lANUARY 15, 1915 



REPORT OF THE CHICAGO NORTHWESTERN CONVENTION 



63 



Prices, Production, and TransportaJion Considered 



BY J. L. GRAFF 



FlU. G.- 



Oiie t»t' tlio delegates (o the Chicago 

 Xorthwesloni Beekeeping Association meet- 

 iiiii' held in Chicago December 17 and 18, 

 struck a responsive chord when, in a modest 

 talk, he advocated a 

 more altruistic feeling 

 among the men who 

 engage in the produc- 

 tion of honey. For 

 several years the doc- 

 inrs. members of the 

 American ]\Iedical As- 

 sociation, have been 

 employing a lecturer 

 to travel among the 

 |iliysicians of the na- 

 tion to teach this kind 

 of feeling for one an- 

 other, and it is said to 

 have had the most de- 

 sirable effect. Tliis 

 beeman thought it bad 

 jx)licy to go about 

 knocking one another, 

 knocking the honey 

 and the prices of oth- 



cis — better go around helping one another 

 inr the good of all. This little advice fol- 

 Inwed a hot discussion about prices, whether 

 a beekeeper should put on a fancy price to 

 indicate that the goods were of high quality, 

 1. 1- whether the price should be kejDt within 

 ilie reach of the average consumer. One 

 apiarist held to the opinion that, if he 

 established a high price, the buyer would 

 form the impression that he was offered top- 

 notch goods. The man who was satisfied to 

 charge a less price resented the implication 

 that his honey was not as good. From time 

 immemorial these discussions have warmed 

 lip beekeepers' meetings, and doubtless this 

 i- the reason the modest man in the back 

 iM\v essayed to mix in a little leaven. 



N'early fifty men attended the meeting. 

 They hailed from farms and homes within 

 the Illinoi.-^. Indiana, and Wisconsin dis- 

 trict close to Chicago. There was a consid- 

 erable amount of woe mixed in with the 

 natural jollity of the beekeepers, for nearly 

 all of them told of a shortage of crop from 

 the last honey-flow. An Iowa man got from 

 his bees about 40 lbs. to the colony; a 

 1 urthern Wisconsin man had taken 80; a 

 iiortliern Indianian. 40; a northern lUi- 

 noisan. 40; a central Illinoisan had no sur- 

 idiis at all ; a Lake County, Indiana, keeper, 

 40; a Chieagoan 4.5; another Chieagoan 



75; a western Illinois man 30. The largest 

 ])roduction was reported by a member from 

 central Wisconsin, 115 lbs.; and another 

 Badger said that he had a surplus of 85 lbs. 



The cover on, aud the job complete. The cover is roofed with a 

 good quality of paper, and painted. 



The other productions ran from forty down 

 as low as twejity, and four said they had no 

 surplus at all, and were heavy sugar-buyers 

 in preparation for the winter months. The 

 drouth of the late summer and fall months 

 curtailing bloom was given as the cause of 

 the light crop. 



One of the most interesting talks of the 

 convention was made by H. C. Ahlers, West 

 Bend, Wis., who related some of his ex- 

 periences in shipping his apiaries to vast 

 Spanish-needle beds on the bottoms adjoin- 

 ing the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers. 

 The cost of freighting from his home to 

 Louisiana was $170 a car one way — 500 

 colonies to the car. This did not include his 

 own transportation traveling with the car; 

 and this fact brought up the question as to 

 the alleged unreasonableness in carrying a 

 stockman free with liis stock and charging 

 a beeman for the privilege of riding with 

 and caring for his bees en route. Mr. Ahlers 

 told how he managed to secure the colonies 

 in the car so that thej^ will not be jolted out 

 of place. He fastens stanchions in the car, 

 leaving space to walk from one end of the 

 car to the other. The space at the doors is 

 left vacant for his own occupancy, but the 

 hive.s are tiered up as high as the height of 

 the car will j)ermit. Plank nailed on length- 

 wise and crosswise at the doors are fastened 



