470 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 7, 1904. 



These thoughts are jotted down rather in a hurry, 

 for this is a busy time with us at this date (June 4), but I 

 hope this will serve to draw the attention of our larger pro- 

 ducers. If we take a united action, there is no doubt that 

 we can do ourselves much good. We are exactly in the 

 position of a large manufacturer who does not advertise be- 

 cause he thinks his goods will speak for themselves. It is 

 neither practical nor wise. Hancock Co., 111. 



Later. — June 18. Since writing the above, I have laid 

 my plan before the General Manager, Mr. France, and he 

 approves it, although he says it is rather late for an exhibit 

 at St. Louis. But most of the honey is harvested after this 

 date, and I have never seen much of an exhibit of honey at 

 any Fair before fall. Besides, the greatest crowds will prob- 

 ably attend the St. Louis Fair during our beautiful fall 

 weather in September and October, and I have no doubt the 

 management will gladly grant our National Association 

 room to make a creditable exhibit. An appeal to our mem- 

 bers by all our bee-papers ought to bring a good response 

 in the way of honey, especially if it is understood that the 

 producer's name will appear on his honey. 



I believe, also, that a very great advantage can be de- 

 rived from authorizing our members to refer their custom- 

 ers to the Manager of our Association in case they doubt 

 the purity of their goods. It will be readily understood by 

 the public that our Association is organized for the purpose 

 of protecting bona-fide bee-keepers against fraudulent deal- 

 ers in bogus honey, and an official representative of the 

 organization will be able to give an authoritative opinion 

 concerning any samples submitted to him. 



We are just beginning to realize the great advantages 

 that the union of forces can give our members. Let us work 

 at perfecting our organization without delay. There is 

 plenty of room for improvement. 



I invite expression of opinions from one and all on this 

 matter. If any one sees faults in the proposed moves, let 

 him speak out. But let us keep united, and work, and we 

 will succeed. C. P. D. 



[See editorial on this subject, on page 467. — Editor.] 



Law Governing Bees and Bee-Keepers. 



BY HHNRY KI,KIN, LL. B. 



MANY of the readers of this journal are no doubt inter- 

 ested in knowing the law that governs the bee-indus- 

 try, and it is to acquaint them with the law on this 

 subject that this article is written. 



Bees are considered in law as wild animals, or, as it is 

 commonly termed in legal literature, they z.t^fera naturcr ; 

 but when they are hived and reclaimed, a person may have 

 a qualified ownership in them. The finder of a bee-tree who 

 removes the bees to his own land, may thus become their 

 owner. An unreclaimed swarm belongs to the person who 

 first hives them ; if a swarm fly from the hive of one person 

 they continue his as long as he can keep track of and pursue 

 them ; but if they settle on a tree on his neighbor's land, he 

 has no right to enter the land without permission. 



If a person finds bees on the land of another, he does 

 not thereby acquire any right to them. The bees belong to 

 the owner of the land where the tree stands. To reclaim 

 bees the finder has to remove them from the place where he 

 finds them to his own land ; thus if the finder of a bee-tree 

 marks the initials of his name on the tree, he is not thereby 

 reclaiming them, and he does not own them ; any person 

 finding the bee-tree after that, has the right to cut the tree 

 and take the bees. 



If a person gets a license from the owner of a bee-tree 

 to cut the tree and take the bees, he acquires no property in 

 the bees until after he has possession, and he has no rights 

 as against a person subsequently obtaining a license and 

 taking possession. The latter has the right to cut the tree 

 and take the bees. If, however, the person obtaining the 

 first license is cutting the tree, and the one with the second 

 license interferes, the former may maintain an action 

 against him. 



From the principles laid down above it may be deduced 

 that if a person should place a box in a tree for bees to hive 

 in, the tree being located on another's land, he acquires no 

 rights, and a third person may as to him take the bees and 

 the honey. 



Another phase of the subject may be of interest. Bees, 

 while in a wild state, are not the subject of larceny ; that is, 

 no one can be punished for stealing them ; but as long as 



they remain in the tree where hived, even though the tree 

 belong to an individual and he has confined them in the 

 tree, they are the subject of larceny. 



An owner of bees is not usually liable for any injury 

 they may do to third persons or to property ; thus, where an 

 action was brought against an owner for injuries done by 

 his bees to horses passing on the highway near the place 

 where the bees were kept, and it was shown that the bees 

 had been kept there for several years without injuring any 

 one, the owner was held not liable. Ulster Co., N. Y. 



[ Convention Proceedings | 



Report of the Couventlou of the New York State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. 



REPORTED BY MORI,BY PETTIT. 



(Continued from pa^e 455 ) 



R. F. Holtermann, of Canada, read the following paper 

 on 



MARKETINQ HONEY. 



A good article for sale is more than half the battle in 

 marketing. An article spoiled in production can with dif- 

 ficulty only get a market, and which it can never hold. 



Better to know how to get an article in proper shape for 

 market than only to know what to do to bring it before the 

 attention of the buyer — both, however, are of great impor- 

 tance. 



Honey must be in the right shape, and then distributed 

 in the right way. To give to the people in each market 

 what they want, sounds well to the unthinking individual, 

 but to carry this policy out means to stop all so-called 

 world's progress. Better methods are desirable, and any 

 way of marketing which can be shown to be to the advan- 

 tage of the trade and the consumer should be brought for- 

 ward, and the public educated to see the advantage. 



At present, honey generally is produced in about as un- 

 systematic a way, and with about as poor results, as butter 

 was 20 or more years ago. Here a few pounds, and there a 

 few pounds, without uniformity in production or handling, 

 and much of it injured ; for in its various stages of produc- 

 tion and handling its quality can be affected as much as 

 butter. Too much of it leaves the hive when it is really 

 not yet honey, but when it- is still in its stages between nec- 

 tar and honey. Again, that grand quality in desirable 

 table honey — aroma — which helps to hold and develop our 

 market, is practically lost sight of by our bee-keepers ; 

 their method of handling and the lack of speaking of it 

 proves this. 



I have 400 colonies of bees, and out of one county alone 

 last season took some 30,000 pounds of honey, yet with all 

 our rush we extract, and before the honey has lost the 

 warmth of the hive we strain out any particles of wax and 

 the like, and then immediately store the honey in vessels 

 which can be tightly sealed as soon as filled. If any one 

 asks, " What about the froth?" let me answer that froth 

 on well-ripened honey is only to honey what the beaten 

 white is to the white of the egg. They are the same, and 

 produced in principle in the same way. 



Next, honey contains formic acid. This is a valuable 

 medicine, and retards, and even destroys, the growth of un- 

 wholesome germs. In storing, this should be considered. 

 Honey can never remain long in contact with tin without 

 this acid acting on the metal. The percentage of formic 

 acid varies ; I have had samples of honey analyzed, finding 

 100 percent more in some samples than iu others. 



Inferior goods not only hinder the sale of similar 

 goods, but they injure the demand for a good art^icle ; one 

 becomes the opponent to the other, one neutralizes the effect 

 of the other, and of this phase of the market we can say, 

 "A house divided against itself can not stand." As far as 

 I know, all, or almost all, of our northern honey has the 

 peculiar characteristic of becoming solid, crystallizing, or, 

 as it is commonly called, granulating. 



The more delicately fiavored honey, such as clover, 

 even in expert hands, rarely goes throjigh the process of 

 liquefying without perceptible deterioration in its delicate 

 flavor and aroma. This may be disputed by those of less 



