214 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Apr. 8, 



has stood in a dry pantry since that time. The parties that 

 put up this article claim to have apiaries in different parts of 

 the State. They also claim to be dealers in honey. In mak- 

 ing inquiries I am not able to find where they have any such 

 apiaries, or where it was offered. Has any member of this 

 society ever sold them a pound of extracted honey ? In a 

 paper called " The Active Member," for January, 1896, we 

 found an advertisement of tlieirs which claims they are exten- 

 sive apiarists, and their production is 20 tons annually. Now 

 we have no evidence that they have the above apiaries, 

 or that they produce such an amount of honey, or that they 

 appear on the market to buy any such amount. If they have 

 cot produced or bought this honey, and their output is 20 tons, 

 then it must be true they have sold something for honey 

 which is not honey. If so, they have done an injury to the 

 producer as well as the consumer. If they are large apiarists 

 as they claim, we would be glad to give them the hand of 

 fellowship. If they are large dealers as they claim, we most 

 certainly wish to give them our patronage. If they are 

 neither, we wish to give them our condemnation, and let the 

 consumers have the benefit of our opinion. « 



I am told that glucose made from corn can be laid down 

 in Denver for about 2J.; cents a pound, and this is the article 

 used in adulteration. If this be true, with the many draw- 

 backs we have in bee-culture, it is impossible to compete. I 

 speak of this at such length because I believe it is a great in- 

 jury to our business, and at this time to urge our legislature 

 to pass a Pure Food Bill such as they have in Ohio." 



W. L. Porter. 



Mr. A. W. Fisk then addrest the Association in behalf 

 of the American Fruit Growers' Union. He said this Union 

 accomplisht the equitable distribution of the produce of its 

 members all over the country ; that they had 22 salaried 

 agents, each under .S.jOO bonds, who kept them iuformed of 

 the condition of the market at all points, so that they never 

 sold to a glutted market. Ten percent, commission is charged. 

 Individual shippers obtain a rebate of 2 to 4 per cent. They 

 wish to take up the honey question, having had many demands 

 for honey. To illustrate the unequal distribution of produce, 

 Mr. Fisk stated that Denver has I6OJ-3 per cent, of fruit to 

 population, Chicago 113 per cent., and Philadelphia only 83-^ 

 per cent. What the Union does is to sell to customers in Bal- 

 timore, for example, at the same prices as in New York. 

 Being askt by the Secretary whether this Union had auy con- 

 nection with the Citrus Association, he replied that it had not. 

 The Citrus Association wisht to affiliate, but their methods did 

 not commend themselves to the Union. The Lima Beans' 

 Association has just affiliated. 



In the afternoon, Mr. R. H. Rhodes being in the chair, a 

 committee was appointed, consisting of W. L. Porter and J. 

 B. Adams, to secure a place for a bee-library and exhibit. 

 They reported that a place could be had both in the Natural 

 History rooms and in the Horticultural rooms. Mrs. Martha 

 A. Shute was then added to the committee, which was in- 

 structed to continue carrying out the plan. The suggestions 

 were made that if once a case was provided, the rest would 

 follow naturally; some bee-keepers have books and magazines 

 which they would be willing to donate ; specimens of a piece 

 of foul-broody comb, disinfected and put under glass, of the 

 two species of wax-moth, of honey, the finest sections, bees, 

 queens, brood, comb, implements and inventions, and any- 

 thing out of the usual line, would bo added, and would bo the 

 best kind of an advertisement. Mr. Porter said that in his 

 experience such things attracted more attention than fruit. 



In answer to a question in the President's report, Mr. 

 Thompson said he had sold the Denver firm a small amount of 

 extracted honey — some five or six cans. 



Mr. Booth and Secretary Rauchfuss were appointed to 

 draft a resolution on the death of Rev. F. O. Blair, of Trini- 

 dad. The following was adopted : 



WiiKRKAs, It has pleased the Giver of all Good to remove 

 from our midst our dearly beloved brother, the Rev. F. (). 

 Blair ; therefore, be it 



RcKotvcd. That while wo bow in humble submission to the 

 will of the Divine Master, yet we keenly feel the loss of our 

 beloved friend and associate ; and be it further 



Resolved, That we, the members of this Association, sin- 

 cerely sympathize with the bereaved friends and relatives who 

 are left to mourn his death, and that our tears shall be min- 

 gled with thsirs. 



licsdlred, That a memorial page be set aside in our pro- 

 ceedings in memory of our departed brother. 



Lkvi Booth, ) ,, 



F. Rauchfuss, \ C"»'»^Mee. 



A resolution by Mr. Booth was adopted, that thanks bo 

 extended to the Board of Horticulture for voting to print the 



apicultural reports, and that the efforts of the Association be 

 added to theirs to get the legislature to adopt the measure. 



Mrs. Shute gave notice that as a committee of the Horti- 

 cultural Board was then copying a Bill, a committee from the 

 Bee-Keepers' Association should be appointed to frame a sec- 

 tion prohibiting the spraying of fruit-trees in bloom, and also 

 embodying the resolution past by the Board of Horticulture to 

 print the proceedings of the Bee-Keepers' Association together 

 with their own. Mr. Thompson was appointed. 



Mrs. Shute further stated that as Secretary of the Horti- 

 cultural Board she would not cut the apicultural reports any 

 more than the Horticultural reports ; that the essays would 

 have to be cut most, but the discussions could be given more 

 fully. The report should be an especially extended one in Its 

 statistics. 



Mr. Booth spoke of his effort, in the Horticultural meet- 

 ing, to get the horticulturists to pass a resolution that one 

 member of the Horticultural Board should be a bee-keeper. 

 He thought it would have past if some of the bee-keeping hor- 

 ticulturists had not been absent. 



The presence of Senator West, of Jefferson county, for a 

 few moments, was made the opportunity to impress on his 

 mind the opinion of the Association that the foul brood law 

 ought not to be repealed. Mr. Booth said that no inspector's 

 bill had exceeded $200, and that bee-raeu had been saved an 

 immense amount of money. Mrs. Booth called attention to 

 the fact that the bills of some were very small indeed — thus J. 

 B. Adams' bill this year amounted to .?-!•. 20; and that of 

 another inspector was $10. Mr. Rhodes said that he lost 

 over $1,000 by not having a foul brood law in former years. 

 He was satisfied that the inspector of Jefferson county had 

 done fairly good work, and that the county had been greatly 

 benefited. 



Senator West, in reply, said that as far as State appro- 

 priations were concerned, nothing would prevent his efforts 

 to aid the Association; but that when it came to his own 

 county, he would be very conservative. There is a great dis- 

 position to lessen expenses, and many ornamental boards will 

 doubtless be dissolved. But he would do nothing to weaken 

 worthy objects of such associations as those of the bee-keep- 

 ers, horticulturists and dairymen. 



It was decided to continue the officers of the Association 

 without an election. This makes the officers of the ensuing 

 year as follows : 



President, R. C. Aikin ; 1st Vice-President, W. L. Porter; 

 Secretary, Frank Rauchfuss, of Elyria ; Treasurer, Mrs. R. 

 fl. Rhodes ; Member Executive Committee, R. H. Rhodes. 



REPORT ON "HONEr" SAMPLES. 



The samples of honey brought by the committee for that 

 purpose were exhibited. 



One of these was put up by the West Virginia Preserving 

 Co., and stated on the label to be 20 per cent, honey and the 

 rest corn syrup. 



Another, purchast of the Windsor Grocery, of Denver, 

 and stated by the clerk to be pure, was labeled "Mississippi 

 Valley Clover Honey, Spriugdale Apiary, Coulter Manf. Co., 

 Agents, St. Joseph, Mo., U. S. A." 



It was of an amber color, and had a strip of comb honey 

 in it, about an inch wide and four inches long. 



Three others were put up by Frisbee >fe Son, of Denver. 

 Two of the latter were quite light-colored, and one was rather 

 dark. They were labeled " Alfalfa Clover Honey. We war- 

 rant every jar absolutely pure." 



Another sample bought for comparison, put up by a bee- 

 keeper near Denver, was declared pure by members of the 

 convention. 



This, with the sample labeled 20 per cent, honey, and one 

 of Frisbee's light-colored jars, together with another sample 

 of Frisbee's honey, were opened and tasted by members of the 

 convention, some visitors, and a reporter of the Denver News. 

 The other samples were left unopened, with the intention of 

 getting them analyzed. All but the two samples pronounced 

 genuine were somewhat thinner than honey usually Is. The 

 following discussion took place: 



VicePres. Porter ^Tho reason I attack the firm I referred 

 to in my address is, that they tell the grocers that honey will 

 not candy, and that candied honey has sugar in it. They 

 claim they can talk bees as well as any of us. They keep an 

 advertisement In a Christian Endeavor paper, and mail a copy 

 to all grocers. They have two colors of honey, so they can 

 say it was gathered from different kinds of flowers. In one 

 issue of a beopaper they say, " Our markets are flooded with 

 California honey;" whereas we know there has been no Cali- 

 fornia hoiioy in the market for several years. In the next 

 Issue they talk about keeping up prices, and make believe 

 they are a great honey house. We have not evidence enough 



