84 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Feb 8 1900. 



With all this experience and processes that I was forced 

 to go thru in this unfortunate transaction, I feel it my 

 duty to say to the shippers of produce and other g-oods : 

 Never send anj-thing to commission men, or any one else, 

 before 3'ou have lookt them up thoroly in every sense — their 

 financial standing and their character first, then their abili- 

 ties in their business management, etc. Forethought is 

 better than afterthought, and will save much trouble and 

 losses. But if you should be so unlucky as to fall into a 

 covered-up pit, and need legal help, see Messrs. Masterson 

 & Haft— they have proven their manly character and their 

 ability in ray case, even if I was discouraged now and then 

 by outsiders who did not know them better than I did. They 

 were also very reasonable in their charges. 



The so-called complicated part (and not being the real 

 issue in the 12th annual report of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union), when I called for aid, was not complicated at all. 

 The only question was : Would the cash sale of my honey 

 stand good, after Bartling had sold it on commission, and 

 he himself had so reported it ? The courts held that the 

 cash was not a sale under these circumstances, and Bart- 

 ling made himself liable by selling my goods and convert- 

 ing it to his own use and benefit ; while the cash sale would 

 have been only a trust, and could not be collected unless 

 Bartling had some property that was not exempt. I give 

 this part of the history for the special benefit of the readers 

 of the American Bee Journal, so they can /oo/i out. The 

 outside matters did not make the main point any more com- 

 plicated, and had no eifect at all on it, in the main. 



It seems the Union took but little interest in this case, 

 and let me fight it all alone. The officers who answered my 

 letters exprest themselves very sympathetically over the 

 matter, and I have to say again, that that was all I got 

 " financially," and I was a member from its start. 



One of the Union officers (and he is one of our best and 

 most practical writers and bee-keepers) got so far off the 

 track, after his advice to drop the case, to write me these 

 words: " If you have lots of money to spend in that way, 

 so that this course comes in a sort of amusement for you, I 

 have no objection to your doing it." Just think, readers, 

 what a healing, soothing plaster that was to the sore 

 wounds I had received from one of Chicago's honey-sharks 1 

 I will forgive the writer, for it can hardly be that he knew 

 what he wrote, his mind probably being among his bees, 

 inserting queen-cups, or studying out ^orae other scheme. 

 Smart men make big mistakes sometimes. 



Where a man lives 400 miles from the place of trial, to 

 fight a case of this kind comes very high, outside of attor- 

 ney's fees, but it is worth something to constitute an ex- 

 ample, but it should not be borne by one man alone, while 

 many are benefited by it. 



I herewith tender my hearty thanks to George W. York, 

 editor of the American Bee Journal, for the kind assistance 

 and helping hand he gave me in this my perplexing and 

 long-standing trial. We have reason to patronize Mr. 

 York, as he will do all he can for the bee-keepers. No one 

 knows this better than I. 



I also want to thank Mr. Secor for a number of encour- 

 aging letters he wrote to my attorneys. I think they had a 

 good infiuence. Wabasha Co., Minn. 



Report of the Colorado State Convention. 



The 20th annual session of the Colorado State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association was held in Denver, Nov. 27, 28 and 

 29, 1899. 



The meeting was opened at 10:30 a.m., Nov. 27, with the 

 reading of the minutes of the previous session. 



No set program was followed in this convention, ex- 

 cept that on the second and third days some were appointed 

 by a committee to introduce certain subjects. 



BEST BROOD-FRAME FOR MANIPULATION. 



CD Mr. J. B. Adams first askt the question, "What is the 

 best brood-frame for manipulation and ease of access with- 

 out considering its fitness for extracting purposes ?" 



Mr. Thompson — I have used the hanging frame '/-i inch 

 all around, the Hoft'man frame without a V edge, and the 

 closed-end frame, both hanging and standing. I consider a 

 self-spacing feature absolutely essential to ease of manipu- 

 lation, providing it is attained bj' the frame itself, not by 

 staples or nails, because the self-spacing feature enables 

 one to shove a number of frames at once from one side of 

 the hive to the other with the chisel or screw-driver. I pre- 

 fer the closed-end frame. I think the hanging variety is a 

 little easier manipulated. 



Mr. Lansdowne — The most experienced bee-keeper in 

 my neighborhood, Joseph Shatters, prefers long top-bars to 

 end-spaced frames with short top-bars. 



H. Rauchfuss — Neither will accomplish the purpose, 

 unless there is a staple at the bottom as well as at the top. 

 I think I already had a better frame five or six years ago — 

 the closed-end standing frame, because it is always square 

 in the hive, no matter how it is nailed. 



Mr. Lyon — We are compelled to use a top end-staple 

 with the length of top-bar now used. I prefer the long top- 

 bar. 



F. Rauchfuss — The long top-bar is to be preferred. 

 These frames are not always used in dovetailed hives of 

 this year's make, which are not of the same dimensions as 

 in former years. The staple-spaced frame drops down, 

 while the frame with a long top-bar does not. 



J. B. Adams — Would you have objections to two staples, 

 one at the top and one at the bottom ? 



F. Rauchfuss — Yes. 



Pres. Aikin — My opinion of end-spaced frames is like 

 ray opinion of metal-cornered frames — I don't care to have 

 them. I don't want a bottom-spacer. Better make the 

 frame square at first, then when the comb is built they re- 

 main square. 



H. Rauchfuss— ^I handled some new end-spaced frames 

 lately with short top-bars. They slipt past each other. 

 Even with staples the frames need to be accurate, because 

 the hives will not remain uniform in length. 



Pres. Aikin — I have had for years a leaning to closed- 

 end frames. The old-fashioned j's-inch frame always has 

 burr-combs on top and ends. 



RET.\IL PACKAGES FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



H Rauchfuss exhibited a self-sealing tin-pail as a pos- 

 sible honey-package, and said the workmanship showed it 

 could be made cheaply. 



Ch. Adams — It is more expensive. The cheap syrup 

 manufacturers can afford to pay for a higher-priced pack- 

 age. 



F. Rauchfuss — This is known as the self-sealing pail. 

 It is expensive, tho I don't know why it should tie so. A 

 gallon pail costs IS cents each in quantities. It is exten- 

 sively used by Oliver Foster. It is all right for a honey- 

 package. I filled one with new honey and dropt it a dozen 

 times on a hard floor. The tin was dented, but not a drop 

 of honey escaped. 



Ch. Adams — It is a poor package to use again. It is 

 hard to wash, and rusts on account of the rim, which pre- 

 vents the moisture from draining. 



Mr. Cornelius exhibited a stone preserving-jar, which 

 he uses in his retail trade because it can be obtained 

 cheaply. One costing 8'3 cents holds S'2 pounds of honey. 



Pres. Aikin exhibited fiber packages, the same that were 

 referred to in last year's report. He had filled one with 

 cold water and let it stand for ten days, without effect. 

 Another in hot water of over 160 degrees had partially 

 loosened in the seams. The package seemed to stand any 

 amount of dry heat. It is furnisht either with or without a 

 parchment-paper lining. It is sealed either by passing a 

 brush dipt in shellac around the lower edge of the cover, or 

 by winding around a strip of cloth dipt in mucilage. He 

 had bought 1,476 one-pound and four-pound sizes, an equal 

 number of each, and paid the local freight, making the 

 total cost a little less than three cents apiece, which in- 

 cludes an individual biisiness-card printed on each one. The 

 manufacturers said that if they were used in large quanti- 

 ties they could be furnisht for considerable less. He con- 

 siders them the coming package for the home trade. He 

 now sells most of his honey in the candied form in lard- 

 pails. 



F. Rauchfuss — For that package to be satisfactory one 

 must be sure honey can be liquefied in it. 



H. Rauchfuss — How long does it take extracted honey 

 to candy after the air has been expelled, so that it is per- 

 fectly clear ? 



A Member — About four weeks. 



H. Rauchfuss — Honey that I extracted and heated in 



