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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



erybody who will refuse to buy a second-hand can, no mat- 

 ter who offers it to them for sale, nor how good it is or ap- 

 pears to be. The package for honey ought to be tested, and 

 the party who uses the package ought to know what condi- 

 tions are necessary to keep honey in good shape. Take a 

 man like Mr. France, he won't make a mistake wit^ a bar- 

 rel ; he has workt out that thing. He knows now what is 

 necessary to carry the honey in the right kind of condi- 

 tion, and it will keep for years in those barrels. Some 

 years ago a bee-keeper came to this city and sold his honey 

 to the retail trade. A good many have tried it in the past, 

 but they have not all staved with us; but this one came, 

 and the first year he sold all his honey, and sold all his 

 neighbors" honey, and bought quite a lot of honey from 

 me. Well, he felt enthusiastic about the matter; he felt 

 sure that he had gotten into a business now that he was go- 

 ing to get rich at. He didn't think anybody could do much 

 better than he was likely to do, and than he did the first 

 year. The second year he didn't bother much with his own 

 product, but he bought from me several tons of honey and 

 stored it, and it was mostly basswood honey in barrels. 

 The second year he didn't sell nearly as much honey as he 

 did the first, and the third year he didn't sell a great deal of 

 honey, so little, indeed, that he concluded he would sell out 

 the business. Some in the audience could probably tell some- 

 thing about that, too. That was his experience. I bouglit 

 some of that honey back from him after it had been stored 

 in the basement, I think, fully three years, and there didn't 

 seem to be anything the matter with the honey : some 

 hoops had come off from some of the barrels in that lot — 

 not the lot I sold him — they had broken open, had burst the 

 head out, or something; but I knew mine by the marks 

 that were on. I sold them to other parties and the honey 

 seemed to be all right. Barrels are dangerous unless the 

 man who makes the barrel knows %vhat it is for, and knows 

 how to make a barrel to hold honey. A tin can that will 

 hold a liquid and is well soldered, will do for honey on al- 

 most any occasion, altho a great many people who have 

 made cans for honey solder the joints so light that the 

 honey has burst them open ; the jarring has sprung them, 

 and lots and lots of honey has been lost in that way. i 

 have had them come in car-loads where the cases were 

 thrown and smeared in honey 3 inches deep on the floor of 

 the car. I don't know that I have anything more to say on 

 this almost inexhaustible subject, for strong-minded people 

 who have had lots of experience know what thev need in 

 their business in the way of a package, and as for selling 

 it, we need small packages and we need larger ones. If 

 they are all small, they will not bring any more than half 

 large and half small ; that is probably the experience of 

 the trade. 



Dr. Mason — Now, you see the persons who have spoken 

 in this discussion might have summed the whole thing up 

 by saying. Put your honey in the package that your mar- 

 ket demands. It doesn't depend upon the barrel ; it de- 

 pends upon the man who handles the barrel; doesn't de- 

 pend so much on the can as on the man who handles the 

 can. Don't try to suit Mr. Abbott by sending honey to him 

 in cans, if you have a market that wants barrels. 



Mr. Poppleton— Mr. Burnett, how much more can you 

 sell honey for in the Chicago market in cans than in bar- 

 rels, on an average ? 



Mr. Burn'ett — I don't.know as I can answer that ques- 

 tion unless it is in this way. If it was about half in cans 

 and half in barrels it might sell at about the same price. 



Mr. Poppleton— Mr. Abbott said that we shippers should 

 have a little compassion on the buyers. I want the buyers 

 to have compassion on the shippers and pay us back the ex- 

 tra money cans will cost us, and they will get all the cans 

 they want. It costs me 75 cents more per hundred pounds 

 to ship in cans than in barrels. The whole question with 

 me is that and that alone. 



Dr. Mason— Mr. York spoke of the National Biscuit 

 Company having so many cans to sell ; we have a National 

 Biscuit Co., in Toledo, and I askt them, '• Why do you have 

 so many cans to sell?" and they answered," Because we 

 can't get honey in barrels and are obliged to buy in cans." 



Mr. Poppleton — I have taken great pains to find out 

 what our market demands and they tell me barrels. 



Pres. Root — Mr. Aikin wishes to make an explanation 

 of the labels on packages. 



Mr. Aikin — The explanation I wish to make about la- 

 bels on packages is just this ; Mr. York, or any other 

 dealer, need not worry about losing his trade because my 

 name and address is on the package. It is only the man 

 who buys or ships in car-load lots who is able to pay freight, 

 and a man in this city who wants to buy a case of honey. 



either comb or extracted, isn't going to send to me and pay 

 local freights. No, he is going to buy my honey from Mr. 

 York. I wisht to speak on that point because there is an 

 undue fear in that respect. 



Mr. York — There are many private families in Chicago 

 who could easily afford to send to Colorado for Mr. Aikin's 

 honey, and pay for it and also pay the freight on one 60- 

 pound can or 50 pounds of comb honey, rather than pay the 

 retail price that grocers have to charge here for honey. 

 While such dealing direct with the producer by the con- 

 sumer is entirely right, still no city retail dealer is quite 

 foolish enough to furnish his customers with information as 

 to his source of supply so they can buy direct. It costs 

 too much to work up a demand or line of customers, to 

 turn it over to some one else in that way afterward. I 

 would not expect that the bee-keeper who buys honey of 

 me to retail among his customers would use my name and 

 address on his retail packages, and thus show his custo- 

 mers just where they can get that same kind of honey. 

 That wouldn't be ordinary common-sense let alone business 

 sense. Continued next week.) 



Report of the Illinois State Convention. 



BY JAS. A. STONE. 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association held its 

 tenth annual meeting at Springfield, Nov. 20 and 21, 

 1900. On account of bad Illinois mud roads there were 

 but few present except those who came by rail. Never- 

 theless we had a good and profitable meeting. Among 

 those present were President Smith, as he always is; 

 Messrs. George W. York and C. P. Dadant, and, as Mr. 

 York has already said in the American Bee Journal we 

 heard with great interest of a few of the many things he 

 (Mr. Dadant) learned while on his trip thru France, and 

 other parts of Europe. 



The treasurer not being presept at the opening of the 

 meeting his report was given along with the secretary's, 

 and showed that on account of furnishing the Bee Journal 

 to every member it left a small treasury. 



After the reading of the reports a motion was made by 

 Mr. Dadant that the one dollar membership fees go into 

 the treasury, and the members pay extra for their Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Whereupon the secretary assuring them 

 the treasury had need for but very little funds, the motion 

 was withdrawn, and the same arrangements as in several 

 years past were made, to give a copy of the American Bee 

 Journal for one year to each person who sent in a dollar for 

 membership in the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 to Jas. A. Stone, Sec, Rural Route 4, Springfield, 111. 



The president's address was brief, but in happy, well- 

 chosen words. 



Mr. Becker said, " I am a Methodist, and favor experi- 

 ence meetings, so let us hear from all the members. My 

 bees swarmed a great deal, and stored no honey. Mr. Da- 

 dant, how would you prepare a winter cellar for bees ? " 



Mr. Dadant — Our cellar is separated from the furnace- 

 room by a double 4-inch wall, packt between with sawdust, 

 ceiled overhead, and there packt the same. There are two 

 windows outside, arranged with shutters to let in air but 

 not light. 



Mr. Titterington — Do you let your bees swarm, or do 

 you divide them ? 



Mr. Dadant — Almost entirely the latter. 

 Pres. Smith — I prevent continued swarming by first 

 hiving the second swarm in a new (fresh) hive, and at the 

 end of 48 hours empty them in the evening at the entrance 

 of the mother (old) hive, which will likely end swarming for 

 that colony for the season. 



Mr. Dadant — Whom did you get that from ? 

 Pres. Smith — From you. 



The premium list committee reported, and on motion a 

 temporary committee was named as follows: Chas. Becker, 

 C. P. Dadant, and Jas. A. Stone. 



It was voted that the premium list committee be in- 

 structed to ask for a larger premium on honey extracted on 

 the grounds, on account of its being an educator to those 

 who were prejudiced against extracted honey. 



Mr. Dadant said in his splendid talk on his travels thru 

 Europe, that he could distinguish the American honey at 

 the Paris Exposition from that of the other countries, by 

 the neatness of the sections, even at a distance ; and in the 

 apiaries that he visited he did not see the improved imple- 

 ments that were to be found in this country. He began to 

 think he was more of an American than Frenchman. But 

 he also said in their favor that their bee-keepers' meetings 



