58 



TWELP"TH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



color, a different shade, in fact, entirely 

 different from the other, and they are 

 side by side and have the same treat- 

 ment. 



Now I would like to know if this 

 is caused by the man or by the bees, 

 or what is it anyway? 



I have an idea that the bees will go 

 in different localities from the same 

 hive; sometimes bees from one hive 

 will go all in the same direction, and 

 sometimes bees from other hives will 

 go in an opposite direction; but I do 

 know that there are lots of crops of 

 honey of poor quality produced by men 

 who very likely claim that they know 

 how to produce good honey and know 

 all about bees. I hate to blame the 

 bees, and I hate to blame the man; 

 who is to be blamed? What is the 

 ■cause of this poor honey? It may be 

 we don't know; inay be we let it sour, 

 or some of it will get watery — or may 

 be the buyer will put his honey in a 

 cool cellar. 



We talked with a man at Davenport 

 this morning who had bought a con- 

 signment of honey from the South, 

 and T asked him "Where is your 

 honey?" 



He said — "In the cooler." I said 



— "Don't you know, Mr. , that 



honey will soon have a watery surface 

 if put in the cooler?" He didn't know 

 it. I told him a little further along that 

 subject. He said — "I am glad you told 

 ane." 



Very likely that honey was fine when 

 he got it; he said it was nice, but if he 

 had kept that honey there for a couple 

 of weeks in that cool, damp- place, we 

 know the flavor of that honey would 

 have "been spoiled. 



Is this caused by ignorance on the 

 part of the bee-keeper or the fault of 

 the man who handles the honey? 



I don't know, but I think that here 

 is room for education, and I would like 

 1;g ask this association's advice about 

 some ways or means by which we can 

 start local conventions in different 

 •counties to educate the people. 



Mr. France — Now with these two 

 parties that I referred to who cannot 

 get honey enough to flil their orders: 

 All their goods are labeled, and on that 

 label is printed Where and How to 

 Keep Honey. 



Right within two doors, on the same 

 street where this young man is sell- 

 ing several hundred tons of honey, I 

 found a shipment of honey thnt had 



not been paid for; it was held some 

 eighteen months. The party to whom 

 it had been shipped said he could not 

 sell it. The bee-keeper who shipped 

 the honey wanted me to investigate. 



I found that the honey had been 

 shipped during fruit season; It was 

 put on the elevator and run down the 

 cellar, and put back in the cold, damp 

 part of the cellar, and it was at the 

 time of the year to lay in the coal, the 

 coal was shoveled in right along next 

 to the honey. By the time the coal 

 went in there, the honey had become 

 thin and sour, and the soft coal dust 

 stuck to the barrel. 



Was it saleable? Was the producer 

 at fault? Had he had proper instruc- 

 tions upon those packages not to put 

 honey in a damp cellar, he probably 

 would have avoided all this. 



I got the honey out' of there and 

 after examining some of it, I sold the 

 whole thing at seven cents a pound. 

 It was the outside of the package that 

 made it distasteful to the parties, but 

 I found a baking firm who were glad 

 to take the entire lot. 



Now we should have the different 

 grades of honey and sell each for what 

 it is worth. My first honey surplus is 

 from dandelion bloom. Before the 

 bees gather clover, I want every bit 

 of dandelion honey in the hives cleaned 

 out. I don't want a drop of that in 

 the clover. It takes only a little dark 

 honey to color fancy white. 



I am using some combs over and 

 over, and when the basswood season 

 1= nearly over, I save enough and to 

 spare for wintering my bees. I seldom 

 have any losses. My white honey is 

 going rapidly at ten cents a pound, 

 and the darker at seven and one-half 

 cents, to bakers. 



The so-called Honey Producers' As- 

 ■ sociation, with headquarters at Sioux 

 City, have built up a trade and are 

 selling car-loads of honey, /and they 

 are very careful to keep each kind 

 separate, and label it separately. 



When they have a customer who 

 wants clover — he is put on their list 

 of clover buyers. They have a list for 

 this, the same as a business man has 

 his follow-up system. 



Mr. Duby — This meeting I feel ought 

 to be divided into two classes — Comb 

 and Extracted honey. 



I believe it is harder to produce a 

 good quality of extracted honey than 



