GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



is now being- imported into this country 

 from foreign countries in a single month as 

 was formerly imported before the war in a 

 single year. When it is considered that 

 South America and the West Indies pro- 

 duce vast quantities of honey, and that the 

 great bulk of it that has hitherto gone to 

 Europe now comes to this country, it will 

 be understood why the price of extracted 

 honey is so low. Of course, the influx of 

 the imported article does not account for 

 all of this reduction. Something must be 

 charged up to the general trade conditions 

 as a result of the war. 



The member's of the convention were by 

 no means unanimous as to the best way to 

 meet this condition. Secretary Williams 

 believed that the National should encourage 

 its members to do local advertising. He 

 mentioned in that connection the value of 

 display advertising-cards which the Nation- 

 al could furnish very cheaply to beekeej:)- 

 ers; of live-bee demonstrations; of form 

 letters; of articles in the local press calling- 

 attention to the use of honey as a food. 

 Such measures would involve but little ex- 

 pense, and yet if all would thus attempt to 

 boost their markets the sale of honey might 

 be enormously increased. In the line of 

 general advertising, he suggested that the 

 National raise a fund that could be used for 

 the purpose by getting the beekeepers of 

 the land to submit to a voluntary tax based 

 on so many colonies or so many pounds of 

 honey. If this plan were i^roperly worked, 

 a large sum might be made available for 

 increasing the demand for honey. Some 

 general discussion followed, but no definite 

 plans have been formulated as yet. 



NATIONAL PROBLEMS. 



On this subject Prof. Francis Jager de- 

 livered an address that was listened to with 

 the most careful attention. By the way, be 

 has charge of the apieultural school at the 

 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and 

 according to Vice-president Pellett he is 

 making a great success of it. He certainly 

 made a most favorable impression on this 

 convention. 



In his address Mr. Jager called attention 

 to the evident errors and inequalities in the 

 United States Census for 1910. For exam- 

 ple, Colorado is credited in that report with 

 producing only 4 lbs. per colony, while 

 Minnesota produces 4^2 lbs. In the census 

 there are more jackasses than beeliives. 

 Many beehives must have been missed. On 

 the whole, our industry seemed to be on the 

 decline when the reverse is true. No ac- 

 count is taken of bees in cities and towns. 

 Why was this? The Government has sup- 

 ported "infant industries" such as the trusts 



and the Union Pacific. These babies have 

 now grown large. Our industry is an infant 

 industry. It needs more helj^. The sum of 

 twenty-five million dollars is annually set 

 aside for agriculture by the Government. 

 We get only a small pittance. In the annual 

 report of the Secretary of AgTiculture for 

 1913, comprising 48 pages, a great deal is 

 said about foreign meats, seeds, sub-tropical 

 fruits, corn, wheat, buckwheat, and pota- 

 toes. Even dashens are mentioned, but not 

 one word about bees. 



This Association ought to have a commit- 

 tee appointed to see that these discrepancies 

 and omissions do not occur again. If the 

 National Association does not get back of 

 the Census Bureau, the same mistakes and 

 omissions will occur again. 



Mr. Jager believed further that the Na- 

 tional should have a standing lobby at 

 Washington when CongTess is in session. 

 He deplored the efforts of the National to 

 commercialize, as it had been ti-ying to do 

 during the last two or three years, when 

 there was great and imj^ortant work that 

 ought to be done. Heretofore we have been 

 trying to stick our fingers into the water 

 and then trying to find the hole aftei-ward. 

 It is time we should be doing something. 

 We should appear in person before the 

 Government, not in the form of jaetitions. 



This address was roundly applauded; and 

 at its close, Dr. Phillips (supplementing 

 what had been said) went on to explain 

 that, of the sum now devoted to the inves- 

 tigation work in apiculture, not one penny 

 of it had been secured by the National 

 Association. 



There was another paper, by Dr. Phillips, 

 on the subject — 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE HONEY MARKET. 



While he discussed the various methods 

 for doing this he dwelt i^articularly upon 

 the inadvisability of the association under- 

 taking it on a national scale. He touched 

 upon the subject of co-operation, both local 

 and national. As the subject is naturally 

 one that will provoke controvers}-, the au- 

 thor's exact words should be taken, and not 

 a digest of them. It was one of the most 

 carefully thought-out papers that were read 

 at the convention. For its full text the 

 reader is referred to the report that will be 

 published in the Review. 



These various suggestions, so far as they 

 related to policies of the National Associa- 

 tion, wei'e incorporated in a set of resolu- 

 tions that were unanimously adopted. 



In conclusion we may say that President 

 Gates made an excellent presiding officer. 

 On the whole Iho convention Avas a great 

 success. 



