Dec. 4, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEE .JOCRNAL. 



773 



foul brood, but he succeeded in curiiiff it so effectually that 

 there was no return of the disease. 



He was the leading' spirit in securing' prominence for 

 apiculture at the Tri-State Fair which was held yearly at 

 Toledo, and was the eflicient superintendent of that de- 

 partment. He was also superintendent of the Apiarian 

 Department of the Ohio Centennial Exposition, which took 

 place at Columbus in 1.H8S. 



For four years he was secretary of the Buckeye Union 

 Poultry Association, although, perhaps, not generally 

 known among bee-keepers as a poultry fancier. 



In 1S.S7 he was elected president of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association (known by another name at that time), 

 to which office he was re-elected the following year.' For 

 the past seven years he has been secretary of the same body 

 and occupied that position at the time of his death, his term 

 expiring with the end of this year. 



Dr. Mason was a man of fine appearance and command- 

 ing presence, and was always a conspicuous figure at the 

 National conventions, his jovial manner always adding in- 

 terest to the meetings. 



We feel a personal loss in the death of Dr. Mason, and 

 we are sure the old American Bee Journal also has one less 

 admiring friend. But they are fast passing to the Other 

 Shore. Only a few more years, and we who now remain 

 T;-ilI be called to join " the great majority" who are con- 

 stantly assembling there. Until then we can only fill the 

 years with patient toiling, each doing his duty, and thus 

 perfecting such characters as shall be worthy an eternal 

 existence beyond the tomb. 



Convention Proceedings. 



THE DENVER CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 33d Annual 

 Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, held in Denver, Col., on Wed- 

 nesday, Thursday and Friday, 

 Sept. 3, 4 and 5, 1902. 



(Continued from pa^e 760.) 



Mr. Hawley — On the question of this package, in my 

 locality, it is quite different from that in the East, I think. 

 I have sold it in 60pound cans, because a great deal of our 

 honey goes by carload lots, and goes to a foreign market, 

 such as Chicago and Cincinnati, but when it comes down to 

 the retail trade I must say that the price of the glass jar 

 and the price of the tin convinces me that the paper pack- 

 age is the coming package for honey to reach the homes of 

 the people, on account of its cheapness, and on account of 

 the handling. I have quite a number of paper packages, 

 and I use at the present time what we call an oyster-pail — 

 a handy package; it is a very nice package. Mr. Aikin has 

 gone a little further than I have in experience, but in my 

 locality and market one firm alone ordered 4500 pounds of 

 honey, and they placed it in the tin pails, but they said to 

 me, " Last year you gave us about five dozen odd, handy 

 packages, and we want to have it that way. We are con- 

 vinced by the way they went off, and the way people came 

 back after them and called for them again, that that is the 

 only package." 



Now, as to the 60-pound cans ; probably I have in the 

 last five years marketed 90.000 to 95,000 pounds of honey. 

 If I put that in those paper packages, or paper oyster-pails, 

 or 5pound pails, I would not have had it all sold to-day. 

 Consequently, I think we have to study our conditions, and 

 if we are going to ship, the great amount of our honey has 

 got to go in 60 pound cans. 



M. A. Gill — Mr. Aikin very conclusively and concisely 



covered the question, showing that he was doing the best 

 for his location, showing that it is a matter of locality, the 

 same as in production. Mr. York has done the same thing, 

 and I want again to say it shows that it is a matter of loca- 

 tion. Every beekeeper we have heard say something say* 

 he can't produce what he can sell. Then, isn't it time to 

 drop this question and talk a little about production, bo 

 that we can get up to that point ? 



Mr. Abbott I have had a little experience here, and I 

 want to touch on Mr. Aikin's paper ; it said that it required 

 an expensive plant to put up bottled honey. I think my 

 kitchen stove cost me, second-hand, about SIO. and I don't 

 know how much the wife paid for the other paraphernalia 

 we had around there. I wouldn't undertake to tell how 

 many thousand pounds of honey I have put in bottles, and 

 that is all the expensive machinery I have ever had. If you 

 think you can't bottle it without expensive machinery, it is 

 all a mistake. 



Some men think they can't start in business without a 

 lot of money ; they invest about S18 in an oflice-desk, and 

 start out, and in a week or two the sheriff has his sign on 

 the door. We don't have to have expensive machinery to 

 do business. The fellow that has all the machinery to sell 

 would like to make you believe you have to have it. I sell 

 apiarian supplies, and all the foundation that is put in the 

 sections in my office is put in with a screw-driver. I sell 

 foundation, first-class color. The fellow that comes in 

 says, " Let me see you operate these machines." I say, 

 " I can't ; I don't know how." He wants the machine, and 

 there it is, and I can put in foundation faster, with the help 

 I have, with a screw-driver than I can in any other way. It 

 doesn't always require expensive machinery to do things. 



Now, on the other hand, %vhen you go out before the 

 public with an article there is another question that comes 

 into consideration ; the question of cheapness must not 

 cut too much of a figure. I got to thinking about it, and 

 about such packages of honey as I saw this morning put up 

 in papers, and I just imagined about 150,000 men who have 

 to go out to the suburbs on the cars, and each of the men 

 with four or five of those bologna-sausage packages in his 

 pocket. I just thought what a time they would have, how 

 they would run, how they would sweat, and what various 

 things they would do and say 1 The truth of the matter is, 

 a package like that in a cit}', or in any large market, is not 

 a practical thing ; you couldn't get it home without it run- 

 ning all over your buggy on a hot day. If the mercury 

 was down 30 below zero, and you handled it carefully, it 

 might be all right; but carry it in your hand, or in your 

 pocket, and in a little while it is simply all over the paper. 

 A man would rather pay 25 cents and have it in a can than 

 get it for S cents in a paper sack and have it smeared all 

 over creation ; he would be just like that fellow that sat 

 down with his girl to tell her something sweet, and had 

 trouble. There would be more people who would pay for 

 the fancy package, if the fancy package appeals to them. 

 The idea that because a man is poor he must have some- 

 thing cheap is all a mistake. I don't care how poor a man 

 is, he must have a good package if he wants it, and the peo- 

 ple who work for SI. 50 a day will buy that honey as Mr. 

 York puts it up just as quickly as they will buy it in a paper 

 bag ; in fact, they will buy it quicker in our country, after 

 they carry it home and have the experience I have told you 

 about. The price doesn't cut any figure. Extracted honey 

 has retailed at 25 cents a pound in St. Joseph for 20 years, 

 and the price has not been changed, and the people buy it ; 

 they come into my office and say, " I bought honey so and 

 so," and they are laboring people. I know what they paid 

 for it, because the price is put on the package before it goes 

 out. They have paid 15 cents for a half pound of honey for 

 20 years, and they are paying it today, and they will go on 

 paying it ; as long as E. T. Abbott's head is above the sod. 

 and his name is on a bottle of honey, it will never be sold 

 any cheaper than that in St. Joseph ; and that can be done 

 in any city in this country if you have a salesman — an en- 

 ergetic man — to sell it. 



J. B. Adams — I think the last speaker lets his imagina- 

 tion run considerably sticky. I have had considerable ex- 

 perience with the bologna-sausage package for the first 

 time this year. I can put up all the honey I can get in 

 bologna-sausage packages and sell it at a good figure, sat- 

 isfactory to me, satisfactory to the man who eats it, and he 

 doesn't have to pay for the glass that he throws away ; and 

 I have never had a complaint about them sticking in their 

 pockets going home ; it is always delivered in good order, 

 and gives perfect satifaction. 



Mr. Aikin — I am up on the ridge-pole yet. I always 

 thought that there was something wrong with some of the 



