515 



hereby expresses its high appreciation of 

 the able and successful manner in which 

 he has represented the interests of Ameri- 

 can apiculture at the Honey Shows and 

 Apiarian meetings of the Old World. It 

 heartily approves of the efforts he has made 

 to disseminate broad views as to the cheap 

 production and enlarged consumption of 

 honey, and thereby aided in securing a 

 larger market for this important product. 

 In view of the fact that President New- 

 man's tour was wholly at his own expense, 

 the special thanks of this Association are 

 due, and are hereby tendered, to him for 

 the eminent service he has performed. 



Resolved, That this Association rejoices 

 in the cordial and enthusiastic reception 

 accorded to President Newman by the 

 apicultural societies and leading hee-mas- 

 ters in Britain and on the the European 

 continent, trusting that the harmonious 

 feeling evinced may always be cherished 

 by the bee-keepers of the world towards 

 each other. This Association hopes that 

 the friendly visit which has been made, 

 will ere long be returned by some one or 

 more of prominent apiculturists of Europe, 

 to whom it will be our pride and pleasure 

 to extend as hearty a welcome as that given 

 to our Representative. 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolu- 

 tions be sent by the Corresponding Secre- 

 tary to the apicultural societies of Europe 

 visited by our Representative. 



A. J. King, of New York, read a pa- 

 per entitled "Humanity to the Bees." 

 Mr. King; spoke of several methods of 

 inhumanity practiced by some apiar- 

 ists, and believed that a law should be 

 enacted punishing persons who are 

 guilty of inhuman practices with bees. 



The Rev. O. Clute. of Iowa, read a 

 paper on 



Increasing the Demand for Honey. 



The fact that within a few years honey has 

 fallen very much in price has alarmed not a 

 few producers. They are almost disposed 

 to give up their profession, because of a 

 fear that prices will fall so low that a living 

 cannot be made. But compare the prices 

 paid for honey now and ten or twelve years 

 ago, with the prices of flour, meat, tea, 

 coffee, cotton cloth, and many other articles, 

 and 1 think it will be seen that honey lias 

 held its own very well indeed. The price 

 of honey now compared witli its price ten 

 years ago is, I think, larger than the price 

 of most real estate now, compared with its 

 price ten years ago. If honey will procure 

 for its producer just as many of the com- 

 forts of life now as it would procure ten 

 years ago, its price in reality has not fallen 

 at all. It is just as valuable now as formerly, 

 for it brings just as much value in exchange. 



Instead of alarm at low prices, and a 

 rapid retreat from the business, honey-pro- 

 ducers should labor to bring their products 

 to wider recognition, to increased consump- 

 tion, to greater demand. Honey is beauti- 

 ful, healthy, delicious. Nearly all persons 

 like it. Show them that its price is such 

 that they can afford to buy, and they will 

 buy in increasing quantities. The "taste, 



and the habit of buying, once acquired, will 

 continue, and will spread among others, 

 until honey will become as general an 

 article of food as sugar and syrups now are. 

 The energetic and far-seeing bee-keeper 

 will look to this increasing demand and 

 much larger market for a chance for a living 

 income, rather than to a hasty retreat from 

 the business, or to any temporary devices 

 for keeping up the price of honey. 



In order that the demand for honey may 

 increase, and the business of honey-pro- 

 ducing be put on a firm footing, attention 

 should be turned by all bee-keepers to 

 development of the market. To this 

 development certain methods will tend. 



1. Nothing but a thoroughly good article 

 should be put upon the market. No foreign 

 ingredients of any kind should, under any 

 circumstances, be mixed with honey that is 

 sold. If, from any cause, an inferior qual- 

 ity of honey is produced, it should be used 

 for feeding the bees at seasons when they 

 need extra feed to promote breeding, and so 

 be consumed in the hive. 



2. All honey, both comb and extracted, 

 must be put on the market in attractive 

 shape, so that it will please the eye of all 

 who see it. The single-comb sections, and 

 the crates with glass sides, seem to offer the 

 most desirable package for comb honey. 

 For retailing extracted honey, tin pails of 

 different sizes will in time probably sup- 

 plant every other package. I am not blind 

 to the merits of glass jars and cups as 

 receptacles for extracted heney, but the tin 

 pails have excellencies in the way of size, 

 strength, price, and ease of handling that 

 are their own sufficient recommendation. 



3. All honey should be classified into 

 grades, and each grade should have a name 

 by which it is known in all parts of the 

 country. Then every producer should aim 

 to have his honey the best of its grade. It 

 would seem that our National Association 

 could do an important work by carefully 

 establishing and naming the grades of 

 honey produced in all sections of the 

 country. Possibly, some of the grades 

 would extend over the whole country, and 

 could be produced by every bee-keeper. 

 Probably some grades would have only a 

 local application, depending on flowers 

 found only in a limited area. But whether 

 national or local, the grades being once 

 established and defined, all would have a 

 standard towards which to work, and so 

 the quality of the honey and the condition 

 in which it is put upon the market, would 

 both be improved and made permanent, 

 and buyers, becoming after a time accus- 

 tomed to the grades, woidd have a standard 

 to guide them in purchasing. 



4. To develop a permanent home market 

 is usually wise in whatever business one is 

 engaged. There is probably scarcely a 

 hamlet in the whole country where the 

 sale of honey could not be greatly increased. 

 Individual lioney-producers should see that 

 every grocer in country, village, and city in 

 their vicinity is supplied with good honey, 

 nicely put up ; and that the grocer offers it 

 at a fair advance on the price he paid for it. 

 Often a large amount of nice honey can be 

 sold by peddling it from house to house. 

 By thus disposing of a large part of the 



