194 



TENTH ANNUAli REPORT OF THE 



count on a loss. I would like to have 

 it go out from this convention to the 

 world at large, if nothing else, that we 

 as bee-keepers are getting more money 

 for our honey this year than we ever 

 got in the history of the honey busi- 

 ness. 



Mr. Snyder — Are there any bee- 

 keepers here who remember what 

 prices they got for honey, twenty 

 years ago? (Quite a number raised 

 their hands in response.) 



Mr. Huffman (Wis.) — ^I can't just 

 agree with the last speaker. I will 

 have to agree with the paper written. 

 I know what honey was worth 20 and 

 25 years ago. We got from fifteen 

 to eighteen cents a pound for comb 

 honey. I live in Wisconsin, and I 

 want him to resmember it was eight 

 or ten years ago that honey went 

 Tlown. Take the data and compare it 

 with the paper, and see if the gentle- 

 man who wrote the paper is not cor- 

 rect. Mr. Selser is getting in be- 

 tween. I sold honey about six or 

 eight or ten years later for five cents 

 - a pound, but not 23 years ago. 



Mr. Hershiser — ^What was the price 

 ■ of honey in Wisconsin that you just 

 quoted, Mr. Selser? 



Mr. Selser — I said they were get- 

 ting 4 1-2 and 5 cents for white clover 

 extracted honey by the barrel. I didn't 

 say exactly 23 years ago.. If I did say 

 that, I will stand corrected. I said 

 about ten to fifteen or twenty years 

 ago. At the present time it is selling 

 at eight and eight and a fraction cents 

 in barrels in Wisconsin, if you can get 

 any, strictly white and alike. 



Mr. CHershiser — .Htow is> it they sell 

 it at that price there, and out in Cin- 

 cinnati and other cities, after paying 

 freight and commission, they don't 

 sell it any higher? They saj' strictly 

 fancy white honey, and if there is any- 

 thing better than that, I don't know it. 



Mr. Selser — ^I don't know that they 

 are; not Wisconsin honey. Wisconsin 

 and Michigan produce the finest 

 white honey we have. 



IMr. Weber — I would like to contra- 

 dict Mr. (Hershiser on that. He will 

 find our quotation today is 9% cents 

 on white clover honey, and if he has 

 any to offer I will pay hirh 8 cents f. 

 o. b. 



Mr. IHershiser — I am looking for a 

 little higher offer. I don't consider 

 that a snap, by any means! 



Mr. Davenport — It seems to me that 

 the quotations offered by Mr. Selser 

 hardly have application to this dis- 

 cussion with regard to Mr. Rauchfuss' 

 paper. You all know that extracted 

 honey years ago was a drug in the 

 market. I am aware' of one party 

 that had 35 tons of extracted honey, 

 and sold it for a trifle over 5 cents 

 a pound, and it went to the Chicago 

 market, and today that man doesn't 

 get so very much more than he did 

 then. Then there was a good deal 

 less demand for extracted honey. The 

 use of it was almost unknown. We 

 know it is entering into manufactures 

 a great deal more largely, and the de- 

 mand is much more extensive; the 

 National [Biscuit Company alone have 

 a standing advertisement calling for 

 all the honey that the bee-keepers 

 want to sell. They use it extensively, 

 and all these different agencies that 

 make use of extracted honey have in- 

 creased the value of it during the last 

 decade or two. You will notice Mr. 

 Selser doesn't make the comparison of 

 the quotations on comb honey as ex- 

 tensively, and his quotation on comh 

 honey refers to buying in St. Lrawrence 

 County, distant from the market, and 

 he, at that time, got it at a lower fig- 

 ure, and today it brings a somewhat 

 larger figure. It is not a just compari- 

 son in support of his id'ea. But, the 

 paper by Mr. Rauchfuss has no appli- 

 cation to this proposition, and I would 

 be glad if someone would make the 

 motion that this paper be referred to 

 the committee of three in order that 

 they might take it into consideration 

 in connection with the plan of co-oper- 

 ation among the bee-keepers, for 

 the sale of the product of the bee- 

 keepers, and for the formulation of a 

 plan for amen-diment to the constitu- 

 tion to cover these various grounds. It 

 is not that they shall incorporate ideas, 

 but that they shall consider thean in 

 connection -with any plans they have 

 already formulated, and see if they 

 can amend those plans. 



Mr. Hershiser — ^I came in a little 

 late, and I didn't hear fully the discus- 

 sion. I would like to ask about when 

 it was iMr. Selser bought buckwheat 

 and other honey so cheap in New 

 York State. '^' ' 



Mr. (Selser — ^I said I couldn't tell 

 exactly; I should say, in round figures, 

 about fifteen years ago, maybe it is 



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