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American Hee Jouvn^ii 



September, lyii. 



I understand all 37 have American 

 foul brood. Then there are the coun- 

 ties not reported, so I think it would 

 be a conservative estimate to say 

 there is foul brood in three-fourths 

 of the counties in lower Michigan. 



As you all well know, we have but 

 $500 per annum and one inspector of 

 apiaries, at our service, as the law 

 now allows. It is evident that foul 

 brood has the start of us, under the 

 present condition of things. In our 

 new Bill, that we hope to have made 

 into a law this winter, we are asking 

 for $1500, and the privilege of hav- 

 ing several inspectors of apiaries ap- 

 pointed. Now, if we succeed in get- 

 ting this Bill passed, it will be be- 

 cause we all urge our senators and 

 representatives now in Lansing, to 

 support this Bill, and if there is a 

 single bee-keeper in attendance who 

 has not written his representative, 

 in regard to this bill, he, or she, is 

 earnestly requested to do so imme- 

 diately, as the Bill is likely to be 

 voted upon in the near future. I 

 have a list with me of the representa- 

 tives of each county, and if you have 

 not already written, and do not know 

 just how to address your letter, this 

 circular will explain. 



The S.\le of Honev. 



Another point I wish to touch upon 

 is the sale of honey. How many 

 present sell your honey to some one 

 who re-sells in original packages? 

 To illustrate: Wouldn't you feel 

 rather cheap, were you to sell your 

 extracted honey in 60-pound cans — 

 say, to Jones, across the way from 

 you — for say 8 cents per pound, and 

 find out a few days later that Jones 

 had re-sold this same honey for 9 

 cents a pound, and had hardly turned 

 his hand over, or in other words, 

 had exerted but little to make a dol- 

 lar per hundred pounds on your 

 whole crop? If the crop was but 

 4.000 pounds, he realized the hand- 

 some profit of $40. If you could 

 learn, by attending this convention, 

 how to have that $40 — not during one 

 season, or on one crop, but for al- 

 ways — wouldn't you feel well paid for 

 the little time and expense this con- 

 vention-trip has cost you? I think 

 you would. 



I have practiced the saving of this 

 cent a pound on my crop of extract- 

 ed honey for years, and it is a won- 

 der to me why so many do not take 

 advantage of this way of selling, that 

 I am about to explain. It's very 

 simple: Just sell to Jones' customer. 

 Simple, isn't it! Still, many will be 

 tempted to job their honey in a lump, 

 at a less price, and paying the freight 

 in most cases, for the jobber is "on 

 his job," and usually includes the 

 "freight paid," when he quotes you a 

 price. 



Lest I should forget it, I would say 

 here, that if a dealer quotes me a 

 price on my honey — a privilege he 

 has no right to — I ignore the offer 

 and go ahead and quote him my 

 price, and it is al« ays f. o. b. my 

 shipping-point. 



To work this plan successfully, one 

 will need some samp'e mailing blocks, 

 which all bee-supply dealers furnish. 



Then one will have to do a little ad- 

 vertising — not so very much, though; 

 and this brings me to the main point: 



Advertising the Honey Crop. 



This cannot be done better than to 

 pay one dollar to join the Michigan 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association. This 

 Association issues a booklet, annual- 

 ly, giving the names of all its mem- 

 bers and the kind of honey the in- 

 dividual produces. Then this book- 

 let is advertised through all three of 

 the bee-papers, and in this way each 

 member is brought in contact with 

 many dealers and bottlers. Then our 

 secretary has a list of over 100 deal- 

 ers in honey, and this list is free to 

 the members. And last, but not least, 

 along in July, an .\dvisory Board of 

 three members look up the prospects, 

 or, in other words, estimate about 

 what the honey crop will be, and de- 

 cide upon the price our members 

 ought not sell under. Notice there 

 is no restriction as to how much 

 more you can get for your honey, 

 but it gives the members a very good 

 idea of the minimum price to ask 

 for their honey crop. This feature 

 of the State Association, is, in itself, 

 sufficient to repay one for the dollar 

 it costs annually. 



It would be a great pleasure to 

 me to see every one of those pres- 

 ent, when renewing your annual 

 dues to this Association, to include a 

 dollar for a year's membership in 

 the State Association. You are all 

 cordially invited to become members 

 of the State Association. 



Something About Bee-Hives. 



I can hardly resist the tempta- 

 tion, before closing, to say some- 

 thing about bee-hives; and if you will 

 bear with me for a few minutes long- 

 er, I will satisfy that desire. In the 

 first place, I would earnestly advise 

 that no one should try to invent a 

 wonderful bee-hive until he, or she, 

 has been in the business for at least 

 10 years. I know this is a long time 

 to wait, but I assure you that, after 

 an experience of 36 years in the bee- 

 yard, it will not pay you to try to 

 invent a hive. Don't do it. How 

 many times one is tempted to in- 

 vent something along the line of a 

 hive, or contrivance pertaining to our 

 beloved pursuit, but to find out later 

 that this same thing has been tried 

 out and discarded long ago! Then 

 we realize that we have lost time and 

 money, for no one wants odd^size 

 hives and contraptions. 



I would advise all to adopt the 

 Langstroth frame. I would also ad- 

 vise you to use 10 of these frames in 

 a hive, for either comb or extracted 

 honey production. If you cannot 

 make yourself believe this is the best 

 size of hive, use more or less num- 

 ber of these same frames, then, any 

 time you may decide that your hive 

 is either too large or small, use more 

 or less frames, and you will never 

 regret it. 



There is no other hive used at the 

 present time that affords so many good 

 points as the Langstroth hive. The 

 brood-chamber is not so shallow but 

 the bees breed up in it very well; 



then the frame is not so deep but 

 that it works well as an upper story, 

 to extract from. A great point in 

 adopting a hive or frame is to have 

 it standard. If one wants to buy or 

 sell bees, or in the case of supplies, 

 it is much better and more con- 

 venient if the frames are of the 

 Langstroth dimensions. 



After saying all the foregoing. I'm 

 tempted again. This time I "want 

 to say that it matters but little about 

 the hive, any way. only as far as it 

 is convenient to have hives all alike 

 for convenience in handling. It has 

 often been said, and it is true, that 

 bees will store just as much honey in 

 a sugar-barrel as in the best hive. 



Along this line I would refer you 

 to the Manleys. of Sanilac County. 

 Each spring they buy up all the bees 

 they can, "in any old kind of hive," 

 and harvest per colony about 100 

 pounds of extracted honey, per an- 

 num, from them. Does any one think 

 they could do better with the very 

 latest, well-painted hive? I think 

 they would not. 



It's the man, not the hive, that pro- 

 duces tons of honey, annually. "You 

 cannot know too much about your 

 business'' is as true today as ever. 

 If you are not getting good, fair 

 crops of honey — as good, or better 

 than your neighbor, who is in close 

 proximity to you — do not lay it to 

 your hives or location. In other 

 words, use your brains; they will 

 help you out, take my word for it. 

 Don't invent a new hive, for it won't 

 help you any. 



Our Current Bee-Liter.\ture 



This brings forth the subject of 

 reading matter. We have three good 

 papers. Every progressive bee-keeper 

 should subscribe for all of them. The 

 .-Vmerican Bee Journal is especially 

 fitted for the beginner; also for con- 

 vention reports and general reading 

 matter. The Bee-Keepers' Review 

 is more particularly adapted to the 

 specialist or more advanced bee- 

 keeper, while Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture takes the middle ground. It will 

 be seen that it is necessary to take 

 them all if one is to keep well in- 

 formed along all lines. I recommend 

 that all of you who do not now take 

 these 3 bee-papers, subscribe for 

 them, for it will pay you well. 



The N.\tion.\l Associ.\tion. 



I realize that I am tiring you, but 

 there is just one more matter to 

 which I would call your attention, 

 and that is the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association. It deserves our 

 support. It is doing considerable for 

 us, and is now considering the doing 

 of much more. In the near future the 

 members of the National will prob- 

 ably have an opportunity to vote 

 upon an amendment to its Constitu- 

 tion. This amendment will provide 

 that State or local association may 

 become auxiliaries of the National. 

 I had thou,ght along the line of sev- 

 eral associations in the State, some- 

 thing like New York State. If we 

 had say 3 conventions in this State, 

 their several dates could conform so 

 that we could likely have speakers 



