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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 1, 1903. 



When, however, a man pays for a section of honey an amount that 

 would purchase three pounds of sugar, the two can hardly be said to 

 be in competition, and the extra price paid for the honey is paid for 

 the extra qualities it possesses, and with which sugar can in no way 

 compete. A drop in the price of sugar to 3 cents a pound would not 

 induce him to take the sugar in place of the honey any more than 

 when sugar was cents. So we need not worry whether or not Eiqm- 

 toriiim rebnudium materializes as a formidable competitor of the 

 sugar-beet. 



[ Sketches of Beedomites ) 



UDO TOEPPERWEIX. 



Mr. Udo Toepperwein, whose portrait graces our first page this 

 week, is a resident of Texas. He began the bee-business when a little 

 boy, and decided, years before he was of age, that he would make bee- 

 keeping a life study. He gradually worked his way up, and is now 

 manager of the Texas branch of one of the largest bee-supply manu- 

 facturers in the world, and also has the exclusive sale in that State of 

 honey-cans made by a large firm. 



Mr. Toepperwein also has an extensive business in buying whole 

 crops of honey from bee-keepers in and around the locality where he 

 lives, and has himself apiaries at different places near, besides an api- 

 ary of 40 colonies right in the city. 



Mr. T. was married only about a year ago, is a bright young 

 business man, only 25 years of age, and seems to be able to take care 

 of almost any amount of business with good judgment. Last spring 

 he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, to take the place of Mr. A. I. Root, who had 

 recently resigned. 



We have met Mr. Toepperwein on several occasions, and believe 

 he is representative of the best in beedom in the State of Texas. He 

 is quite a " convention trotter," though he seldom takes any part in 

 discussions unless called out, when he speaks with a freedom and in- 

 telligence that evidently are born of experience. We believe he will 

 prove an honor to Texas and a credit to himself as a member of the 

 Board of Directors of the National Association. 





Miscellaneous Items 





On to Los Angeles! — Having arrived at Williams again, about 

 noon on Monday, Aug. 17, after visiting the Grand Canyon, our car 

 was attached to the through train on the main line of the Santa Fe, 

 bound for Los Angeles. It was a delightful ride for many miles, sur- 

 rounded with mountains whose sides were covered with pines, and 

 along the railroad acres of the beautiful cleome, or Rocky Mountain 

 bee-plant, nodding in the breezes. 



But towards evening we began to get into the New Mexico desert, 

 and how hot it was! Nothing but heated sand all around us, and hot 

 sunshine above us, with a suffocating breeze that one could imagine 

 came from the lower regions. 



We arrived at Needles about 9 p.m. This is called the hottest 

 place along the line. We could easily believe it. The temperature 

 must have been about 110 degrees above zero. It seemed to us the 

 hottest night we ever passed through— and yet not as terrible as we 

 expected from the way we had been previously warned. 



At Needles, Indian squaws and maidens were offering long strings 

 of beads of various colors, which were very pretty indeed. And they 

 made many sales to the ladies of our train. The prettiest were t^l.OO 

 per string, though in other places $1.7.5 or $2.00 are the prices asked 

 for the same thing. They are worn by ladies as girdles, or around the 

 neck, and are indeed quite attractive. 



We omitted to say that at Williams, the Santa Fe railroad company 

 put on our train a man known as a " Tourist Conductor." At least 

 that was what it said on his cap. His name was Max Jenney. (Prob- 



ably he has that same name yet, as he was a married man at the time !) 

 Now, we have met men that we thought could talk — men that some 

 would say had a double dose of " the gift of the gab." But here was a 

 man that simply was " all talk." Why, he knew everything about 

 everything that anybody possibly wanted to ask about California or 

 anything else. He knew the flowers, the fruits, the mountains, the 

 climate — well, we wouldn't have space to mention them all. He was 

 good-natured, too. If the Santa Fe ever pays any of its employees for 

 genuine talking ability, Max Jenney ought to get a big salary. He 

 earns it. In fact, the State of California ought to pay him, too. If 

 everybody he meets doesn't stay in California after once inside the 

 State, it won't be Max Jenney's fault. We just got away from him 

 as fast as possible. Why, he'd make you forget the old home and any 

 business there (if you left any), and have you believe California is 

 really the vestibule to Heaven. 



Max Jenney ! — the car of bee-keepers won't forget him soon. He's 

 a good one. He's an actor, an enterprising story-teller — true (?) 

 stories, of course — a " hale fellow, well met" — a "Tourist Conduc- 

 tor!" Ah, "Max," you're a dandy. Long may you live to " con- 

 duct " the " tourists " into your land of bloom, of sunshine, of cli- 

 mate — of heat and dust — gold, and the more common, earthy kind of 

 dust. 



The morning of Tuesday, Aug. 18, we began to get into the San 

 Bernardino Mountains. We were at last in California! Could it be 

 possible? Personally, we had longed, for years, to set eyes on that 

 far-away land of gold. Finally, we were "right in it." There were 

 the orange and lemon groves, the eucalyptus and pepper trees. Yes, 

 and the yucca and cacti. But no grass! Oh, how dry and barren the 

 ground looked ! And everything covered with dust. 



We reached Pasadena, which is some 10 miles this side of Los 

 Angeles, about 9 a.m. Having relatives there, we stopped off 

 until towards evening. We were at once driven in a carriage to one 

 of the many lovely homes to be found there, and the very first thing 

 we did was to take a good bath. Oh, wasn't it fine, after that long, 

 dusty ride of nearly a week? flow blessed it was to be clean once 

 more! If we could only then have taken a long nap, we would have 

 felt more natural again. But there was no time for that. We must 

 soon take the street-car for Los Angeles, in order to be on hand for 

 the reception to be tendered by the California bee-keepers in the 

 evening. 



Oh, yes, we forgot to say that as we stepped off the train at Pasa- 

 dena who should we see but Geo. W. Brodbeck? He had come out 

 from Los Angeles to meet the car-load of bee-keepers and ride in with 

 them. We had never met Mr. Brodbeck before, though we had had a 

 pleasant correspondence acquaintance with him for years. We are 

 glad that so good a man is to succeed us in the secretaryship of the 

 National Association next January. Mr. Brodbeck is a man that not 

 only California bee-keepers, but all the rest in the whole country, may 

 well be proud of. 



We arrived at the Natick House about 6 p.m., and after supper 

 went over to Blanchard's Hall, on Broadway, where the sessions of 

 the convention were to be held. At the appointed hour the room was 

 well filled, and "then the music began." The orchestra of the 

 Sunday-school of the First M. E. Church of Los Angeles was present, 

 and the music they rendered was surely inspiring. The superintend- 

 ent of the school was seated near the rear of the room, and evidently 

 enjoyed the program. By the way, this superintendent was none 

 other than Dr. H. W. Brodbeck, a brother of Geo. W.. and one of the 

 most pushing (and doubtless "pulling," as well) dentists on the 

 Pacific Coast. We will have more to say of Dr. Brodbeck later on. 



As has been already announced in these columns, the evening 

 session was presided over by Pres. T. O. Andrews, of the California 

 Association. It was a very enjoyable evening. Everybody seemed 

 happy, even if it was too awfully hot for comfort. It was an un- 

 usually heated spell for that locality — at least that's what those Call, 

 fornians said, and, of course, we had to believe them, as they ought to 

 know. We didn't. All we knew was that if that was a fair sample 

 of the glorious California climate we have heard so much about, we 

 could find the same thing without going over 2000 miles away from 

 home. 



But after Prof. Cook and some others had given us all such a 

 royal welcome, and after we had met a number of the extensive bee- 

 keepers — extensive both as to bees and good-nature — that were pres- 

 ent, we felt quite at home, and decided that we were going to have a 

 good couvention. What with Cook, and Harbison, and Corey, and 

 Brodbeck, and Mercer, and Mellen, and Mendleson, and Molntyre, 



