166 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 3, 1904. 



is located often has no time to attend to the swarms, for 

 they come at a season of the year when every able-bodied 

 person has his or her hands full. There is the corn to plow, 

 the wheat to harvest, and the hayfield to care for. So, many 

 swarms are lost. It was thus a matter of great importance to 

 us to have a method of management by which swarming could 

 ■be, if not entirely avoided, at least decreased very mate- 

 rially. Thus we had strong leaning towards the method 

 which would bring about the desired result. These condi- 

 tions still remain. 



Another reason with us for preferring extracted honey, 

 is the great ease with which it may be handled. Thirty 

 years ago our roads were much worse than they are at pres- 

 ent, though we can not make a very great boast as yet of 

 their condition. But apiaries along the Mississippi are 

 often placed in locations that are difficult of access, among 

 steep hillsides where roads are of the worst description that 

 one can imagine. For years we had an apiary located at 

 the top of a hill half way between Hamilton and Warsaw, 

 and the road between the two cities was nothing but rocks 

 or mire. Comb honey needs very careful handling, and the 

 jostling over rough roads easily damages it, while extracted 

 honey, in barrels or in cans, may be hauled up and down 

 the roughest hills without danger of damage to anything 

 but the vehicle, if the load be too heavy. Shipping of either 

 kind also shows the same advantages for extracted honey. 

 The apiarists who are on a main line of railroad, so that 

 there are no changes of cars between the loading at the 

 station and the unloading in the large city, take the mini- 

 mun risk ; but we had the bad luck of being on a way sta- 

 tion, and could not reach the big city without at least one 

 change of cars, unless the honey had been shipped in car- 

 lots. So we always had more or less breakage and leakage 

 when shipping comb honey away. This gave chances for 

 disagreements with consignees or commission men. The 

 only way in which we had well succeeded in transporting 

 our honey safely, was by Mississippi river boats to St. Louis. 

 But the St. Louis market, I am sorry to say, has proven one 

 of the cheapest markets in the world. I can hardly say 

 why, unless it is because much inferior honey from the 

 South has found its way there and spoiled the market. 



With extracted honey, on the contrary, we have never 

 had any loss, outside of the occasional stealing of a can 

 full by some unscrupulous railroad hand. Well selected 

 barrels, or well nailed tin-can cases, have proven safe pack- 

 ages for the transportation of our honey even from here to 

 Paris, France. To ship small cans or pails with lid, we 

 make boxes that cannot be turned over, with a handle across 

 the top just as for a basket. Yet, comb honey is now packed 

 so that it will stand a great deal of rough usage, and the 

 objections which I indicate do not have as much weight to- 

 day as they had years ago. 



Keeping the honey over from one year to another is 

 another point which argues strongly in favor of the honey 

 without the comb. I have never seen honey in the comb a 

 year old or more that could be sold at as good a price as new 

 honey. The changes of temperature are not good for it, and 

 I think there are very few bee-keepers who keep comb honey 

 in any quantity from one year to another. If it is kept in a 

 warm, dry place, it will do best, but, somehow, it will show 

 its age and will be less salable. 



Extracted honey may be kept for any length of time, if 

 it is kept in the dark and in tight vessels, provided it was 

 sufficiently ripe when put up. This is of great value. In 

 good seasons we are not the only ones who have a large crop. 

 The season is apt to have been successful for many others 

 also, in our section. The price of honey is therefore likely 

 to be less, and it has never been my policy to sell ray crop 

 at once at the best price I could get, unless that price was 

 sufficient, in my estimation. I want for my honey as fair a 

 price as it is possible to get, and it is often necessary to keep 

 it, a part of the crop at least, for a year or more. 



During the 80's, we had a number of good crops in 

 succession, and our honey was of the very best quality. I 

 remember that at that time it was about four years before 

 we reached the bottom of our pile of barrels full of honey. 

 We were thus able to get our price during a season of scar- 

 city. I believe that all producers of comb-honey will agree 

 with me that it would have been bad policy to keep comb 

 honey so long. But the extracted honey, well ripened, 

 and in a dry store-room, would keep as good as fresh. A 

 gain of one-third in value between the price of the crop in 

 a season of plenty, and the price of this same crop in a sea- 

 son of scarcity, is well worth considering, especially if we 

 think of the fact that you keep your trade if you can supply 

 the customers when no one else can. 



Perhaps the readers will think that I am too partial to 



the production of extracted honey ; that a number of my 

 objections will not apply in their case. I am not trying to 

 win them over to my side ; I am just stating things as they 

 have appeared to me, as they appear to me yet. I am not 

 interested in the following of the production of extracted 

 honey by any one but our own selves. I mean to show both 

 sides of the question as I see them, and let the reader make 

 his choice, if he has not already done so. 



I have still more arguments and facts to present in a 

 further article. Hancock Co., 111. 



[ Convention Proceedings ] 



THE COLORADO CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, Held in Den- 

 ver, Nov. 23, 24, and 25, 1903. 



BY H. C. MOREHOUSE, SEC. 



(Continued from pa^e 136.) 

 The next on the program was the following paper by 

 Mr. Frank H. Drexel, on 



COMMERCIAL ORQANIZATION FOR THE WESTERN 

 SLOPE. 



Is it desirable ? and if so, how can it best be effected ? 



I do not propose to inflict upon this convention a 

 lengthy paper, for the very good reason that I am not well 

 informed on the question under consideration. Your Secre- 

 tary has made a mistake in asking me to speak out r but, 

 then, I haven't much patience with those who refuse to 

 contribute their mite if they are requested to do so. 



Let me say right now that I haven't been all over the 

 Western Slope ; that I am not familiar with conditions in 

 Mesa County, but haven't any reason to believe that they 

 differ widely from those of our own, that is, Delta and Mont- 

 rose counties. 



Since the season of 1900 things have been going pretty 

 well over here, and bee-men haven't felt disposed to go to 

 any trouble or expense to protect themselves against what 

 seemed to be some far-off contingency. 



But 1903 has been an eye-opener to us all. With prices 

 on supplies away up yonder, followed by a fair to medium 

 honey-flow, and lastly, as a sort of settler, prices on No. 1 

 comb hovering around the S2.00 mark, f. o. b. cars, what 

 wonder that we Western Slopers are anxiously inquiring of 

 ourselves, "What next I" 



It is needless to say that different men have different 

 ideas as to the cause underlying the change of things. 

 Supply manufacturers, honey-dealers, and local supply 

 houses, all come in for their full_ share of blame, but I 

 haven't heard a great deal said about the share of responsi- 

 bility which bee-keepers have had in the matter. 



Now we all know, of course, that bee-men can not easily 

 fix the price of supplies, neither can they regulate the price 

 of honey to a nicety even when well organized ; but how 

 much can they be expected to do for themselves when they 

 are all acting independent of each other, as they seem to be 

 doing over here ! 



Last year we received for our honey a better price than 

 did the members of the Colorado Honey-Producers' Associa- 

 tion. I am sure I don't why, but I do know that we all felt 

 good over it. When I wrote to the manager of that Associa- 

 tion regarding this in connection with taking stock in that 

 Association, he said that he was glad to know that we had 

 fared so well, but thought that it might be a good idea to 

 get under cover just the same, as no one could tell when we 

 would find the tables turned on us. Well, they are turned. 



There isn't any use in abusing our local dealers because 

 of their share of profits which we have to pay. We would 

 all of us do just about the same thing if we were in their 

 place. Besides, they are not in business to help along bee- 

 keepers, but, on the contrary, to help along themselves. I 

 think that even the densest intellect can grasp that thor- 

 oughly. Let's be reasonable and ask each other why it is 

 that we do not go into the business of supplying ourselves 



