ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



117 



I told them I would buy It if they 

 wanted to sell it at the present prices. 

 I told tihem if they would wait a 

 month or so, they would get more. I 

 bought all that they insisted on sell- 

 ing, but some of it they kept and sold 

 for more later on. 



Mr. Taylor: I think that that is 

 the only practical solution. I think 

 that if bee-keepers who attend con- 

 ventions even would make a point of 

 selling their honey at home, which 

 they migiht do, most of them, at least, 

 they could make honey scarce, even 

 in . such a year as this, in these large 

 cities. We don't know the capacity 

 that there is for the consumption of 

 honey right about us, in our own little 

 towns. If we would make it a point 

 to canvass the neighborhood, we would 

 find almost everywhere people w^ho 

 wanted honey. It takes but a little 

 work by an individual to dispose of 

 quite a large crop. 



Dumping Honey on City Markets. 



"Can the small ibee-men be per- 

 suaded not to dump their crops into 

 the large commission centers, demoral- 

 izing the market?" 



Mr. Kluck: I don't believe the small 

 bee-keeper that does not read a bee- 

 paper can be persuaded not to dump 

 his honey on the market. That is the 

 man we have to contend with. "When 

 he has two or three hundred pounds, 

 he thinks he has a lot, and !he has to 

 haul it to the market. If he is offered 

 ten cents, or even nine, he will take 

 the nine or ten cents before he will 

 haul it home; and it is hard to edu- 

 cate a man who does not take a bee- 

 paper. What Mr. Wheeler says about 

 selling ho-ney for ten cents to grocers 

 in this city, I think I know wlho the 

 man is; he perhaps belongs to our 

 convention. He got eighteen and nine- 

 teen cents for his comb honey the 

 first shipment last year. The next 

 time he got seventeen or eighteen. 

 Then he waited until winter time, and 

 shipped a whole lot of shipping cases 

 separately and loose, and when they 

 got to Chicago they simply mashed 

 $60.00 worth of honey for him, and 

 made him so that he was ready to 

 take almost any price, so that he 

 would not lose. It is a hard matter 

 to educate all bee-keepers. I have in 

 mind a lady who had trouble with her 

 bees. She had melted up the beeswax. 

 She went to the druggist I had al- 

 ways sold my beeswax to, and said 



s'he had a lot of beeswax that she 

 wanted to dispose of. She said: "I 

 think I ought to have eight cents a 

 pound for it," and he had always paid 

 twenty-five cents. He said: 'T will 

 do better than that; I will give you 

 ten cents for it!" Think of that! 



Mr. iHolbrook: Along the line of 

 increasing sales in the neighborhood, 

 as Mr. Taylor mentioned, if I recall 

 rightly, I have read that Mr. France, 

 Wlho lives in the little town of Platte- 

 ville. Wis., had disposed of twenty 

 thousands pounds of extracted honey 

 per year; that is ten pounds for every 

 man, woman and child in town. I am 

 quite certain I am right in the figures. 

 That will give one an idea of what: 

 can be done in the neighborhood by 

 keeping at it. There are plenty of 

 people in Chicago' who don't use ten 

 pounds of honey a year. 



Mr. Kluck: They have a Normal 

 school at Platteville, Wis., and those 

 students come from all over the 

 State, and are trying to board them- 

 selves. That is where the big sale of 

 h'oney comes from. 



Mr. Wheeler: I don't know to w.hom 

 it is sold. 



Mr. Whitney: What has been said 

 in regard to the increasing of sales, 

 or the price for honey, seems to in- 

 dicate that individuals in the neigh- 

 borhood should keep their ignorant 

 bee-keepers posted as to what honey 

 is worth, lor else buy it. It seems to 

 me that if two or three enterprising 

 men in each locality wihere honey is 

 produced will club together and buy 

 that honey, as has been suggested, 

 here is really a solution of the ques- 

 tion of prices. Now, it does seem 

 strange that anybody who produces 

 good oomb honey should sell it for ten, 

 twelve or fourteen cents, or any such 

 low prices for comb honey. I cannot 

 understand w^hy they do it. It is 

 simply because they are ignorant of 

 the price, and need educating, and a 

 good bee-paper or an association like 

 this will educate. It suggests to my 

 mind the foundation of a trust to con- 

 trol the honey market, so that we can 

 maintain prices like other associa- 

 tions we could mention. It might not 

 be in accordance with the laws, per- 

 haps. How about the Colorado Honey- 

 Producers' Association? T>o they 

 maintain prices there through their 

 association, I wonder? Why would it 

 not be feasible to organize something 

 of that kind to maintain prices? 



