ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



119 



I will say this (perhaps it does not 

 sound just right): I believe that the 

 amateur bee-keeper ■comes here with 

 more nerve than he goes away with. 

 Some of you older 'bee-keepers do not 

 believe sufficiently in your honey to 

 demand the price which that article 

 is worth to produce it. "We amateurs 

 strive to get the best article possible, 

 and we try to get the people to appre- 

 ciate that article; appreciate the 

 effort we have put forth to get the 

 best article possible, and get (them to 

 feel that we must pay the price which 

 it has cost to produce that good 

 article. If you believe in that, and 

 stick to it, you will not be talking 7 

 to 9 cents a pound for honey! No 

 pound of ihohey should be put on the 

 market for less than 14 cents; from 

 that to 20 cents, according to the way 

 you sell it, and you can get it if you 

 ask it, and the people, when you tell 

 them what it has cost, will agree with 

 you that you should get a proper price 

 for it. 



If we will spend a little more money 

 in the spring to protect our bees and 

 get them strong for the honey-flow, 

 we can produce the honey; then we 

 can tell our customers what it ihas 

 cost us to produce that; the effort we 

 have made, and they at once agree 

 with us. 



While I do not produce 40,000 pounds 

 of honey — if I produce 4,000 to 6,000 

 pounds — ^I have just as good a right to 

 stand for the price of that honey as 

 though it were 40,000 to 60,000- pounds. 

 While you may produce 40,000 pounds, 

 you have just as good a right to stand 

 for the price which that honey is worth, 

 as I have for the 4,000 or 6,000 pounds. 



I didn't intend to say this, but you 

 have it now. 



Mr. Taylor — I want to add just a 

 word to what has been said about ask- 

 ing a price for the honey. The only 

 reason our honey is low-priced is be- 

 cause we ask a low price. 



The officers of our Michigan State 

 Association get together here in the 

 fall sometime (I don't know by what 

 authority — they must have created the 

 authority themselves) they got out a 

 little book advertising the producers of 

 honey, they ventured to fix a price, well, 

 they said, 14 cents for the best quality 

 6f honey, and a lower price for grades 

 not so good. I have felt indignant ever 

 since I saw that statement. What is 

 the use of fixing the price of honey at 



\ 



14 cents? And there is" no reason why 

 the officers of the State Associa- 

 tion should fix a price at that 

 figure. I insisted on 16 cents and 

 got it, and there is no question 

 at all but what a great many bee- 

 keepers in Michigan sold their honey 

 for 14 cents simply because the officers 

 of the State Association named that 

 figure. We need not grumble about the 

 price of honey unless we ask a better 

 price. 



Mrs. Holbrook — I have not sold a 

 pound of honey to the retail trade for 

 less than 20 cents when it is less than 

 5 pounds, either comb or extracted. I 

 have not sold a pound, for less than 14 

 cents when I have sold it at wholesale 

 prices — tv/o 60 -pound cans; and no one 

 has complained, and more than that, 

 the same customers are taking 

 more this year than they did last 

 year. Now put that in your bonnet 

 and think about it, and don't come here 

 next year and talk 7 to 9 cents a pound 

 for honey. We have to rise above 

 that; it takes our nerve to come here 

 and hear this. We study this thing ont 

 as to how we can rise to the point of 

 asking what a thing is worth, and ask 

 it, and get it in a small way; and then 

 out comes the bee-paper with "adds" 

 for 60-pound cans of honey at 10 cents 

 a pound. Andi then we come here and 

 talk for 9 and 10 cents a pound. Tou 

 see it takes the nerve out of these ama- 

 teurs. 



Pres. York — I would like to ask Mrs. 

 Holbrook — 'have you been speaking 

 about extracted honey? 



Mrs. Holbrook — Yes, I had in mind 

 extracted honey. 



For comb honey, we get what we 

 think that is worth, from 20 to 24 or 

 25 cents for the Al fancy, or take a 

 little off where they would take 11 sec- 

 tions; give them one extra section; 

 where they take 6 sections, give them 

 the price of the half section. They 

 don't hesitate to keep sending for more. 



I believe we must first think what a 

 thing is worth. People never object to 

 paying 20 to 25 cents for butterine — ■ 

 and think of the difference in the cost 

 of the production of a pound of butter- 

 ine, and a pound of honey. Then think 

 of the difference in the value of a 

 pound of honey and the value of a 

 pound! of butterine. And then take 7 to 

 9 cents a pound for honey! It is ridic- 

 ulous! And it is not placing the value 

 upon that honey to which it is entitled. 



