792 



THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOQRNAL. 



everything for the comfort of us all 

 has beeu so amply provided, and that 

 all arrangements are so thorough and 

 complete. Let us see to it that we 

 endeavor to perform our part in as 

 faithful and unsellish a manner as 

 our Committee has done. 



"We have reached a crisis in the 

 history of bee-keeping which must be 

 met by those who are interested in 

 the pursuit, in a broad, bouest. and 

 unselfish way. Every well-informed 

 bee-keeper is reminded in the most 

 unmistakable manner that the time 

 when large prolits may be realized 

 from keeping bees, has passed. Eacli 

 year, the prices of our products have 

 been reduced, until at the present 

 time we find many of our markets 

 overstocked, and our honey selling at 

 lates which allow us little" profit for 

 producing it. These are stern facts 

 which must be fairly met. It is not 

 my purpose to attempt to instruct 

 those \\lio are already experts in the 

 business. Their lessons have been 

 taught them by dearly bought experi- 

 ence, the results of which are due to 

 the beginner, and to those whose ex- 

 perience has l>een more limited. 



AVe liave passed through a period 

 of great enllmsiasm. and liave in- 

 dulged iu mncli that has been un- 

 warranted and injudicious. SVe 

 liave been far too selfish. As supply- 

 dealers and publishers of bee-litera- 

 ture, we have been far too anxious to 

 present the bright side of our callling. 

 It we have been unwise in the past, 

 we should be thankful that by the 

 light of these past experiences \ve are 

 able to see more clearly our way for 

 the future. ;Many years ago, begin^ 

 ners were heard to ask if it were ad- 

 visable to engage in bee-keeping as 

 an exclusive business. The answer 

 should have been then as now— "Com- 

 mence moderately, and let experience 

 decide as you advance." The real 

 question now seems to be, "Sliall 

 we commence at all V" or ''Shall 

 those of us who are already engaged 

 ii) it, continue y" 



In answer to such questions I 

 would offer the following suggestions: 

 ]. Our calling is an honorable one, 

 and is an essential branch of agricul- 

 ture, in that the lujrjey-bee is indis- 

 pensable to the fertilization necessary 

 in the vegetable kingdom. Wherever 

 civilizatii n advances, there the honey- 

 bee is found. 2. Honey is a whole- 

 some and desirable article of food. 

 3. It is furnished to us at our very 

 doors, and if we fail to preserve it, 

 the odor of wasting sweetness con- 

 stantly reminds us of our neglect and 

 loss. 



With these points in view, is it not 

 evident that a great work is to tie 

 accomplished in applying the lessons 

 of economy and industry taught us 

 by the bees themselves, "to the accu- 

 mulation of this freely-given produc- 

 ti(/n in the most desirable and profit- 

 able way y 



We have been extravagant in many 

 of our exiJenditures. The.«e we must 

 endeavor to reduce, to correspond as 

 much as possible with the reduction 

 in prices. We have incurred a large 

 expense by the great amount of labor 

 which we have required in unneces- 



sary manipulation. In this I antici- 

 pate a change as we advance, which 

 will result not only in economy of 

 time and labor, but also in avoiding 

 many serious consequences. It is 

 evident that we yet need mucli light 

 upon many of the simple and prac- 

 tical, as well as on the scientific 

 phases of our calling. With every 

 advance made in apiculture, it be- 

 comes more apparent that there are 

 new fields of investigation and re- 

 search, which promise to yield infor- 

 mation, and are destined to work 

 marked changes in our methods of 

 managing bees. Only those will suc- 

 ceed who are willing to practice the 

 most rigid economy, and who will be 

 satisfied with moderatepay for honest 

 work performed. 



It is evident that the effort has been 

 too much in the direction of increas- 

 ing the production, rather than to 

 create a corresponding demand for 

 the same. I think I am safe in the 

 assertion that no effort of ours is 

 needed which shall tend to an in- 

 creased production of honey for our 

 present, general, overstocked market. 

 Last season extracted honey was 

 shipped to New York from California 

 by car loads. The market was already 

 overtocked with the best grades o"f 

 Eastern honey, and the result was 

 such that Caliifornia bee-keepers will 

 hardly care for a repetition of the 

 experience. The present season has 

 afforded another illustration. Honey 

 has been shipped very largely from 

 the Eastern and Middle States to New 

 York, and the outcome of this has 

 been that the choicest white honey in 

 sections has sold at ruinously low 

 rates, and some of it has actually 

 been returned to grocers in our own 

 vicinity. By these methods we prac- 

 tically establish these unprofitable 

 prices ourselves. 



The resource seems to be that we 

 must enlarge our field of consumption. 

 This can be done by each bee-keeper, 

 by encouraging home consumption in 

 his own immediate vicinity, and also 

 by opening up new avenues for the 

 uses of honey. A demand thus created 

 would measurably relieve the over- 

 burdened city markets ; and in this 

 way we would be able in some degree 

 to maintain reasonable prices. With 

 the present facilities for disposing of 

 our products, it is diflicutto avoid the 

 conclusion that there is an over-pro- 

 duction. Whether this will grow to 

 become a positive fact, or whether 

 bee-keepers will succeed in causing 

 the demand to keep pace with their 

 success in producing, is the problem 

 to be solved in the near future. 



Much will depend upon the answer 

 to still greater questions which are 

 agitating the best minds of the day. 

 If the thousands of dollars which are 

 annually spent in nearly every com- 

 munity for that which tends to de- 

 grade, and to the production of evil, 

 could be turned to the purchase of 

 that which is wholesome and bene- 

 ficial, the danger of over-production 

 in this, as in other useful callings, 

 would be little to be feared. My faith 

 in the fact that in the end the right 

 will prevail, leads me to the conclu- 

 sion that any calling which presents 



such a wide field for the intelligent 

 and patient worker, and student of 

 nature, and which is so productive of 

 a harvest of good, must always com- 

 mand those who will find it pleasant 

 and profitable to continue in the work 

 until the harvest is complete. 



Mr. C. F. Muth remarked that in 

 New York they principally demanded 

 honey in glassed sections or in paper- 

 boxes. In the West, such are un- 

 salable. We, here, require it in un- 

 glassed sections with the crates 

 glassed. 



Mr. C. E. Isham said that our 

 honey-producers can sell all their 

 honey in glassed sections, and it is 

 desirable to do so in order to preserve 

 its beauty and purity. 



Mr. Thompson sa"id that he wrote 

 to New York asking for a bid for best 

 glassed honey, and he was offered 

 only 10 cents per pound for it delivered 

 in New York. 



Mr. J. B. Hall proposed a vote of 

 thanks to Pres. Root for his able 

 address. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle then read an 

 essay on 



THE PRODUCTION OF COMB HONEY. 



He said that there were four things 

 important in the production of comb 

 honey : First, a good queen ; second, 

 tlie getting of the bees at the right 

 time to secure the harvest; third, a 

 skillful apiarist ; and fourth, the 

 right kind of a hive. Remarks were 

 made on each of these points, and Mr. 

 D. said that we could divide and sub- 

 divide these four heads, especially the 

 last three, yet the fundamental prin- 

 ciples would not be changed. 



The discussion on comb foundation 

 took a general and rather desultory 

 course. Mr. J. B. Hall was asked to 

 state his method, and confined him- 

 self to his experience with comb 

 foundation. 



Rev. W. F. Clarke said that Mr. 

 Doolittle's essay was professedly on 

 the production of comb honey, but 

 what he said was just as applicable 

 to the production of extracted honey. 

 A good queen, plenty of bees to gather 

 in the honey harvest, a skillful api- 

 arist, and a good hive— were not these 

 just as needful for tlie production of 

 extracted as comb honey 'i* What we 

 want is the points of a skillful apiarist 

 required to get large crops of comb 

 honey. We want to know how to do 

 it. Our most successful producers of 

 comb honey rather tell us " how not 

 to do it." " They at)pear not to like to 

 explain things. They take Burns' 

 advice to his friend Andrew : 



*' still keep a secret in your breast 

 Ve never tell to any." 



For several years at these conven- 

 tions he had tried to get Mr. Hall to 

 explain how he gets such large crops 

 of splendid comb honey, but he had 

 never done it. 



Mr. Hall : "I should have to make 

 the man." 



Mr. Clarke ; " Well, here he is ; 

 take the raw material and make the 

 man. That's just what I want." 



Much amusement and bantering of 

 Messrs. Doolittle and Hall to explain 



