128 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec, 



of commission mercliants who make butter, egg^s, 

 &c , a specialty, they will sell honey at a low 

 price at wholesale to get it off their hands and 

 get their five per cent., as they do not receive 

 enough lioney to pay them for spending time to 

 get tlie highest price. 



Mr. Bickford said honey gathered eai'ly was 

 not of so fine a flavor. Honey from dandelion 

 mixed Avith white clover honey injures its sale, 

 and ugly worms have disgvisted him with box 

 honey. 



Mr. King said that a part of the poorly 

 flavored honey gathered early would remain in 

 the combs, and when emptied by the extractor 

 with white clover honey would injure its flavor, 

 but the difificulty can be remedied by inserting 

 empty combs or putting on boxes after the white 

 clover honey harvest has commenced. He 

 believed extracted honey would never command 

 the liighest price in the city markets. In setting 

 a table, health reformers have three rules. 1st. 

 The food must be healtliful. 2d. Palatable, and 

 8d. It should, when on the table, present a 

 pleasing appearance. But the class of city peo- 

 ple who purchase most of the honey, have these 

 rules reversed ; and what looks more pleasing 

 to the eye and sweeter to the taste than "honey 

 in the lioney comb." He proposes to get up 

 beautiful labels with blank for the bee-keepers' 

 address, and keep them for sale ; some guaran- 

 tee of purity is important, as extracted honey is 

 destined to soon have a large sale, by the barrel as 

 well as in jars, for other puri>oses than tlie table. 

 Mr. Bickford said honey in glass jars looks 

 more beautiful than honey in the comb with the 

 cells half filled, and the higher the price the 

 better it sells. 



M r. Jones.— Will it keep as well as box honey ? 

 Some object to it, stating that it soon candies, 

 looks like lard and will not sell. Mr. Bickford. — 

 It 1 e 'ps better than box honey, and the objec- 

 tion of looking like lard vanishes when the pur- 

 chasers are informed that by setting it in water 

 and heating it gently it again takes the liquid 

 form and is as clear and fresh as ever. 



Mr. King said the committee appointed to 

 correspond with the presidents and secretaries 

 of sister associations and leading bee-keepers 

 throughout the land, in reference to holding an 

 American Bee-Keepers' Convention, had dis- 

 charged the duty, and he gave the history of the 

 correspondence at length, which has since been 

 published in the Bee-Keepers' Journal. 

 Messrs. Bickford, Hetherington, Root, and 

 others, spoke, appi'oving the course the secretary 

 had taken. 



Mr. King said the North- Western Bee-Keepers' 

 Association was in session at Decatur, 111., and 

 that he feared they would unconsciously be led 

 astray by Mr. Wagner's statement, as Mr. 

 Wagner had been by the paitial quotation of 

 the resolution of this convention, made by 

 Messrs. Moon and i\Iitchell. 



Mr. Bickford said if he represented any one 

 at this association, he was here as a friend of 

 Mr. Wagner and Mr. Langstroth. 



On motion of Mr. Bickford the following was 

 sent by telegraph : 



Utica, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1870. 

 To the North Western Decatur, 111., Bee- Keepers' 



Association : 



The North-Eastern Bee-Keepers' Associatioii 

 desires National- Convention held at Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, because generally located, free from local 

 influences, and near the home of Mr. Langs- 

 troth, whom we want present. Telegraph desire 

 of your convention. 



Signed, M. Quinbt, President. 



(The dispatch was sent the 28th. Some days 

 after Mr. Quinby received dispatch that our 

 telegram was received too late ; they had recog- 

 nized tlie call of the Michigan Association and 

 adjourned.) 



SECOND DAY— THIRD SESSION. 



Mr. King said the clause in our constitution 

 requiring the payment of one dollar annually, 

 was a great hindrance to the prosperity of the 

 association. Many bee-keepers present had not 

 joined. 



Mr. Hetherington said we contemplated offer- 

 ing premiums on honey, and we should need 

 money. Liberal premiums sh(mld be offered, as 

 it costs considerable to exhibit honey. 



Mr. Bickford said that he hoped we would 

 rescind the whole clause and have no initiation 

 fee. In the great gatlieringsin Germany, mem- 

 bership was free. If money was needed, mem- 

 bers would put their hands in their pockets and 

 give liberally. 



Mr. Quinby said we should have opportunity 

 enough to put our hands in ovir pockets, even if 

 we let the initiation fee remain as it is. 



Ml'. King said he could heartily endorse Mr. 

 Bickford's position. Do away with both the 

 annual and initiation fees, and get bee-keepers 

 to attend and join the association, and when 

 they become interested they will give liberally 

 to defray any necessary expenses. Let us be 

 liberal and have a large gathering and an in- 

 teresting and profitable meeting. 



Messi-s. Van Douzen and Hetherington spoke 

 against any change, when Mr. Root said a clause 

 in the constitufion provided for amendments 

 only at the annual meeting, hence the discus- 

 sion was useless and out of order. 



On the question of swarming, Mr. Quinby 

 said if we could prevent the issue of swarms 

 until after we had secured the sinplus honey 

 with the extractor, (or if in boxes they would 

 be filled more rapidly, and the honey would be 

 whiter,) then make new colonies just in time to 

 secure winter stores, we would obtain more 

 honey, and tlie stocks Avonld be more valuable 

 in the spring. Late swarms Avork and breed 

 late, hence the bees are young and the colonics 

 more valuable the next spring. He had got his 

 box honey before swarming, and bees will finish 

 boxes after swarming if partly filled before. 



Mr. Allen thought honey ought to remain in 

 the combs some time, before emptying it with 

 the extractor, to acquire a good flavor. The 

 honey is condensed by evaporation while in the 

 hive, but honey emptied with the extractor while 

 thin is lial)le to sour. 



Mr. Root said artificial swarms should be made 



