November 10, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
415 
set in early. Callas, if reeded early, come forward in a position of 
this description very quickly, especially if their pots are plunged. 
PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING.—No. 22. 
In the old days, when the price of honey was com¬ 
paratively high, and there was a ready market at the then 
current price foi all available surplus of good quality, it 
was customary to advise all bee-keepers who desired to 
obtain a maximum of profit from their stocks to deprive 
them very closely at the end of each season, and to give 
a sufficient supply of syrup to take the place of the 
honey so extracted to last each stock until the end of 
March or beginning of April. A change has of late come 
oyer the aspect ot affairs, a black cloud has somewhat 
dimmed the rising sun on the bee-keeper's horizon, and 
a changed policy will commend itself to all those practical 
bee-keepers who are ready to meet new wants and present 
requirements by a change ot system and ideas. In those 
old days, when the price of honey was relatively high 
compared to that of sugar, it was undoubtedly a very 
profitable practice to deprive each stock of all its honey 
and then to feed with sugar syrup until a sufficient supply 
of artificial store had been given. In isolated instances 
and in bad seasons when honey is scarce and a good 
price can be commanded, the system of total deprivation 
will still commend itself, but unless honey is readily sale¬ 
able at a fairly remunerative price it is folly to pursue the 
practice. In the vast majority of instances the price of 
honey is so reduced that—taking into consideration the 
loss occasioned by feeding, by the process of storage in 
the cells, and evaporation before sealing, by loss of energy 
and therefore prematurely shortening of bees’ life, and by 
the labour which the bee-keeper must expend in taking 
the honey-making syrup and feeding it to the bees—the 
margin of profit is so small that, especially in view of the 
state of the honey trade, it seems suicidal to throw an 
extra surplus upon an already overstocked market. 
Every bee-keeper is beginning to feel more keenly the 
wide-spread depression which extends throughout the land, 
and affects in a greater or less degree every trade industry 
and profession. The gradual but long continued drop in 
prices has very considerably affected the position of the prac¬ 
tical bee-keeper, and if he does not desire to find himself left 
stranded on the shore by the wave of remorseless compe¬ 
tition he must at once exert himself in every possible way 
to combat low prices, not only by a cheapened production, 
but also by paying due regard to certain points in the 
management of the apiary and the sale and creation of 
surplus which have hitherto in this country escaped the 
notice which their intrinsic importance demands in view 
of the present crisis. The cause of the present low value 
of honey is that production has been increased, while the 
demand for the commodity has not increased in anything 
like the same ratio. This increase in production without 
a correspondingly increased demand has had the natural 
effect of depressing the market to the advantage of the 
consumer at the expense of the producer. Added to this, 
there has been for years a very considerable importation 
of honey from the Colonies, America, and other countries, 
which has—on account of the low prices which the foreign 
production has realised — considerably increased the 
exigency of the situation. A more equal adjustment of 
the balance of supply and demand can alone in future 
regulate prices. If this adjustment cannot in a short time 
be effected by a determined attempt to extend the con¬ 
sumption as well as the production of honey, many a bee¬ 
keeper will find that he is producing at a loss, and will 
consequently retire and take up some new industry which 
seem to afford him a better chance of making a profit 
by his exertion. It there is a practically unlimited 
su PPly> an d only a relatively small demand, the market 
must be glutted, and prices will consequently recede to 
a point which will in the majority of instances absolutely 
preclude the possibility of making the management of 
an apiary a profitable undertaking. Even now the supply 
is practically unlimited, while the demand is compara¬ 
tively small and increases very slowly. 
Without in any way taking a pessimist view of bee¬ 
keeping it is impossible, and if it were possible it would 
be most unwise, to take a rose-coloured view of the 
present state of the industry; it is wiser to look facts 
in the face and endeavour to meet the exigency of the 
moment by changing our management. By this depriving 
system a large extra surplus is thiown upon a market 
already glutted. Bee-keepers who have the greatest 
difficulty in effecting a sale of their surplus honey proper, 
take this extra surplus for the sake of a possible chance 
of making an extra profit, forgetting that as things are at 
present there is more than a possibility of reaping a loss. 
Does it not seem suicidal to add to an already overstocked 
market an additional weight of honey which can never 
at the present relative prices of sugar and honey yield a 
fair profit? Is it not a wiser policy to leave the bees 
sufficient to supply their wants until another summer, 
and be content with taking as a surplus that honey only 
which remains over and above the amount required for the 
preservation of the stocks in the winter and spring ? 
There has been considerable discussion on this point 
in America, and the opinion of those who ought to be 
able to decide the question on a profit and loss view of 
the matter seems to be strongly against the purchase of 
sugar for feeding purposes when honey is in any case 
scarcely saleable at a price which will remunerate the bee¬ 
keeper for his trouble, and in many instances is only sale¬ 
able at a price which will entail upon him positive loss. 
But in the United States they have also, in forming an 
opinion upon the point, to deal with the question of 
adulteration, which has of late apparently assumed a 
somewhat serious aspect owing to the fabrications of 
persons who have attempted without a shadow of justifi¬ 
cation to condemn section honey as a product of machinery, 
and therefore a fraud. Apparently it is decided, if we 
may judge from the “American Bee Journal,” that when 
honey is low in price and not very readily marketable even 
at that low price, it is little short of madness to deprive 
stocks and then to feed them up into sugar. By doing so 
not only is the honey market glutted to a greater extent 
than is at all necessary, but the sister industry of the 
sugar boiler is assisted by his competitor, the bee-keeper, 
to the manifest disadvantage of the latter. When honey 
is plentiful it can only be sold at a price which leaves a 
very small margin of profit, and even this small profit 
sometimes entirely disappears. If, however, the purchase 
of sugar for feeding purposes was stayed, and the requisite 
amount of honey lor keeping the stock in health were 
withdiawn from the market, it would be far less difficult 
to dispose of first-class honey at a price far more satis¬ 
factory to the bee-keeper. At present we have not to 
contend in any great degree with the suspicion of adul¬ 
teration, but the consumption of large quantities of sugar 
in'the apiary at the very time vhen the surplus is being 
taken does often cause suspicion, and therefore gives an 
