86 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



are mistaken. I would like to see 

 comb honey sold at 12J| cents, and 

 extracted at 9 cents per pound, then 

 it would be bought by the economist, 

 and not unfrequently take the place 

 of butter to the satisfaction and 

 health of the children ; then it would 

 become a staple article and be sought 

 after as butter is now ; and then sup- 

 ply and demand would regulate the 

 price. ■' But,"' says some, " we cannot 

 produce honey at those prices." Then 

 go out of the business. There are 

 some who can and will, and let that 

 be regulated by the "survival of the 

 fittest.'' The selling of honey is more 

 perjilexing to many than producing it. 



Reversible frames are much talked 

 of now. My first frames were re- 

 versible, and I have never changed 

 them. The only benelit 1 have re- 

 ceived has been to get the frames 

 filled out at the bottom as well as the 

 top, which I consider quite an object. 



Wliat I wrote sometime ago about 

 taxing bees, has hnnight some in- 

 quiries I did not intend to carry the 

 idea that bees are not property. 

 There are two classes of property — 

 one absolute, the other qualified. 

 Absolute inoperty is that which Is 

 owned independent of any qualifica- 

 tions ; (pialifieii is such as circum- 

 .stances and situation give the owner 

 the right to it. The law taxes only 

 the first-class, consequently bees can- 

 not be taxed in any State unless tliat 

 State makes a special law to that ef- 

 fect (as some States have concerning 

 dogs), and then I think that they 

 must be tirsi consiilcred as a nni.sance. 



A State ordering its supervisors to 

 take statistics of hees. would no more 

 make them taxable than the taking of 

 the number of births would make 

 children taxable. A man is liable for 

 the damage which his bees do, just 

 the same as lie would be for the dam- 

 age his dog does. If a man drives 

 along the road by an apiary and the 

 bees come out and sting his horse, 

 causing damage, the owner of the 

 bees is liable for the damage ; but if a 

 man hitches his horse to the fence 

 and the bees sting it, the owner of 

 the bees is not liable for damage ; for 

 the horse's owner is a trespasser, and 

 a trespasser cannot claim damages 

 unless he can show intent on tlie part 

 of the owner of the property doing 

 the damage. 



Jjast spring I moved to this place all 

 my farming utensils, teams, stock, 

 furniture and bees and bee-fixings. 1 

 find this a good country, a healthy 

 climate, best of water, and a very 

 large open field for bees, there being 

 only a few colonies in this section. 

 We have some white clover, consider- 

 able basswood, and a vast amount of 

 wild red raspberry which yields a 

 great deal of honey, and in quality it 

 is not excelled by basswood or white 

 clover. A7iy unanchored bee-keeper 

 would do well to explore this section 

 before locating permanently. 



Shermau,x) Mich. 



t^ The Cedar Valley Bee-Keepers' 

 Association willhold its next meeting 

 on Feb. 24 and 2-5. 188.5, in the Council 

 Rooms (opposite Burr's Hotel), Cedar 

 Falls, Iowa. A. I). Bknnett, Sec. 



ror the American Bee JoumaL 



Indiana State Convention. 



The Indiana State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association was called to order at 1 1'M 

 p. m., Jan. 22, with Mrs. C. Robbins, 

 President, in the chair, about 100 

 members being in attendance. 



Following the reports of officers, 

 came the President's address : " This 

 is the sixth annual meeting of this 

 Society, with all the varying scenes of 

 life. The past year there has not been 

 one member of the society, to our 

 knowledge, removed by death." Men- 

 tioning her visits to several county 

 society meetings, she continued : "In- 

 diana has eleven societies, represent- 

 ing 1.5 counties of the 92 in the State. 

 Plenty of work is yet to be done in 

 the way of bringing the bee-keepers 

 together, for by organization we hope 

 to educate the old gum out and the 

 new appliances in. Statistics for 1884 

 show 1.31, 1S9 colonies of bees, 1,878,393 

 pounds of honey, an increase over 

 1883 of .52,613 colonies and 1,080,02.5 

 povmds of honey. Indiana has an area 

 of 21,637,760 acres. The above num- 

 ber of colonies of bees would give 

 about one colony of bees to each 164 

 acres, placing the question of over- 

 stocking in the far distant future. 

 While our winter losses have been 

 very heavy, we are very thankful that 

 the dread foul brood has not as yet 

 entered our State, though its hovering 

 over our borilers should make us 

 doubly careful of its introduction. 



" When we think of the many fruit 

 trees of every kind, also the vast 

 quantities of small fruit blossoms, 

 the great number of forest trees that 

 produce nectar, the acres of red, 

 white and Alsike clover and the 

 countless millions of wild flowers, we 

 wonder that the lioney yield is so 

 small. The fact leads us to investi- 

 gate the many causes of failure to 

 secure a large crop, whether for lack 

 of bees or in mismanagement in not 

 having our bees ready to gather the 

 nectar when secreted, or the many 

 other causes that the several members 

 of this Society will discuss and decide 

 according to his or her locality. I 

 believe that each year the bees have 

 been able to board themselves and 

 produce a small surplus. We have 

 had but one bountiful harvest since 

 the organization of this society. Al- 

 though the bees have failed to store a 

 large harvest of nectar, the bee-keep- 

 ers, I am happy to say, have not failed 

 to store away an amount of knowl- 

 edge for future use that cannot be 

 estimated in dollars and cents." 



Referring to literature, she thouglit 

 that the fact of the bee-keepers' .sup- 

 porting a weekly bee-paper is evidence 

 of the extent of tlie industry. The 

 work of Fairs and conventions reaches 

 the mass that know but little of our lit- 

 erature. Complimenting the efforts of 

 those who make displays at our Fairs, 

 she recommended petitioning for the 

 privilege of selling honey at the Fairs, 

 as a source of educating the people to 

 the uses to which honey could be 

 applied. She warmly endorsed bee- 

 keeping as suitable for women, for 



the pleasure as well as the profit of 

 the labor. 



A vote of thanks was given the 

 President for her able address, and, 

 on motion of Mr. Johnson, it was re- 

 ferred to a committee of 10, that 

 action might be taken on the recom- 

 mendations contained therein. 



The election of officers resulted in 

 the choice of Jonas Scholl, of Fayette 

 county, as President; C. F. Muth, 

 Cincinnati, Vice-President ; Frank L. 

 Dougherty, Secretary; Mrs. E. Stout, 

 Treasurer ; the two latter being their 

 own successors. 



President Scholl, on taking his seat, 

 made some pleasant remarks. He 

 thought that we should be thankful 

 for all favors, though our last crop 

 was but a partial one. We should not 

 be discottraged, but take courage and 

 prepare for others Jo come, for good 

 crops would come as well as poor ones, 

 and we should be ready for any emer- 

 gency. 



Prof. H. W. W^iley, National chem- 

 ist, gave an address entitled " The 

 Composition of Honey and its Adul- 

 teration." 



APICULTURE AS A BUSINESS. 



The first subject on the regular pro- 

 gramme was then taken up. The 

 Secretary did not wish to consider the 

 business as an exclusive one. No 

 matter what be the size of the apiary, 

 the greater amount of the work must 

 necessarily be confined to a few short 

 months and he was of the opinion 

 that a person who has the energy and 

 push about him to look after an api- 

 ary of any size, would not be willing 

 to quietly fold his arms and idle away 

 the balance of the year, but would of 

 necessity seek some other business to 

 which he might devote the time not 

 given to the bees. He was fully sat- 

 isfied, taking one year with another, 

 bees would pay fully as well as any of 

 the kindred industries. 



!Mr. Scholl unites farming with bee- 

 keeping. His aim was to make each 

 of the crops on the f ai m pay as best 

 he could, and he knew from actual 

 records that his bees paid him equally 

 as well or better than any of the other 

 farm industries. Corn in his locality 

 was almost a failure last season; 22 

 acres of wheat yielded him 4.50 bush- 

 els ; his 60 colonies of bees had paid 

 better than these ; in fact, for 10 years 

 past, the bees had paid better than 

 any of his other crops. 



Mr. Hutchinson would not like to 

 depend on bees alone for a living, but 

 in connection with other things he 

 considered that they paid well. 



Mr. Kenedy raises poultry in con- 

 nection with bee-keeping and finds 

 them to work well together. 



Mr. T. S. Bull thought that bee- 

 keeping paid well f(n- the time and 

 capital invested. As evidence of the 

 fact he offered a tabulated statement, 

 taken directly from his books, cover- 

 ing a period of 10 years, giving' an 

 annual net profit of $.5.1.5 per colony in 

 an apiary of 1.50 colonies. 



Mr. Anderson raises berries, bees 

 and poultry, and thinks that they 

 work well together. 



Mrs. Harrison, of Peoria, Ills., liv- 

 ing in the city, makes it an imperative 



