706 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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differs exceedingly in color. Heart's-ease honey is lighter 

 here than in any other part of the State. 



F. C. LaFever, Junietta, Nebr. — In regard to the color of 

 heart's-ease honey, I do not agree with Mr. Whiteotnb. I be- 

 lieve early in the season it has a dark color, and later a light 

 color. 



A Member — I had 38 colonies and took 2,280 pounds of 

 honey, or an average of 60 pounds per colony. From 10 col- 

 onies I took 1,080 filled sections, and from 3 colonies 360. 



J. C. Knoll, Kearney, Nebr. — I consider this year a fail- 

 ure in honey-production for me. I had 16 colonies, and so far 

 I have only taken lOO pounds of e.ttracted honey. I live 6 

 miles north of Kearney. One man, to whom I sold a colony, 

 got 240 pounds from the single colony this year. 



Mr. Aikin — I had almost a failure. There has been bloom 

 all over, and it has been a good year, but I have taken very 

 little honey. I live north of Denver, in Colorado. In 1889 

 my average from 165 colonies was 150 pounds ; the next year 

 from the same number of colonies, 100 pounds average ; the 

 next year about 25 pounds; the next year about the same; 

 the next year about 50 or 60; the next year 10 pounds, and 

 this year almost nothing. In Iowa I have taken 227 pounds 

 per colony from 11 colonies. A man can get double the 

 amount of extracted honey from a colony that he can of comb 

 .honey. I can make more money by producing extracted than 

 by producing comb honey. 



Mr. Whitcomb — In the western part of this State there is 

 no sweet clover, and I hope they will not stop us sowing it, 

 for it makes fine honey. When bees can get both alfalfa and 

 sweet clover, it has been my experience that they generally 

 select the sweet clover. 



C. L. Luce, Republican City, Nebr. — Four years ago I 

 started In with two colonies, and the first year I had no in- 

 crease, but took 75 pounds of comb honey per colony. The 

 next year I had no increase, and took 96 pounds of comb 

 honey per colony. In 1895, I increased to 9 colonies, and 

 got one swarm from one of my neighbors, and I averaged 60 

 pounds of comb honey. This year I had 14 colonies, and I 

 bought one, and I now have 33. I attribute the honey to 

 alfalfa. I have 40 acres of alfalfa, and I find it alive with 

 bees. 



Mr. Masters — I have not seen a bee on my alfalfa for two 

 years. I would not give one acre of sweet clover for ten of 

 alfalfa. In western Nebraska alfalfa is better. 



Mr. Abbott— We have the best things in Missouri on 

 earth, but at Garden City, Kans., they get honey every year 

 from alfalfa. 



Dr. Miller — My average of comb honey this year has been 

 about 600 pounds per each 10 colonies. 



Dr. Mason — I have a colony of bees in the barn, and I 

 have taken an average — -according to Dr. Miller's way of 

 reckoning — of 1,120 pounds of honey from 10 colonies. 



Mr. Aikin — I came from Ljveland, Colo., through Pueblo 

 and through Kansas to get here, and I consider alfalfa to bo 

 an excellent and reliable honey-plant. In the irrigated coun- 

 try where I live, we are less liable to have a failure than 

 where they have a small amount of rain. In Iowa, since I have 

 been there, they had only about one complete failure in 15 

 years. At Greeley, Colo., they had a complete failure this 

 year, and nearly so at Loveland. North of Loveland they 

 have done better. At Denver, just before the honey-flow, the 

 bees vanished, and no one could tell where they went. One 

 man said he had 225 colonies, and could only find 25 colonies 

 afterward. Mr. \V. L. Porter, a beekeeper near Denver, said 

 that after the bees had gone he did not have enough bees left 

 to cover his hand. 



A Member — What time of the year was that? 

 Mr. Aikin- -The last days of May. This territory from 

 which the bees went was about 20 miles in diameter. 



Mr. Whitcomb — The bee-keepers have been invited to 

 take an excursion through the city to-morrow at 11 a.m. I 

 move that we accept the invitation. Carried. The convention 

 then adjourned until 7:30 p.m. 



VFEDNKSDAy EVENING SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at 8 o'clock by Pres. 

 Root, who staled that as the speakers had not yet arrived, an 

 opportunity was offered for any questions or discussions that 

 the members would like to make. 



A Member — Suppose we have a song by Dr. Miller. 



Comb Honey v§. Extracted. 



Dr. Miller — Instead of a song, I would like to make a few 

 remarks on the subject of comb-honey production. I am in 

 favor of producing comb honey because I think I can get more 

 out of It ; but I am glad that there are those who do not agree 



with me. Others favor extracted honey because they get 

 better results from it. For example, if it were down South, I 

 believe the production of extracted honey would be better. 

 Although I am a producer of comb honey, I very much prefer 

 extracted honey for my own table use, as we do not have the 

 wax in it. My experience with extracted honey has not been 

 very great. I had some Punic bees which we allowed to build 

 up four stories high. They worked splendidly, and every- 

 thing indicated a fine return, but when we came to extract 

 the honey it took so much time that I concluded we could pro- 

 duce comb honey, sell it, and buy extracted honey at a profit. 



Pres. Root — What was the yield from your Punics? How 

 many pounds to the colony ? 



Dr. Miller — We got 175 to 180 pounds to the colony. I 

 suspect that if some of you who are used to extracting honey, 

 should attempt to produce comb honey, you would not have 

 better success than I did with extracted honey. 



At this point Pres. Root introduced Hon. R. E. Moore, 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Nebraska, who spoke as follows : 



Address of Welcome by Liiciit.-Gov. Moore. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Oentlemen of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Association : — 



In the absence of the Governor, I bid you a most cordial 

 welcome in behalf of the State of Nebraska and the city of 

 Lincoln. This meeting of your Association is an indication 

 that our people — some of them at least — have an intelligence 

 for something besides politics. Our Governor is necessarily 

 absent this evening. He is out looking after his political 

 fences — making hay while the sun shines — like a good agricul- 

 turist ; saving the country, and incidentally saving himself. 

 Although not of the same political party, I can say of Gov. 

 Holcomb, that I believe he has given satisfaction to his friends 

 and disappointed his enemies during his administration as 

 Governor of this State ; and that he has been regarded as a 

 straightforward and honorable gentleman. [Applause.] 



I take pleasure in seeing this Association, because it 

 proves that we can give attention to something besides politics. 

 Politics is a good thing, and must be looked after, but I think 

 there is too much attention given to it. In the summer and 

 fall we have nominations and elections ; then In the winter 

 comes the legislature, and in the summer elections again. And 

 then the politicians make such promises to the people that 

 they think wealth and employment can be made for them by 

 law. Instead of by exertion on the part of labor. And they 

 long and wait for the time when their political party will be 

 in power, and plenty and prosperity will be seen where now is 

 want and distress. It would be a good thing to impress on 

 the minds of our people that something is uecessary besides 

 law. Patient and intelligent effort on the part of the indi- 

 vidual is the only sure way to happiness. While law may 

 have something to do with prosperity, it is by no means all 

 that is required. 



Your Association has set to work in a field that cannot be 

 regarded as the most wealth-producing; but it is a benefit 

 both to yourselves and to the people. The force of the ex- 

 ample will be great to the American people. We have two 

 million people now idle. We are passing through a period of 

 commercial depression and great distress. These people are 

 looking to legislation alone to afford them labor. But I be- 

 lieve that work would be offered to the people if they would 

 exert themselves to find something to do — some field of em- 

 ployment that has not as yet been attempted by others. We 

 import several million of dollars worth of goods every year. 

 I believe that many of these articles we import might be pro- 

 duced here with profit both for the producers and for the 

 people. The money that is sent abroad might enrich our own 

 nation instead of foreign countries. And if the unemployed 

 people should seek some overlooked — some hitherto neglected 

 — field of employment, they might be occupied. 



While in Utica, N. Y., some years ago, I observed five or 

 six thousand laborers engaged in making ready-made clothing. 

 That industry could be carried on here in the West as well as 

 in New York. In Lyons, France, I was also impressed by the 

 industry of silk manufacture. These factories were not very 

 extensive ; each one employed not a great number of men, but, 

 in the aggregate, many millions of people obtain employment 

 from this industry. It brought wealth to them, to their city, 

 and to their nation. 



We imported $100,000,000 worth of sugar last year, 

 and paid for it with gold. Yet we have land, the climate, the 

 labor — all that is necessary to produce this wealth. We could 

 have retained that money at home, and made peace and plenty 

 in many homes that are now in want and despair. I speak of 

 these things to show that you have engaged in something that 

 is beneficial to you and to the world, and you are doing much 



