840 



Oct. 4, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



of red clover it was all gathered by Italians. The blacks 

 didn't gather a pound. 



Mr. McEvoy — I have seen the blacks gather from red 

 clover, but as a rule they don't. 



Mr. Townsend — Where I live in Michigan the bees got 

 about 2,000 pounds of red clover honey from red clover 

 alone. This was gathered within two weeks' time, and the 

 color was identical with white clover honey gathered there. 

 I will admit that the color of the white clover honey was 

 not as white as in some other places. I think the color of 

 honey from various flowers varies in different localities. 



HONEY CROP INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS. 



"Should the National send information from member to 

 member concerning their honey crop, for the purpose of let- 

 ting members who are short purchase from the ones with 

 plenty of honey?" 



Mr. France — Partially that has been done in a private 

 way this season. Several who had more honey than their 

 own market could handle decided about how much they 

 wanted to ship abroad, and made it known to me. I made a 

 table of the list and right opposite I had a list of those 

 who did not have honey enough to supply their customers, 

 and I said, "You go to A. — , he has some honey;" and in 

 that way a lot of the members have been helped through the 

 Association. 



Mr. Kluck — I say for one that they should. 



Mr. Davenport — I did that last year. 



Mr. Abbott — That is what I have been insisting on for 

 the last s years, that the National Association ought to be 

 a bureau of information to its members; and every member 

 ought to have a list sent to him so that he would know some- 

 thing about who had honey to sell. 



Mr. Moore moved, seconded by Mr. Abbott, that the Gen- 

 eral Manager be requested, when there is a sufficient number 

 of those who want to sell, and those who want to buy, to 

 make up a circular and send it to the members of this Asso- 

 ciation. 



Mr. Kluck — Our General Manager has always done that. 

 If we would notify him that we have more honey than we 

 can dispose of, he will always find a market for it. 



Mr. Hershiser — It costs a very small amount to put a 

 line in a periodical to say you have honey to sell. The As- 

 sociation can't help you do everything. 



Mr. McEvoy — Where you don't do that, and send it to 

 the Manager, send 50 cents along to pay him. 



Pres. Dadant put the motion, which, on a vote having 

 been taken, was declared lost. 



The President suggested that the convention appoint a 

 committee of 3, composed of the members most interested 

 in the matter, to report on the question of amendments at 

 the next meeting. 



Mr. Taylor moved, seconded by Mr. Wheeler, that such 

 a committee be appointed. 



The President put the motion, which, on a vote having 

 been taken, was declared carried. 



The President appointed Messrs. Abbott, Holekamp, and 

 McEvoy as the committee. 



QUEENS BY REGISTERED MAIL. 



_ "Is it advisable that we ship our queens in the common 

 mail, or pay a little more and ship them by registered mail?" 

 Mr. France — The gentleman who asked this question 

 made this reply, that the common mail-bag at many sta- 

 tions is caught from a little post on the swing, and you 

 know what the result would be on those queens. In the 

 distribution of the mail, that class of package is almost in- 

 variably thrown into the bags, whereas in registered mail the 

 Government requires that they shall be passed by hand 

 from one to the other. 



Mr. Hilton — We had this very question under discussion, 

 and a mail clerk of wide experience tells me almost exactly 

 the words that have been spoken relative to the handling 

 of these cages, and you have only to go into a mail-car to 

 see that this is true. These little bags can be thrown for 

 10 feet, and they may strike the steel rod or side of the 

 car and then drop in. It will cost 8 cents more to send one 

 or send a dozen by registered mail. The registered mail is 

 not handled that way. It will also take about a day more 

 to get through a registered mail package, because there has 



to be a record of it made by every official through whose 

 hands it passes, so that it can be traced if lost. I believe 

 queens would arrive in better condition if sent as registered 

 matter. 



Mr. Holekamp — My experience has been large. We used 

 to send out every day between 50 and 60 small packages, 

 and we found the registered bees did not arrive as soon as 

 the others. We gave up registering altogether, and we had 

 our packages insured, and we did much better than through 

 the registered mail. I don't believe that registering would 

 help. 



Mr. Ferris — I have had a good deal of experience in ship- 

 ping both by mail and express. I have shipped some very 

 expensive breeders, and my experience is, where you want 

 to get breeders shipped properly, do not have them shipped 

 by express. I have had frames that were % of an inch 

 thick, and over an inch wide, smashed in two, shipped by 

 express. You can imagine the result with queens. 



Mr. . Woodman — In registering, don't you have to put 

 the package in another package, and do it up again? How 

 would you supply air there? 



Mr. Hilton — We have envelopes of different sizes in 

 which we enclose registered matter. I don't think there is 

 any question about air. They are pretty close when they 

 get in the mail sacks with 150 pounds of mail on top of them, 

 whether in an envelope or not. 



Mr. Eidmann — I am in the regular mail service, and I 

 suppose I handle as much registered matter as anybody in the 

 room. In the case of sending one queen the price per regis- 

 tered mail is the same as sending a dozen, or two dozen. In 

 case you send one the postmaster is liable to enclose it in an 

 envelope and seal it, and it will suffocate, while if you have 

 a dozen or larger bulk it will be tied up and a register 

 tag put on. What Mr. Hilton said in regard to the handling 

 is true, but the delay is not as great as most people think. 

 They take the registered mail as soon as it arrives, and it is 

 taken to the next train, providing the connection is too- 

 close. 



Mr. Strong — I have had experience along the line of 

 sending bees, and I wanted to test this matter of the danger 

 of smothering in the mail. I took a queen I didn't care to 

 keep, and placed her in an ordinary mailing cage. I got 

 a strip of pliable paper about an inch long and wider than 

 the length of the cage, and wrapped it not less than a dozen 

 times around, and folded it down at the ends as tight as I 

 could wrap it, and I threw it into the mail box on the east 

 side of my shop where the sun would strike it. I left it 24. 

 hours, and I then opened it and I expected the queen would 

 be smothered, but to my surprise, there was a lively buzz in 

 the attempt to ventilate — that was all there was. I tried it 

 again and left it 2 days in the same condition, and the sun 

 shone on it all the time ; I continued that for a week, and the 

 queen was still in good condition. This shows to me that it 

 is almost impossible to smother a queen in the mail. 



FREIGHT-RATE ON EXTRACTED HONEY. 



"Can we have a fourth-class freight-rate on extracted 

 honey?" 



Mr. France — North, south and west of Chicago the 

 Western Freight Classification recognizes honey in barrels, 

 kegs, kits, and in square cans boxed, or the round package, 

 which I have here, as fourth-class freight. I believe all the 

 associations will adopt what the Central and Western have, 

 as soon as it is made plain. 



Mr. Scott — In speaking of rates and methods of ship- 

 ping, I would like to say something in regard to shipping 

 comb honey. I have had a little experience in that, and my 

 experience has been a teacher, inasmuch as I have paid higher 

 freight rates a great many times than was necessary. I have 

 quit it, and I have succeeded in collecting over-charges on 

 shipments of comb honey instead of letting the producer do 

 that. The classification on comb honey is not so plain, 

 but what it is very often misconstrued by agents at small 

 shipping points. They wish to be on the safe side and they 

 bill it as first-class, when comb honey packed in wooden 

 cases should go as second. That holds good all around, and 

 every way from Chicago. We have been paying first-class 

 rates. If you will notice the marking on your freight bills 

 you will see it was invariably sent as honey in glass. The 

 agents are called upon to do the billing. This ought to be 

 done by the bee-keeper in every instance, and be sure to cau- 



