372 : QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1899, 
bees gathering buckwheat honey we found invariably that there was a very — 
much larger amount of added wax in the case of the buckwheat than in the 
case of clover.” 
We next come to the question of a market for honey, and of the prices 
obtainable. i tp aa 
So far as the profit in beekeeping is concerned in Canada, Mr. Couse, 
Secretary of the Beekeepers’ Association of Ontario says, in allusion to an 
apiculturist who runs 1,200 colonies of bees:—‘‘ His production of honey is 
very large, but he does the work pretty nearly all himself, with the aid of a 
‘hired man and a boy, and there is very little expense in handling 1,200 colonies 
of bees. I suppose he has come to the conclusion, like a good many more, 
that the price of honey is so low that, unless we produce an immense amount, 
our returns are very small: therefore we must increase our apiaries if we are 
going to stay in the honey business. The price of honey now has dropped so 
low that a man with 100 colonies of bees dare not depend upon them fora 
living.” 
The beekeeping industry is usually connected with something else. If a 
man thinks of going into the business to make a living out of it, he has now 
got to be an expert beekeeper and handle an immense number of colonies to 
make a reasonable living. Therefore we must, if we are going to go on in bee- 
keeping, find a market for our honey, and I think a matter that ought to 
receive a good deal of attention at the present time is, how many colonies a 
man can handle, and how much honey he is going to produce, and what he is 
going to do with it. 
Many people say in Canada that if they can get 6 cents (8d.) per lb. for 
their honey, and are able to sell the entire cree they will keep more bees. It 
was stated that there was a large opening for honey sales in Germany. 
The Californian honey is sage honey, which is white, but is said to have a 
minty flavour. 
This is what Mr. McKnicht said at the meeting about prices in Canada ag 
compared with those obtainable in Great Britain :— 
“ Heather honey is as dark as golden syrup. It is a very peculiar article; 
there is no other honey like it. It cannot be extracted ; there is that peculi- 
arity about it; and notwithstanding that, it. commands the highest price in the 
British market of any other honey. J am, perhaps, the only man here that’ 
has a personal knowledge of the British honey market, or at least, [had. At 
that time it was very strongly urged by some of our members that we should 
export our honey; and it was not only urged that we should export it, but 
that we should contribute a certain amount of our Government grant for that 
purpose. I opposed that, as some of you will remember, because I knew it 
would not be in the interests of honey producers of Ontario, knowing as I did 
what they might expect for their honey over there. I saw it would be a fatal 
thing indeed for them to undertake that. J was getting from 123 to 15 cents 
(64d. to 73d.) a pound; | knew very well then, and I know it now, and my 
opinion expressed then is borne out by the evidence Mr. Holtermann gives you 
to-day, what you can get for your honey in Great Britain—that you can sell 
all the honey that you want to send there. I knew then and I know now, 
that you cannot expect to get a return of more than 7 cents (83d.) a pound 
for it; you could not get it then and you cannot get it at the present 
day. Is it advisable under the present conditions to send your honey 
over there and take all the risk of sending it, take the risk of losing it 
entirely through a dishonest commission man, take the risk of breakage, and 
all the rest, of it? Far better for you to sell your honey in Canada. 
I may add that there is an unlimited market in this country as far as our 
production goes. We are selling honey to the public to-day, and we sell them 
2lb. of honey for what they can get 1 lb. of butter for, and if the matter is 
properly pushed you will find a sale for your honey. Everybody knows that 
the general consumption of honey in Canada is one hundredfold more than it 
was 15 years ago, and I believe it will still go on. My advice to you is, so 
