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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 20, 3902 



move from our midst the wife of our friend and brother, V. 

 N. Forbes : therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the members of the Vermont Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, in convention assembled, do hereby ex- 

 tend our heartfelt sympathy to our brother in his deep loss 

 and bereavement. 



The above was unanimously adopted, and voted to send 

 a copy to Mr. Forbes, and also to record it on the journal of 

 the Association. 



A vote of thanks was extended to the Central Vermont 

 & Rutland Railroad Co., for reduced rates of fare. 



The time and place of the next meeting was left with 

 the secretary to confer with the secretary of the Horticul- 

 tural Society, and they to decide. —Zi M. F. Cram, Sec. 



Orange Co., Vt. ~; 



Contributed Articles. 



The Sale of Honey— Increasing Its Consumption. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



In the article on pag-e 88, I showed that there has been 

 a perceptible change in the conditions of the honey market, 

 due to the better knowledge that the people in general, or 

 at least the better-informed classes, have of the manners of 

 production now in vogue. On page 46, I see a quotation 

 showing how the people can be educated to the use of pure 

 granulated honey. This is exactly in the line of my ex- 

 perience, and I wish to insist a little more on the necessity 

 for the large honey-producer, and, in fact, for the readers 

 of our bee-papers in general, to extend their efforts in the 

 direction of vulgarizing, or spreading, among the masses 

 the information concerning the latest methods of bee-keep- 

 ing, and the manner of recognizing good, wholesome honey. 



The need of the present generation of honey-producers 

 is not only to make their pursuit truly known, but to in- 

 crease the consumption of an article the production of 

 which has been probably increased one hundred-fold in the 

 past 50 years. 



The most potent cause of the low prices in honey has 

 been the custom prevalent among bee-keepers to ship their 

 crop to the large centers without previously investigating 

 the possible chances of sale in their vicinity. Allow me to 

 make an example of this in an altogether different line, 

 which will probably serve well as an instance of what may 

 be achieved by seeking a home market. 



There is quite an extensive production of grapes in this 

 vicinity. The city of Nauvoo, some 11 or 12 miles from 

 here, is renowned for its grapes of all varieties. The bulk 

 of the crop is shipped to Northern points— St. Paul, Duluth, 

 Minneapolis. Chicago. We grow grapes ourselves on a 

 comparatively large scale, having some 12 acres of vine- 

 yards, and we have often been tempted to ship our crop as 

 the Xauvoo fruit-growers do. But after investigation we 

 have found that in ordinary seasons, especially when there 

 are no apples, the peddling of grapes among the farmers 

 and in the neighboring towns would bring more per pound 

 for the grapes than could be realized in the North, in coun- 

 tries where a grape is never grown, owing to the cost of 

 .shipping and distributing. We have made sure that a bas- 

 ket of grapes could be sold to a farmer, besides paying for 

 the peddler's time, for more than the same basket would 

 bring, net, on the St. Paul market. There have even been 

 times when the grapes shipped to those common points 

 brought so little money that it would have paid the ship- 

 pers to have crushed them into wine, even if they had only 

 been able to sell this as vinegar. 



On the other hand, some seasons, when the crops in the 

 large producing districts were small, the prices in those 

 Northern cities was away beyond what could be, secured 

 here, so that the success of sales has resolved itself in 

 watching the markets, but especially in first trying the 

 home sales on as large and extensive a scale as possible. 



The producer of corn, oats, wheat, the hog-raiser, the 

 horse-breeder, do not need to hunt about for a market, 

 because they have daily reports of the least fluctuation, and 

 they find dealers in the commodities they produce right at 

 home, in every town. But the growers of grapes, as well 

 as the producers of honey, are in no such circumstances. 



So they must take more pains if they would be sure of 

 securing the best prices that their goods will command. 



To find a home market it is necessary to push it, but 

 when it is properly canvassed one will be surprised at the 

 amount that can be disposed of. It is, however, useless to 

 expect the same success every season. Many things go 

 toward making or injuring the sale of an article, and one 

 can not expect that the demand will be the same each year. 

 If the fruit crop is large, both honey and grapes would be 

 of slow sale. But there is always a very fair market for a 

 properly-packed article, offered in a particular manner, with 

 a good guarantee of purity. 



The fact is, that no matter how careful you are, how 

 diligently you canvass the retail stores, and the homes of 

 your neighbors, you will find that some articles in your 

 line will still be brought from the large centers for sale in 

 competition with your own product. But what a loss to the 

 producer when his goods have to go to the large market and 

 work their way back again, through the commission man, 

 the wholesale house, via the railroad both ways 1 If it is 

 not your own honey, it is perhaps that of another producer 

 just as far away as you are, and if this product comes in 

 competition with yours at a low price, you may be sure that 

 he has not realized much on his shipment. How many of 

 my readers have shipped honey to a large city and have 

 been sorry for it. And perhaps they have laid the blame of 

 the low price on the commission man. But let them remem- 

 ber that the fault is mainly theirs, because they have not 

 taken sufficient pains to seek customers. Perhaps their 

 very next-door neighbor would have purchased honey if 

 they had only offered it at a reasonable price and in neat 

 shape. 



In seeking a home market, however, there is one stumb- 

 ling-block, that is, the possible competition of two or more 

 producers in the same goods. This competition will not 

 assume an unpleasant shape, if the producers understand 

 their interests enough to join hands and agree on prices. 

 This is where the local bee-keepers' association becomes 

 useful. A judicious discussion of conditions will readily 

 point the prices at which goods may be sold in any locality 

 to satisfy both producers and consumers. 



There is nothing impracticable in the points I have 

 shown. The only thing needed is to take hold of this mat- 

 ter in the right way. There are plenty of associations at 

 work, and many bee-keepers are doing that which I would 

 like to see the great mass do — seek an extensive home mar- 

 ket for their product. Hancock Co., 111. 



Forerunners of tiie Movable Comb. 



Gleayied principiiily jyoiit Mtemiwutef, JiiiktrscJmle, and other German 

 and Austrian bee-paperfi, 



BY F. GREINER. 



As we have it in use to-day, the movable comb is not 

 the product of one man's brain. We Americans give Father 

 Langstroth all the credit ; the Germans feel equally grate- 

 ful to Rev. Dzierzon and Baron Berlepsch for the same dis- 

 covery. However, there were other men before Dzierzon, 

 Berlepsch and Langstroth who conceived the idea of mak- 

 ing combs movable, and succeeded more or less in accom- 

 plishing this object. 



During the earlier part of the 18th century a hive was 

 in use in Greece which might demand the name of a mov- 

 able-comb hive. It was made willow-basket fashion, wider 

 at the top than at the bottom, coated with clay inside and 

 out. Bars were fastened across the top at proper distances 

 to answer as comb-carriers. If it was desirable to divide 

 a colony, half of the combs and bees were taken out and 

 transferred to another hive. Honey-combs could be re- 

 moved if wanted. It is not improbable the knowledge of 

 these hives may have come from the Egyptians, for the 

 Egyptians were well advanced in bee-culture long before 

 other nations had any knowledge of bees. It will be re- 

 membered that Solon made a trip to Egypt about 600 B. C, 

 in the interest of apiculture. The same kind of a hive is 

 also found on many islands of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Delia Rocha, residing on one of them, describes this hive 

 in 1790. He also constructed and describes a two-story hive 

 with bars. 



The hive used on the island of Sicily may not have 

 been the outcome of the desire to make the combs movable, 

 or the brood-chamber divisible, as much as to make use of 

 the material at hand. The hive consisted of little frames 

 about 9 inches square, made of bamboo sticks 1 '2 inches 

 thick. These frames were fastened together by fine wooden 



