starved 

 to death, and 3 1 doubled up. The tempera- 

 ture was 43° in the cellar. All looked as if 

 dead when taken out, but they soon were at 

 w.ork. The prospects are good for a big 

 crop. White clover is all alive, and in ten 

 days we will have plenty of fruit-blossoms. 

 I had no honey last year. There lias been 

 no trouble to sell any the past winter for 20 

 cents per pound. 



Bee-Keeping' in YVasliington 



Xeri-itory.— Frank Mcllvain, Teanaway, 

 Wash. Ter., on May 13, 1888, writes : 



On April 37, 1887, X got 3 colonies of bees 

 and put them into Simplicity hives. Bee- 

 keeping is a new industry in this part pf 

 tlie country, mine being the only bees kept 

 here. I had one swarm. For wintering 1 

 placed boxes on the outside of the hives, 6 

 inches larger than the hives, which I filled 

 with chaff. I removed the sections and 

 placed on Hill's device, over this a piece of 

 cloth and filled in with chaff. When I ex- 

 amined them in January, I found that one 

 colony had become damp, the packing wet 

 and moldy, and the bees dead, .\nother 



