672 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



bership-fee in the first being one dollar, and in 

 the second class 50 cents; that 25 cents from 

 each entrance-fee and from each annual pay- 

 ment be reserved and deposited as a reserve 

 fund for the express purpose of the payment of 

 mileage of properly certified delegates to and 

 from the meeting of the association. 



Now, to secure a fund sufficient to meet the 

 expense of such representatives it may be nec- 

 essary for us at first to decide on triennial ses- 

 sions, and to limit representation to one for ev- 

 ery fifty and over, and two for every one hun- 

 dred and over, the membership of each State 

 or Territory making its own selection of dele- 

 gates. The membership in each State is to 

 select one of its members as a director, said di- 

 rector to supervise and attend to the interests 

 of its members subject to the General Manager; 

 also an executive board composed of the officers 

 of the association, who are empowered to act 

 for the organization in all matters pertaining 

 to the interests of its members or the associa- 

 tion proper. 



I might give you many more; but as I con- 

 sider these the essential features in the con- 

 struction of a national organization I trust 

 they will suffice. 



There have been many good suggestions pre- 

 sented toward the establishment of a national 

 association by many of our most prominent 

 writers; but I do not remember of a single one 

 mapping out a practical solution of this prob- 

 lem. In a letter received from one of our most 

 prominent bee-keepers a short time since, he 

 states, " It is quite easy to say a thing can and 

 ought to be done, but it is quite another thing 

 to tell how to do it;" and then in addition I de- 

 sire to say that it is so easy to criticise, and too 

 often it ends in putting obstructions in the path 

 of those who are endeavoring to advance the 

 cause of the whole; and unless something bet- 

 ter can be suggested, our criticism, as a rule, 

 results in no good. As regards the propositions 

 presented in this article, I am perfectly willing 

 to submit them for criticism to Dr. Miller or 

 any one else; but in doing so, please remember 

 that the writer is not infallible; and if you can 

 aid by suggesting additional or better proposi- 

 tions, remember you are doing it for the good of 

 the many. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



[While I am In sympathy with some plan of 

 representation, similar to what you propose, it 

 seems to me it would entail too great an ex- 

 pense, and in time render the association bank- 

 rupt. You yourself see that it would take lib- 

 erally of the funds, and suggest only triennial 

 meetings. With gatherings so far apart, I am 

 rather of the opinion that we should lose inter- 

 est in and perhaps forget about the association. 

 The annual meetings of the North American 

 were the very life of it. Enthusiasm, the motor 

 force of many of our organizations, would be 

 kept up by annual meetings, but not by trienni- 

 al gatherings. One of the main reasons for re- 

 organizing the Union was that it might have 



annual meetings; and your plan, it appears to 

 me, would make this impossible, at least for the 

 present. 



I doubt the wisdom of having two classes of 

 members. If any of them need protection, they 

 all want it. Why not one class, and every 

 member eligible to all the privileges of the as- 

 sociation? — Ed.] 



PRICES ON HONEY. 



A GOOD ANSWER TO THE QUESTION WHY IT IS 

 LOWER NOW THAN IN THE '70'S. 



By Adrinn Getaz. 



" Friend Getaz explains, p. 563, that the price 

 of honey is governed by the price of the cor- 

 responding quality of corn syrup. But how 

 about comb honey ? Does glucose control the 

 price of that ? " So writes Dr. Miller, p. 595. 



Certainly, dear doctor; but as the quality of 

 comb honey is superior to that uf extracted 

 honey, the price of comb honey is higher in 

 proportion. In fact, when I wrote the above I 

 had both in mind, comb honey as well as ex- 

 tracted. 



It is entirely unnecessary to bring politics in- 

 to the question of honey prices. We did get 

 a much higher price for honey in the '70's than 

 we do now; but why? In the '70's there were 

 no substitutes to compete. All the sweets we 

 had were sugars, mostly dark (but little white 

 sugar was used, as it was retailed, at least here, 

 at about 20 cts. a pound or more); some New 

 Orleans molasses and sorghum molasses, made 

 in ordinary iron kettles, both pretty nearly as 

 black as tar, and a limited quantity of home- 

 made apple-butter and also some good but 

 high-priced New Orleans molasses. Now all 

 this is changed. White sugar is sold at 5 cts. 

 per lb. instead of 20 or more. With the inven- 

 tion of the evaporator, quite an amount of fair- 

 ly good sorghujn molasses is turned out every 

 year. With the falling price of sugars has 

 also fallen the price of the New Orleans molas- 

 ses; and, above all, corn or glucose syrups are 

 sold in enormous quantities, under all sorts of 

 fancy names, sucb as '"Pure Golden Drops," 

 " Golden New Orleans syrup," " Pure Califor- 

 nia orange honey," etc. Add to this an immense 

 quantity of candies, jellies, more or less artifi- 

 cial, and other confectioneries made possible by 

 the cheapness of sugars and glucose, and then 

 you needn't look for any thing else than the 

 competition on the markets of the above sub- 

 stitutes. We are "confronted by a condition 

 and not by a theory," and we can not change 

 the situation. 



But, on the other hand, we need not be afraid 

 of lower prices, even if the production of honey 

 were considerably increased; for these substi- 

 tutes are sold now at the lowest possible mar- 

 gins, and an increase of honey production 

 would simply displace them in part, as, at equal 

 or somewhat higher prices (especially in the 



