82 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



^^j^SVffJgRieAJNT, 



*^^ 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



l8t Nat'l Bank Bldg., Hamilton, Illinois 



Entered as second-class matter at the 

 Hamilton. Illinois. Post-office. 

 C. P. Dadant, Editor. 

 Dr C. C. Miller. Associate Editor. 

 Frank C. Pellett. Staff Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE 



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 Journal is ti.oo a year in the United States 

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Copyright: IQ17 by C. P. Dadant. 



THE EDITOR*S VIEWPOINT 



The National Meeting 



The National Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion met on Feb. 6-8 according to 

 schedule. The terrific storms that 

 raged through our northern States at 

 that time prevented the attendance of 

 a number of leading men. Neither E. 

 R. Root, E. D. Townsend, Frank C. 

 Pellett, Wra. Copenhaver, Morley Pettit 

 nor R. A. Burnett were present. The 

 papers to be read by these men were 

 also missing. 



However, Pres. Jager is a man of 

 extraordinary resources and the meet- 

 ing was rendered exceedingly interest- 

 ing through his strenuous efforts. His 

 address, showing the need of organiza- 

 tion was spoken with great enthusiasm. 

 He insisted upon the need of uniform 

 packages for the sale of honey. He 

 affirmed, as others have done before, 

 that the beekeepers of America need 

 union as much as the National canners 

 and other associations placing an arti- 

 cle of consumption before the public. 

 Irregular packages must be abandoned 

 and standard methods adopted, through 

 a National Committee. He showed the 

 need of securing uniform laws for the 

 protection of producers against adul- 

 teration, misrepresentation and unfair 

 competition. Organization of beekeep- 

 ers throughout the land is indispensa- 

 ble. 



Our old friend, N. E. France, ad- 

 dressed the meeting with words of wel- 

 come, with remembrances of the past. 

 Mr. France is probably the only bee- 

 keeper State Inspector of bees whose 

 office is permanently located in the 

 Capitol Building of a State. He has 

 proven so efficient that instead of op- 

 posing his work as is done in so many 

 places, the State officials sustain it. 



Doctor S. A. Jones, statistician at 

 Washington, was present and explained 

 the necessity of the beekeepers cooper- 

 ating with the general government by 

 furnishing statistics which will be col- 

 lected together and returned to the 



producers, showing them exactly how 

 much and where there is honey pro- 

 duced. National Committees should 

 look after these reports and advise the 

 beekeepers through the journals as to 

 what prices to expect. An arrange- 

 ment of this kind during the past sum- 

 mer would have helped to secure very 

 much better prices for the producers. 

 The attempts of the government have 

 so far received but lukewarm response. 



Doctor E. F. Phillips gave the audi- 

 ence an insight into the extension 

 work undertaken by the government. 

 He described conditions in such States 

 as North Carolina, where two-thirds of 

 the apiaries are still put in mourning 

 when a member of the family dies. 

 "Telling the bees" is still the custom. 

 Each colony is moved a few inches on 

 the anniversary of the birthday of Geo. 

 Washington. The honey is taken up 

 during the first full moon of June, as 

 they do not think any other time is 

 proper. The strange thing is that 52 

 percent of all the bees in the United 

 States are located in 15 southern States 

 and about 90 percent of these are still 

 in gums or box-hives. 



Doctor Phillips showed what a little 

 missionary work will achieve, by saying 

 that the famous Alexander, of Delan- 

 son, N. Y., came very near giving up 

 beekeeping in disgust when his bees 

 were attacked by European foulbrood. 

 A 15 minute talk with the well known 

 inspector, Chas. Stewart, caused him 

 to remain attached to the pursuit and 

 it was through his later experiments 

 and success that the present method of 

 successful treatment of European foul- 

 brood was devised. 



That we need organization in every 

 State in the Union is quite evident. 

 We are just at the " Forks of the Road," 

 as so ably shown by Dr. L. D. Leonard 

 of Minneapolis, Minn. 



A resolution was passed heartily en- 

 dorsing the extension work of the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Wesley Foster gave a long talk on 

 "Distribution of Honey." Uniformity 

 of packages, choice of good reliable 

 dealers in cities, closer acqaintance 

 between producers and dealers, full in- 

 formation concerning crops and mar- 

 kets were some of the subjects touched 

 by him. 



Professor H. C. Taylor, of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, explained meth- 

 ods of bookkeeping for the producers, 

 so they might positively learn where 

 their profits and their expenses are. 



Hamlin B. Miller, secretary of the 

 Iowa Association, in his inimitable 

 style gave a long talk on how to in- 

 crease the membership of the associa- 

 tion. His cry was, "Retain your pres- 

 ent president." It was done, for Prof. 

 Jager was re-elected. Polheraus, of 

 Colorado, was elected vice-president 

 and John C. Bull, of Indiana, secretary. 



Mr. Herman Rauchfuss, of Denver, 

 Colo., represented his brother and ex- 

 plained how the Colorado Honey Pro- 

 ducers' Association having commenced 

 with a capital stock of $110, years ago, 

 have increased to a capital of $50,000 

 through perseverance and honest deal- 

 ing. 



George W.Williams, of Redkey, Ind., 

 ably supported by Mr. Hassinger, an 

 intelligent young beekeeper of Wis- 

 consin, spoke interestingly about the 

 necessity of teaching the uses of honey 

 in the Domestic Science department 

 of the common schools. A committee 

 of the United Honey Producers is to 

 work in connection with a similar 

 committee appointed by the president 

 of the National, on this subject. 



In spite of the unfavorable weather 

 the meeting was a great success and 

 most of the beekeepers in attendance 

 expressed their desire of being able to 

 attend future meetings. The next loca- 

 tion of the National convention is to 

 bedecided by the Executive Committee. 



A more detailed account of the Madi- 

 son meeting is just at hand from Pres. 

 Jager. This will be published in the 

 April number. 



Prevention of Swarming 



A large number of readers have ex- 

 pressed the desire to secure the address 

 which the editor delivered last year at 

 nine different conventions on the above 

 named subject. So we will publish it 

 in the April issue. 



Our 3Iarket Page 



On another page of this number we 

 are beginning a department of "Crop 

 and Market Conditions." The page 

 itself will show just what we aim to do. 

 A page of this kind will not succeed 

 unless it has the cooperation of a large 

 proportion of our subscribers, and we 



