1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



133 



tin or platter to cool. 



No better, more wholesome or deli- 

 cately flavored candy is obtainable at 

 any price. Try it. 



Orel L. Hersiiiser. 



The 47th Annual Convention of the 

 National. — The National Beekeepers' 

 Association was held in Madison, Wis., 

 Feb. 6, 7 and 8. Owing to a severe 

 storm and blockade north and east, 

 very few members were present, about 

 70 in all. 



The program opened in the afternoon 

 on Tuesday with a " rouser" by N. E. 

 France, in his address of welcome. 

 President Francis Jager followed with 

 the annual address. In the past year 

 the National has obtained an appro- 

 priation (from the government) of 

 $5000, for educational and extension 

 work, and has obliterated the factional 

 lines, thus paving way for future work. 

 The future work should be on a broad 

 scale, embracing all big activities of 

 the National in separate sections under 

 able chairmanship. 



Doctor L. D. Leonard, of Minneapo- 

 lis, Minn., spoke on the " Forks in the 

 Road," metaphorically describing the 

 wanderings of the National. He ad- 

 vised for future travel to organize three 

 sections, the educational, the industrial 

 and the legislative, with more to come 

 as need arises. 



The big discussion of the day fol- 

 lowed an address by Dr. S. A. Jones, 

 of the Bureau of Crop Estimates of 

 Washington, D. C. Doctor Jones ab- 

 solutely proved the correctness of the 

 government honey crop estimates. To 

 give a widespread benefit to beekeepers 

 of the country, he remained another 

 day to confer with a committee on a 

 plan of cooperation between the Na- 

 tional and the government office. The 

 result of this conference was that hence- 

 forth the retail and wholesale price of 

 comb and extracted honey will be asked 

 and given out by the government to 

 those who send in reports and to the 

 officers of the National who will thus 

 be able within a fraction to determine 

 what the real price of honey ought to 

 be at retail and wholesale. 



Prof. Taylor, of the University of 

 Wisconsin in Government office, spoke 

 on accounting and cost and profit. The 

 National has appointed a committee to 

 cooperate- with Prof. Taylor and the 

 Government office of Accounting in 

 order to get up a system of bee book- 

 keeping for larger producers. The 

 National will probably be able to fur- 

 nish this business book to its members 

 free of charge as soon as completed. 



None of the speakers for Wednesday 

 were present. Dr. E. F. Phillips took 

 up his paper on State and Government 

 Aid in Educational and Research work. 

 He first pointed out the necessity of 

 such work, not in making more bee- 

 keepers, but! better ones of those 

 existing, calling attention to gross 

 ignorance of bees and beekeeping meth- 

 ods even among the biggest men in the 

 industry. "Some one suggested just 

 now", he said "that there are among 

 the members of the National some who 

 do not know how to hive a prime 

 swarm." The plan of the Government 

 is to extend education to every State 

 in the Union. North Carolina and 

 Tennessee received one educator each 

 last year on behalf of the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association, and the work 



these men are doing is as wonderful as 

 the appreciation and cooperation of 

 the people of these two States. 



A lively discussion followed, and 

 when the atmosphere cleared this was 

 the result : 



1. That the National go on record 

 favoring further extension of educa- 

 tional and research work. 



2. That this section of the activities 

 of the National be put into a special 

 section with a secretary in charge un- 

 der the executive committee. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, of Washington, D. 

 C, was chosen to act as secretary of 

 this educational section. 



A pleasant divergence was the ban- 

 quet or dinner held at 12, noon, at Park 

 Hotel. Sixty-two were present. Prof. 

 Francis Jager acted as toast-master, 

 and about a dozen good and funny 

 talks were given, mostly by members 

 from other States. 



At 3 p.m., Colorado had its inning. 

 Mr. Wesley Foster, of Boulder, Colo., 

 spoke on Cooperation in Distribution 

 of Honey, also on Imports and Exports, 

 and Mr. H. Rauchfuss, of Denver, on 

 the Colorado system of handling honey. 

 Both papers were enthusiastially re- 

 ceived, showing that the industrial 

 part of the bee is nowadays uppermost 

 in the people's mind. After a long de- 

 bate and discussion a special section 

 of the National was organized under 

 the name of industrial section, with 

 Mr. H. Polhemus, of Colorado, as sec- 

 retary, to study national methods of 

 cooperation and report next year. Mr. 

 Frank C. Pellett, of Atlantic, Iowa, was 

 appointed secretary of the legislative 

 section. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant spoke on State Fair 

 and exhibits, but he widened out into a 

 general boost for progress, which, 

 from a man of his standing, will be a 

 great asset for the National. Thanks 



After supper the question of the 

 National Central office was discussed 

 by Prof. Eric F. Millen, of Ames, Iowa. 

 The paper was so interesting that a 

 discussion followed, after which the 

 five points brought out by Mr. Millen, 

 were unanimously adopted. 



Hamlin B. Miller, of Marshalltown, 

 Iowa, closed the program at 9:30 p.m., 

 and if anybody was drowsy by that 

 time they were soon wide awake and 

 stayed wide awake whilst he spilled his 

 " Pep " on " How to increase the mem- 

 bership of the National."; 



At the business session Thursday 

 morning a resolution to stand by Presi- 

 dent Wilson was adopted and wired to 

 Washington. 



Other resolutions adopted, were, to 

 refer the great questions brought up 

 at this meeting to committees to work 

 them out and report at the next meet- 

 ing ; 



To print our own convention report 

 as well as any other reports during the 

 year and send it to members ; 



To procure money for such printing 

 by every member present pledging him- 

 self to secure five new members for the 

 National; 



To appoint in the most promising 

 States a representative or secretary to 

 take care of the interests of the Na- 

 tional in that State. The president was 

 authorized to appoint such men. 



The nominating committee consisting 

 of Messrs. C. P. Dadant, E. F. Phillips, 

 and Wesley Foster, reported that they 

 recommend as officers for the next 

 year Prof. Francis Jager, of Minnesota, 



for President; Mr. J. Bull, of Illinois, 

 for Secretary, and H. I'olhemus, of Col- 

 orado for Vice-president. They were 

 elected by acclamation, whereupon the 

 meeting adjourned. 



The meeting was permeated from 

 beginning to the end by a spirit of en- 

 encouragement, hope and good cheer, 

 characteristically expressed in a mes- 

 sage received from Dr. C. C. Miller. 

 Francis Jager, I'res. 



John Vandervort, whose death was 

 announced in our March number, was 

 born in Schoharie county, N. Y., Jan. 

 6, 1832, and at the age of 12 years, with 

 his parents, went to live at Laceyville, 

 Pa. He remained in the family home 

 until 1853, when he was united in mar- 

 riage with Miss Harriet Montgomery, 

 of Silvara, a year later going to Ma- 

 rengo, III., where he spent about 15 

 years. 



In 1869, Mr. Vandervort returned 

 East, locating in Binghamton,and three 

 years later permanently settled in 

 Laceyville. At this time he formed a 

 partnership with his son A. L., going 

 into the planing mill business for the 

 manufacture of beehives, the son taking 

 charge of the milling end while the 

 father devoted his time to bees, which 

 in the following years proved a very 

 successful venture. The partnership of 



The Late J. Vandervort 



father and son continued about three 

 years, and in the dissolution the son 

 took the milling business while the bee 

 industry was continued by the father. 



While in Binghamton, Mr. Vander- 

 vort was for a time in partnership with 

 Jones, who " pays the freight." 



Mr. Vandervort was the first manu- 

 facturer of comb-foundation cylinders 

 to make mills of different cell walls for 

 the different grades of foundation. The 

 first machines made by'Washburne un- 

 der the direction and management of 

 A. I. Root, were very accurate, but no 

 attempt was made by him at first to 

 make cell walls of different depth and 

 thickness, or at least only one grade 

 was put on the market. Mrs. Frances 

 Dunham, of Depere, Wis., about 1880, 



