489 



(i. W. Zimmermann, Napoleon, O., 

 reported an increase from 16 to 40 colo- 

 nies by artificial swarming ; two-thirds 

 an average yield of honey through the 

 State. 



Rev. W. F. Clarke, Guelph, Ont., re- 

 ported two-thirds an average yield. 



D. A. Jones, Beeton, Ont., reported 

 the best surplus yield obtained for 

 years, mostly extracted. His crop was 

 about 75,000 lbs, from 300 colonies in 

 the spring. 



F. F. Collins, Dallas, Tex., reported 

 a disastrous honey season, owing to 

 long-continued drought, though in the 

 coast region of the State there had 

 been more than an average. Judge 

 Andrews had not obtained one pound 

 of surplus from his 300 colonies. 



C. Grimm, Jefferson, Wis., reported 

 less than half an average honey crop, 

 owing to lack of nectar secretion in 

 basswood ; from 290 colonies obtained 

 but 4,000 lbs. extracted and 2,000 lbs. 

 comb honey ; he had obtained 116 nat- 

 ural swarms. 



Mrs. F. A, Dunham, Wisconsin, re- 

 ported a light honey yield. 



A. A. Winslow, New Holstein, Wis., 

 reported about half a crop in his local- 

 ity. In northern portion of the State 

 almost a total failure. Last swarm 

 Oct. 10. 



L. H. Pennel, LaCrosse, Wis., re- 

 ported a good yield, mostly basswood 

 and white clover. 



W. P. Clement, Monticello, Wis. 

 Honey crop good to last July. Exces- 

 sive swarming, and bees not in best 

 condition. 



T. S. Bull, Valparaiso, Ind.,in the 

 spring had 145 colonies; increased to 

 245 ; obtained 8,500 lbs. honey. 



Afternoon Session. 



President Newman, Representative 

 to the Bee and Honey Shows of Eu- 

 rope, made the following 



Report of the Representative to Europe. 



At the last meeting of this Society your 

 President was appointed to represent the 

 bee-keepers of America at the Bee and 

 Honey Shows and Conventions of the sister 

 societies in Europe, during the summer of 

 this year. In accordance with this desire 

 your President has, at his own expense, and 

 in the interest of American bee-culture, 

 visited three bee and honey shows in Eng- 

 land, one in Scotland, one in Switzerland. 

 and one in Austria. He has also visited 

 some of the most prominent bee-masters in 

 England, Scotland, Italy, Switzerland, Aus- 

 tria, Germany and France, and has been 

 uniformly received with great enthusiasm. 



As Americans generally approve the more 

 readily the "practical side of all questions, 

 you are perhaps even now quite ready to 

 ask : " Of what practical use is the knowl- 



edge obtained ?" and "How can it be ren- 

 dered beneficial to us ?" Anticipating such 

 questions, let me briefly answer them. For 

 years have we been anxiously looking for 

 some new avenue for the consumption of our 

 large production of honey. We have looked 

 in vain to the North, the South and the 

 West, to furnish such a boon. The East is 

 the only portion of Earth's surface that 

 furnishes us any "ray of hope." And 

 already have we astonished both the pro- 

 ducers as well as the consumers of honey in 

 England, by sending them 180 tons of honey 

 in the comb, as well as hundreds of tons of 

 extracted honey. We have also sent large 

 shipments to the continental countries of 

 Europe, and many of the honey producers 

 there began to feel that we were encroach- 

 ing upon their territory and trampling upon 

 their rights. In England, the British Bee 

 Journal says they were like smoked bees 

 fully "alarmed," and began to look around 

 " to save themselves and their belongings." 

 They really began to feel jealous of us, and 

 to say unkind things about American honey. 

 The "injury," we are happy to say, was 

 imaginary— not real ! We made a thorough 

 investigation and then made it our chief 

 business to discuss the matter with them, 

 endeavoring to demonstrate that not one in 

 a thousand now are eating honey that should 

 and would do so, were the prices demanded 

 for it more reasonable ! American honey 

 has been transported to Europe and then 

 sold at a profit for about one-hajf the prices 

 demanded for that produced in the several 

 countries of Europe. Heretofore it has 

 been considered a "luxury," to be enjoyed 

 by the rich only ! but, we must use every 

 effort to popularize the consumption of 

 honey. It must be taken by the masses as 

 one of the necessaries in every day life, 

 for it is not only one of the purest and most 

 delicious of sweets, but also one of the 

 cheapest that Nature produces ! 



We labored persistently to show the apia- 

 rists of Europe this " more excellent way," 

 and though the battle was hotly contested 

 we are rewarded by knowing that "Victory 

 perched upon our banners," and the position 

 we took is now fully endorsed by hundreds 

 of the best and most enterprising of their 

 apiarists. The British Bee Journal, some 

 time since said : " We owe it to American 

 enterprise that the honey market question 

 has been so thoroughly investigated " and 

 then that Journal generously added: "We 

 think it right to acknowledge that the 

 American honey merchants have helped us 

 out of what was a sore difficulty, viz : the 

 means of disposing of our honey. They 

 have proved that if in salable packages, it 

 will find its way into our grocers' shops, and 

 thence into family cupboards for every-day 

 use." 



Not only did the prominent British bee- 

 keepers endorse this position, but the 

 British Bee-Keepers' Association presented 

 us with its silver medal in token of its ap- 

 preciation of our services as well as a 

 souvenir of our visit. The Caledonian 

 Apiarian Society also presented us with its 

 silver medal not only in honor of our visit 

 to its annual session, but also as it said in 

 recognition of the services we had "ren- 

 dered to the science of bee-culture"; they 



