646 



THE AMERICA]S[ BEE JOURNAL. 



chant, I only put my name on the 

 really nice honey, and let all " ofi 

 grades " go without it. After the 

 sections were all in the shipping-case, 

 and before the cover was put on, I 

 could in a moment's time stamp all 

 the sections, thus letting the con- 

 suaier know b> whom it was pro- 

 duced, while the commission mer- 

 chant got all the credit with the 

 retailer, unless perchance he desired 

 to deal direct with the producer. 



Thus it happens that I get requests 

 like this : " I purchased of Mr. So- 

 and-So a splendid article of honey 

 bearing your address. As it gives the 

 best of satisfaction, for how much 



could you send me cases of the 



same V' For the past few years I 

 have had many calls for honey after I 

 had sold my entire crop, so it will be 

 seen that the plan of a shrewd mer- 

 chant has not been lost, even if he 

 did keep me where he wished while 

 he was living. 



AVhy I said in the first of this article 

 that I would be glad to sell as I 

 formerly did, was that there is an ad- 

 vantage in selling the whole crop to 

 one person, for cash on delivery, not 

 gotten by selling the crop out in small 

 lots or by shipping it on commission. 

 All will "think of some of these ad- 

 vantages without my enumerating 

 them. However, it so happens that 

 the most of the large producers cannot 

 so sell to one party each year, and for 

 this reason I give the above plan as I 

 believe it to be the correct one to 

 work upon when we cannot sell our 

 whole crop to one person. 



MARKETING HONEY IN PAPER BOXES. 



I have received a circular concern- 

 ing folding paper-box, stating that a 

 reputation can be built up by the 

 producer of comb honey by using 

 such a box for each section, slipping 

 the same inside the folding box. On 

 this box the name and address of the 

 producer is to be printed. I can see 

 no reason for adopting the above over 

 my plan as above given, unless it be 

 the tape string to carry it by ; while I 

 do see reasons why bee-keepers should 

 not use it. The first and greatest ob- 

 jection is, that it excludes the honey 

 from sight. All know that comb 

 honey sells itself from sight, and that 

 much honey which is now consumed 

 never would be used except for its 

 attractive appearance. To talk of a 

 colored labeled box looking more at- 

 tractive than a nice white section full 

 of comb honey is all nonsense, and as 

 this box virtually excludes from the 

 eyes of the pul)lic the attractiveness 

 of our product, I consider it a move 

 in the wrong direction. 



Again, the sight of comb honey is 

 all the caution necessary to the ordi- 

 nary railroad man for its careful 

 handling. If the paper boxes are 

 employed, a caution label must be 

 used on every shipping-case, and 

 such label will be scarcely noticed 

 compared with nice combs of honey. 

 For this reason the paper box is un- 

 favorable toward the safe transporta- 

 ing of our product. 



Again, it costs too much. Every 

 " mill ■' added to the cost of each 

 package of honey takes just so much 



out of the producer's yearly profits. 

 At the low price of 1 14 cents per pack- 

 age, for these paper boxes, $12.5 is re- 

 quired to enclose a crop of 10,000 

 pounds of comb honey in one-pound 

 sections. This would be an item well 

 worth considering to the large pro- 

 ducer. I could give other reasons 

 why we cannot afford to use these 

 boxes, such as freight charges, cart- 

 ing from tlie railroad, folding of the 

 box and putting the sections in, etc., 

 but the above reasons, I think, are 

 sufficient to convince all that paper 

 boxes are not to the bee-keeper's in- 

 terest. 

 Borodino,© N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Kentucky Convention. 



G. W. DE3IAKEE. 



Of all the good bee-meetiugs that I 

 have attended in the past, our meet- 

 ing at Covington, Ky., on Sept. 23 and 

 24, 188-5, was the most enjoyable. The 

 gathering was not great in numbers, 

 still the attendance was fair, and 

 everything seemed to conspire to 

 make the convention more than 

 usually pleasant. A number of vis- 

 itors from Ohio and Indiana were 

 with us, and one gentleman from the 

 " Lone Star State " (Texas) took part 

 in our deliberations. Mr. Chas. F. 

 Muth was there as one of us. We 

 claim an interest in him, though he 

 lives across the line, in the " Queen 

 City." 



But the crowning glory of the con- 

 ceution was the presence of our be- 

 loved father in modern bee-culture. 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth. I had often 

 wondered if the marvellous popularity 

 of Father Langstroth depended alone 

 upon his genius as an inventor, and 

 upon his enthusiasm as a writer and 

 a bee-culturist. I^ow, after being 

 with him, and conversing with him 

 on many topics, I am convinced that 

 only those who know him personally 

 and socially can fully appreciate his 

 noble qualities of heart and mind. 

 He is a most delightful conversation- 

 alist, not only concerning the subject 

 of bees, etc., but concerning all mat- 

 ters of interest. He tells many pleas- 

 ing anecdotes, and recites popular 

 " sayings " with such perfection of 

 voice and emphasis that they seem to 

 take on new and fresh meaning. 



Mr. Langstroth, at his advanced 

 age — nearly 7.5— is still carrying on a 

 series of careful experiments with 

 bees, queens, etc., and promises a 

 new edition of his work on bee-cul- 

 ture. He took an active part in the 

 discussion of important points con- 

 nected with bees, hives, and imple- 

 ments. His address explaining the 

 steps which led to his invention of 

 the " movable frame," was the most 

 interesting feature of our meeting, 

 because it was new to a inajority of 

 the persons present. 



The President, Kev. L. Johnson, 

 spared no pains to make the conven- 

 tion a great success, and to provide 

 for the wants of members and vis- 

 itors, he made arrangements with 

 the proprietor of the Rouse Hotel to 



entertain visitors and members of the 

 association at about half the usual 

 charges ; and the proprietor, Mr. 

 Rouse, in his successful efforts to 

 make us all comfortable and happy, 

 gained many friends among bee-men. 



Bee-keepers are not only the friend- 

 liest people in the world, but they 

 have a keen sense of the ludicrous. 

 Mr. Rouse prepared a lar.ie upper 

 room for four of us— Father Lang- 

 stroth, President Johnson, Secretary 

 Conuley and myself. The two last 

 maned""will talk" after they retire 

 for the night. So after Father L. and 

 the President were busily " sawing 

 gourds," Connley and myself talked 

 over " old times," and wound up on 

 bees. The next morning President 

 Johnson, after getting lis before the 

 crowd, got off the following : He 

 said that when he went to sleep 

 Brothers Demaree and Connley were 

 talking busily ; and when he awoke 

 in the morning the first sound he 

 heard was the voice of Bro. Demaree 

 thus : " As I was saying," and the 

 response of Connley, "That's it — 

 that's right." Of course the laugh 

 was at our expense. 



A desirable feature of our delibera- 

 tions was a successful effort to keep 

 out of the old ruts. For example : 

 Instead of discussing " How to win- 

 ter bees," we changed it to the 

 " Cheapest and most economical 

 method of wintering our bees in this 

 climate." Thus we were led into a 

 new channel. The same improve- 

 ment was noticed in other questions. 



The display of bees, honey and 

 implements was very fine. ISIr. Muth, 

 being near his home, made a splendid 

 show of extractors, uncapping cans, 

 smokers, and nearly everything per- 

 taining to bees and honey. Some rare 

 and new devices, or implements, were 

 displayed. Such as queen-nurseries, 

 queen-cages, fi-ames, reversible 

 frames, feeders, etc. A careful ex- 

 amination of this display would con- 

 vince any well-posted person that 

 Kentucky bee-keepers are not lacking 

 in inventive genius. 



A point clearly brought out by this 

 convention of bee-keepers was that 

 the past season has been nearly a fail- 

 ure all over the State. 



Christiansburg, i Ky. 



ror tlie American Bee JoumaL 



Fall Crop of Honey, etc. 



L. J. KEYES. 



Goldenrod has yielded little or no 

 honey in this region this fall, al- 

 though my bees have stored about 

 half an average fall crop from second- 

 growth red clover, which appears to 

 be quite abundant in this locality. I 

 have prepared 2-t colonies for cellar- 

 wintering, by equalizing the weight 

 of each to (iO pounds (the hives being 

 8-frame Langstroth), allowing 30 

 pounds for the hive, .5 for bees and 

 pollen, and 25 pounds of honey. My 

 cellar is cemented both on the bottom 

 and at the sides, with a ventilator 

 made of a -l-inch pipe running to the 

 chimney above, and a hanging win- 

 dow to the east. Each hive is pre- 



