March, 1932             WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING                         Page
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with very little honey in the hands 
of the beekeepers now, I believe that 
a 5 pound pail of good honey would 
sell at present just as readily at 5 7c 
as it would at 47c.   So far 65c and 
60c was the general price for a 5 
pound pail of honey     in  Marathon 
County. 
   "That 1931 did not give the major- 
ity  of the Wisconsin    beekeepers a 
crop, I believe in a way, was a blessing 
to them, as otherwise much honey 
would have been sold at 50c and 60c 
per 10 pound pail and such low prices 
certainly would carry its bad effects 
over to the sales of the 1932 honey 
crop. 
   "So should the coming season be 
kinder to the ones that were unfor- 
tunate in not getting a crop the past 
year, they will at least have a chance 
to dispose of their new crop at the 
present prices or perhaps for a little 
more. 
   Mr. 0. G. Mills, Bayfield, in re- 
porting conditions in Bayfield County, 
says:   "Bees very quiet in basement, 
apparently wintering fine. However, 
they were somewhat short on young 
bees and brood at last inspection in 
the fall, so expect some weak colonies 
in the spring. Honey is not selling 
very fast, although a neighbor bee- 
keeper cut to 8c last fall, which I 
consider is about the cost of produc- 
tion; 15c has been the prevailing price 
here for several years.   The   1931 
crop was well above the average, and 
quality good." 
   "Honey prices are low", writes Mr. 
H. M. Schultz, of Waterloo, Jeffer- 
son County, on February 5, "with 
extracted honey bringing about 12Y2 c. 
In 1931 there was not much honey, 
and this year no money. I have about 
48 colonies outside, and they seem 
to be all right so far." 
   Mr. Ralph Larrabee, Webster, Bur- 
nett County, reports, "My few swarms 
did better than usual last year, and I 
 
 
am  disposing  of my    little surplus 
locally, to advantage." 
   Mr. Albert Peterson, Turtle Lake, 
submitted the following account of 
conditions in his locality on Febru- 
ary 9:   "The honey crop for 1931 
was the lightest it has been for at least 
20 years in my locality, Polk County. 
Some of the smaller beekeepers did not 
have any surplus honey.     The bees 
barely had enough to winter on, and 
many colonies will need to be fed in 
early spring. 
   "There was quite a lot of honey 
held over from the previous season, 
but owing to the very small crop last 
summer, most of the beekeepers are 
pretty well cleaned up.   A good es- 
timate would be about 10 per cent of 
the crop on hand.     The prices are 
very bad; in the north and western 
parts of the county, they have retailed 
the ten pound pails for $1.00o and 
five pound pails for 5Oc. To meet 
these prices, I had to cut my price to 
$1.25 and 65c for the same sized 
containers. 
   "The bees seem   to  be wintering 
fairly well so far. The honey plants 
should come out in good condition, 
as we had plenty of moisture before it 
froze last fall, and then plenty of snow 
to cover up." 
   Mr. Richard D. Adams, Secretary- 
Treasurer of the Sauk County Bee- 
keepers' Association, Reedsburg, has 
sent us an interesting account of the 
recent meeting   of this Association 
which follows:    "The Sauk County 
Beekepeer's Association held its first 
meeting on Feb. 4, 1932, at the Reeds- 
burg bank at Reedsburg. The follow- 
ing officers were re-elected to office- 
President, A. L. Kleeber, Reedsburg; 
V-President, C. J. Rick, N. Freedom; 
Sec'y-Treas.,  Richard   D.   Adams, 
Reedsburg. 
   "President Kleeber appointed a new 
Entertainment Committee to be com- 
posed of three members to arrange pro- 
grams for the summer picnics.   By a 
 
 
March, 1932 
 
 
WISCONSIN BEEKEEPING 
 
 
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