192 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 1, 1906 



Toxylon iiomiforuni — Raf. 



Osage Orange. 



Scarce, and not important. April. 



I I - americnna — L. 



American or White Elm. 

 Honey-yield good, but species not 

 very plentiful. August. 



Ulmus nlata — Mx. 



Winged Elm or Wahoo. 

 Honey-yield good, giving surplus 

 where abundant; much pollen. Honey 

 of amber color, and strong, character- 

 istic aroma. August, September. 



Jl'GLANDE.E. Walnut Family. 



Hicoria alba — (L.) Britt. 

 Mockernut. White-heart Hickory. 

 Some honey and pollen. March. 



Hicoria pecan — (Marsh) Britt 

 Pecan-Nut. 

 Honey-yield where plentiful; valuable 

 for brood-rearing on account of its pol- 

 len. March. 



Juglans nigra — L. 

 Black Walnut. 

 Some honey; more pollen; good to 

 stimulate bees. March. 



CUPULIPER.B. Oak Family. 



Quercus aquatica — Walt. 

 Water-Oak. 

 Bees obtain pollen. March. 



Quercus minor — (Marsh) Sarg. 

 Post-Dak. Iron-Oak. 

 Honey-yield only fair, of inferior 

 quality; abundant pollen for early 

 brood-rearing'. March, April. 



Quercus nigra — L. 



Black Jack or Barren Oak. 

 Early pollen. March, April. 



ttuereiis palustris — Du Roi. 

 Swamp. Spanish or Pin Oak. 

 Honey-yield good; and pollen for 

 brood-rearing. March, April. 

 Quercus rubra — L. 

 R.-d Oak. 

 Pollen. March, April. 



QuereuN virginiana — Mill. 

 Live Oak. 

 Honey-yield good, of poor quality, 

 dark, but with abundant pollen; valua- 

 ble for early brood-rearing. March. 



SALICI1VEJE. Willow Family. 



Populus monHifera? — Ait. 

 Cottonwood. Necklace Poplar. 

 Some honey, but more pollen; val- 

 uable for early brood-rearing. March. 



Salix nigra — Marsh. 

 Black Willow. 

 Honey and abundance of pollen: val- 

 uable for early brood-rearing. Febru- 

 ary, April. 



I.ILLIACE.E. Lily Family. 



Asparagus officinalis — L. 



Asparagus. 

 Not important for honey, but good 

 for pollen. March, April. 



Smilax bonn-nox — L. 



Green-briar. Cat-briar. 

 Honey-yield fair, but of short dura- 

 tion. April. 



COM1EL1NACE.E. Spiderwort Family. 

 Conimelina virginien — L. 



Virginian Spiderwort. 

 Honey-yield unimportant; valuable 

 for pollen. April, May. 



Trndescantin giganten — Rose. 

 Spiderwort. 

 Unimportant for honey, but good for 

 pollen. Spring and summer. 



CHAMI\.E. Grass Family. 



Sorghum vulgare — Pers. 



Sorghum. 

 Some honey, but an abundance of 

 pollen. Cultivated. June, August. 



Zea mays — L. 



Indian Corn. 

 Not positively known if maize yields 

 honey, but abundant pollen. Cultivated. 

 May, June. 



Cotuvntton 

 Procccbinois 



^ 



J 



Chicago-Northwestern Convention Report 



The annual meeting of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee- 

 Keepers' Association was held in Chicago, Dec. 19, 1905. 



The meeting was called to order by Pres. George W. 

 York at 11 :30 a. m. Invocation by Rev. Robert B. McCain. 



Pres. York stated the purpose of the present session was 

 intended to be largely social, and the business session for the 

 election of officers and other matters would be held in the 

 afternoon. He called for suggestions for the present session 

 which might make the occasion one of profit and pleasure. 



By way of introduction, each person present was re- 

 quested to rise and announce his name, if not already known 

 by the President. 



Pres. York — I am ready for any suggestions for this 

 meeting. 



Rev. McCain — I do not know whether I speak for any 

 one but myself or not, but I have observed that the question- 

 box is always interesting, and if there is no better suggestion, 

 I would suggest that the questions be prepared, and that we 

 discuss them. 



Comb Honey or Extracted — Which? 



"Which has the most promising future before it, comb 

 honey or extracted?" 



Pres. York — I think I know how Dr. Bohrer would 

 answer this question, but I am not going to call on him first. 

 We will let him talk after a while. What do you think, Mr. 

 Hilton? 



_ Geo. E. Hilton — So much depends upon circumstances. 

 It is rather a hard question to answer, in my opinion. Of 

 course, if we restrict ourselves to any particular territory, we 

 could say comb honey in one place and extracted honey in 

 another place. But taking the whole territory represented by 

 the National Association, the possibilities are that extracted 

 honey will predominate in the future. While comb honey is 

 a fancy article, it perhaps will remain a fancy article and not 

 remain so much an article of commerce, perhaps, as extracted 

 honey will. Our large producers are producing extracted 

 honey. You are well aware that my specialty is comb honey, 

 but I do believe that the large aggregate of honey that is 



going to be produced in future will be extracted honey, from 

 the standard of tuns and carloads. 



Pres. York — I wanted Mr. Hilton to speak first, be. 

 he is now Vice-President of the National Association. Has 

 anyone else anything to offer on this subject? I know Dr. 

 Bohrer wants to talk, and so we will hear from him now. 



Dr. G. Bohrer — I did not know I had acquired a reputa 

 tion for being a talker. I have always tried to be modest. 



My wife took that in hand some time ago. She is my senior 

 by four years, and said she "took a boy to raise." Mr. Hilton 

 has voiced my sentiments, even if it does not amount to what • 

 he thinks it will. That is, extracted honey will predominate 

 in the future. It most unquestionably ought to, because more 

 honey can be produced by that method. It can be put upon 

 the market cheaper than in any other form, and, besides, it 

 is a more wholesome article of food in that shape. Beeswax 

 is no more digestible than diamond stone, and if it has any 

 effect at all. it is positively an irritant to the stomach. I 

 have witnessed that in my practice of medicine. A number 

 of cases of cancer of the stomach and other digestive organs 

 have come under my care. For those patients, I have found 

 extracted honey better than any other article of diet, while 

 the patient could not bear at all honey containing wax. While 

 honey is a little more enticing and attractive in the comb. I 

 have learned not to want to eat everything that looks nice. 

 There are people who will argue that there is such a thing as - 

 "artificial comb." and that bee-keepers all around are buying 

 glucose by the carload and filling the comb that is constructed 

 artificially, sealing it over and offering it for sale. Last 

 winter, in Topeka. I got up before an audience of many more 

 people than are here to-day, and offered $500 for. a section 

 454x4^4 filled with artificial comb and with artificial honey. 

 A man offered to bring in the combs. I appointed a com- 

 mittee to examine the combs, and asked him if he were 

 satisfied with the committee. He said he wanted them to be 

 skilled bee-keepers. I selected three men, and they pointed 

 out to him at once that the sections were not alike. I said, 

 "You can see, my friend, if they were made by machinery, 

 they both would be alike, and they are not. Here is one 

 section filled out to the edge of the comb and is capped over; 

 here is another that the cells are not filled out, they are not 

 fully constructed, and not filled with honey." He said he 

 could see the point to that, but he still wanted to get his $500, 

 and he said. "I think they have a machine for each section." 

 I asked if that would not require a large amount of ma- 

 chinery. He was finally convinced that the thing is simply 

 impossible. Here is a sheet of wax ; you can stamp cell- 

 foundations on both sides of it, but it is not artificial comb- 

 only artificial comb foundation, until the bees draw out the 

 cells. We can go that far, but no farther. If we could pull 

 out the cells, the walls would be so delicate that they would 

 soon be broken down. We have to disabuse people's minds 

 in regard to this matter. They don't understand it; it is hard 

 to get them to believe it. They think they are being imposed 

 upon there. They are being imposed upon. Some people 

 declare glucose is superseding honey! 



A. K. Ferris — I would say it depends upon the man more 

 than anything else, and, in explanation, I would say, when I 

 started selling honey in our locality, I could get but 7 cents 

 a pound for extracted honey, and it was hard work to sell it 

 at that. But as soon as people found I was putting a good 

 article on the market, and they found out what a good quality 

 of well-ripened honey it was. when I had nearly 2,200 pounds 

 to sell, I sold nearly all of it to one store — nearly 5 barrels to 

 one store — and two weeks later I could have sold the same 

 amount in addition, to that same store, at 10 cents a pound. 

 The reason was, I put out a good article, well ripened. Some 



