192 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



was $400 per car, while on live stock to the same point the rate was 

 only $T5. This matter was taken up with the railroad authorities, 

 and they succeeded in getting a reduction of about $100 per car. 

 They did this by giving a special tariff. They wrote to the Classi- 

 fication Committee asking that bee-hives and bees be classified as 

 implements of toil. In this wa}- a lower rate was secured. Mr. 

 Foster closed by stating he believed the production of comb honey 

 is increasing in the west over the production of extracted honey in 

 most of the large honey producing localities. 



During the discussion on Air. Foster's address, ]\Ir. Weber, of 

 Cincinnati, stated that the western honey granulates in the comb 

 and believed that the western bee-keeper who is in the alfalfa honey 

 district should produce extracted honey instead of comb, but that 

 the northern bee-keeper in the clover district should produce comb 

 honey, as it can be held over without granulation. 



Mr. Foster stated he had seen hundreds of cases of alfalfa comb 

 honey that did not granulate in two years, and that the granulation 

 occurs where the hone}' is mixed with other kinds. 



Mr. ]\Iuth says we always feel w^e are swindled when we buy 

 western honey. He knew of one firm who had 4,000' cases of comb 

 hone}^ left over from a year ago which had granulated, and which 

 they sold at from oOc to $1.00 per case. Jle states tliat western 

 comb honey is a dangerous thing to handle. 



Dr. Phillips asked if there are localities in which the honey 

 granulates quickly, and others where it does not. Mr. Foster stated 

 there was, and that it also depended on the season. 



The discussion on western honey was quite vigorously and gen- 

 erally carried on. and Mr. Foster said that he had heard of com- 

 plaints against western comb honey, but he did not realize it before 

 quite so much as he did at the convention. 



Dr. H. A. Surface stated that many eastern bee-keepers think if 

 the National helped get cheaper freight rates on western honey 

 it would hurt the eastern crop, but he doesn't feel that way, because 

 the home grown product in his opinion is the best. He emphasized 

 the importance of developing your local market, stating that he can 

 get better prices in his own little town than he can from a distant 

 city. 



Dr. Surface said he could get 2oc per pound for all the comb 

 honey he can produce; that he stamps his name on every section he 

 sells, and has educated his customers to call for his honey. 



Dr. Phillips stated that the local market will not always con- 

 sume all of the local product. 



Mr. Anderson, delegate of the Idaho Honey Producers' Associa- 

 tion, says that the State of Idaho produces as fine honey as is pro- 

 duced in the world; that the matter of lower freight rates and closer 

 co-operation is the greatest need of the western bee-keeper. They 



