ILLINOIS. STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



113 



prominent bee-keeper of Freeport, 111. 

 He did not do anythijng' ' else but keep 

 bees, and had an early crop of honey. 

 He marketed some of that honey, and 

 had it inserted in the Freeport papers 

 that there was a tremendous crop of 

 honey. Honey dropped in ten days 

 from fifteen cents down to ten, on the 

 insertion of that one article that there 

 was an immense crop of honey in 

 Freeport. 



Dr. Miller: Was there an immense 

 crop? 



Mr. Kluck: No. It appeared so at 

 first, but it was not -so. 



Mr. Holbrook: So you see where 

 the bee-keepers were who sold their 

 honey at ten cents! 



Mr. Whitney: That was simply the 

 local market? 



Mr. Kluck: That was the local 

 market. 



Mr. Whitney: For instance, it did 

 not affect the Chicago market? 



Mr. Kluck: No, sir. 



Starting New Bee- Keepers. 



"What . has the average bee-keeper 

 to gain by advising others to engage 

 in. the business? What do we, as an 

 Association, gain by advising beginners 

 to go into bee-keeping?" 



Mr. Whitney: I am interested in 

 that because I have taught at least a 

 hundred people how to keep bees with- 

 in the last three years. They went 

 into it, but I guess they dropped out 

 of it in two or three years. But there 

 is this gained, it gives individuals an 

 opportunity to learn something about 

 bees and honey. The average indi- 

 vidual throughout the country, it seems 

 to me, is more ignorant in regard to 

 bees and honey than in regard to any 

 other subject. Some intelligent people 

 in Lake Geneva, Wis., have asked me 

 about the "king" bee. They know so 

 little about it, and there is satisfac- 

 tion gained, to say the least. I don't 

 think there is any injury to the honey- 

 producer to instruct people how to 

 keep bees. 



Pres. York: Don't you think these 

 people who drop out of bee-keeping 

 learn to use honey, and will be honey 

 consumers afterwards? 



Mr. Wilcox: What has Mr. Whit- 

 ney gained by teaching these people 

 about it? 



Mr, Whitney: I sell them lots of 



honey. I sold a colony of bees last fall 

 for $10.00. 



Mr. ICimmey: It seems to me that 

 there is an intimation that there is 

 something to lose both by reporting 

 your crop and advising somebody else 

 to go into the business. In the one 

 case, if you let the public know how 

 much honey there is, the price may 

 drop. In the other case, there would 

 be more honey produced than there 

 would be sale for if a great many 

 people went into the business. I think 

 both suggestions are wrong. I would 

 ask, what is the honey- producer liable 

 to gain by advising other people to 

 go into the business. I would say that 

 I think he is liable to gain enemiesv 

 As I look over the five or six years I 

 have had some bees; and have observed 

 others who have started in the busi- 

 ness and fizzled out; it seems to me 

 that that is the last business I should 

 advise the ordinary man to undertake 

 as a business, just as a business. I 

 think I would say to him, "Go and 

 learn the plumbers' trade; be a car- 

 penter, clerk in a store, or even be a 

 lawyer!" Now, three or four years 

 ago we had a good honey crop, and it 

 looked to be a nice business. Next 

 year, I had to feed my bees nearly all 

 summer. The year 1907 was nothing 

 to brag of. This year has been a good 

 exception, and it strikes me, it is not 

 a business to advise any one to go 

 into. But, as I said before, as far as 

 letting the public know what your 

 crop of honey is, I think it is the thing 

 to do. The more information you have 

 in your mind and give to the world, 

 the better the' world is for it, and the 

 better you are for it, and the more 

 people engage in bee-keeping the bet- 

 ter price there will be for honey. Just 

 imagine that I am the only bee-keeper 

 in the world. Suppose any of you fel- 

 lows would buy honey from me? You 

 would say, "I like sugar better. I can 

 get sugar for five cents a pound, and 

 this is fifteen cents a pound." I be- 

 lieve the more honey there is produced, 

 and the more bee-keepers there are, 

 the more sale there will he for their 

 commodity. [ " 



The convention then adjourned, till 

 9:30 the next day. 



SECOND DAY — Morning Session. 



The Convention met pursuant to ad- 

 journment, with the President, George 

 W. York, in the chair. 



—8 



