ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



199 



I cafried a cover into my bee cellar. 

 If the bottom drops off I leave it. 



Mr. Taylor — "Wouldn't leaving the 

 bottom off be just as good as leaving 

 the cover off? 



Mr. C. F. Smith — Not quite. I leave 

 the cover off and if the bottom drops 

 off I leave it off. When we leave the 

 tops off we put a burlap over the 

 hives. I don't care anything about 

 what the temperature is. 



Owing to Mr. Hershiser wishing to 

 leave early, his paper was taken at 

 this stage and the discussion of the 

 question box allowed to stand. 



Mr. O. L. Hershiser read his paper 

 on "How to Secure Good Prices for 

 Honey eyen in Years of Bountiful 

 Yields," as follows. 



HOW TO SECURE PRICES FOR 



HONEY EVEN IN YEARS OF 



BOUNTIFUL YIELDS. 



By O. L. Hershiser, Kenmore, N. Y. 



- If an unusually large quantity of 

 any commodity is produced, and is 

 thrown upon any particular market 

 in a lump, the price will necessarily 

 fall, owing • to competition, and the 

 eagerness of holders to realize on 

 their goods. 



If such unusually large quantity of 

 the commodity is distributed in such 

 manner as will supply localities that 

 have had an under production; or if 

 the disposition of the same is spread 

 out over a considerable length of time, 

 keeping a portion of it out of the 

 market until a season of scarcity if 

 necessary, or if new markets are 

 created by reason of increased activ- 

 ity in discovering as many as possi- 

 ble of the latest avenues of consump- 

 tion, directing, as it were, the product 

 into new channels, and creating a 

 need where need was before unfelt, 

 there is no need to greatly reduce 

 prices in order to sell the goods. 



I wish to apply the above proposi- 

 tions directly to honey production and 

 consumption. If the apiarist is so 

 fortunate as to have produced a large 

 crop of honey, he should get busy in 

 search of new markets. If his crop 

 is 50 per cent more than he has been 

 accustomed to produce, he has just 



that 50 per cent with which to work 

 up a new market and create a de- 

 mand that ■w^ill be of value in years 

 to come. Suppose he has to carry 

 a portion of his crop over to the next 

 year; it is almost as good as money 

 in the bank, and inay j'ield a much 

 larger percentage. 



Mr. Mercer of Ventura, Cal., be- 

 cause of unsatisfactory prices, in the 

 year 1903, held his honey until the 

 following year, and thereby realized 

 $1,000.00 more for the crop than would 

 have been obtained if sold as soon 

 as produced. 



When prices of honey are abnor- 

 mally low, H;here is no speculation in 

 holding the honey a year or two, 

 and the more bee-keepers there are 

 who are determined not to sacrifice 

 their honey because of a bountiful 

 crop, and lo^' prices, the more stable 

 will the market become. 



In the last issue of the Review, edi- 

 torial notice is made of a bee-keeper, 

 who had been offered 7 cents for the 

 best White Glover Honey that could 

 lis, it would net him but a trifle above 

 5 cents p,er pound. I wish to say, 

 that the apiarist, as a class, is largely 

 responsible for such market condi- 

 tions. The jobber is always anxious 

 to purchase goods at as low a price 

 as he can oMain them, for the reason 

 that his profits are correspondingly 

 greater, and because of the lower 

 price at which he is able to sell, he 

 can do a greater volume of business. 

 He senis out offers for honey, and 

 quotes the current jobbing price of 5 

 to 7 cents, and in most years is able 

 to supply his wants at these figures. 

 Then, not being a philanthropist, why 

 should he give more? 



Once in a while there is a bee- 

 keeper who does not figure the ex- 

 pense of cans and transportation, and 

 thinks one-sidedly only of the 7 cents 

 per pound he is going to obtain. Rather 

 than take 5 cents net frOm the job- 

 ber, the bee-keeper reported by the Re- 

 view would better sell locally to con- 

 sumers direct for 7 or 8 cents, and 

 thus save the expense of his cans; 

 and what could not be sold locally, 

 might be dispose'3 of at satisfactory 

 prices by a little well directed adver- 

 tising. Persona;lly, I do not believe 

 it to be ever necessary to sell honey 

 direct to the consumer at less than 

 10 (jents per pound. I reason that 



