Dec. 25, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEK .lOURNAL. 



821 



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Convention Proceedings 



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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. 



(Coutiiiued from paee 807.) 

 REl'OKT ON THE PEAR-BLIGHT QUESTION. 



M. A. Gill, on behalf of the committee, presented the 

 report on the pear-blight question, as follows : 



Whereas, The National Bee-Keepers' Association as- 

 sembled in Denver, Sept. S, 1902; and 



Whkreas, The Central California Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation has submitted for our consideration a preamble and 

 resolution embodying the " pear-blight-bee " question, ask- 

 ing for advice and protection, providing there is further 

 trouble. Therefore, be it 



Resolved^ That we grant unto them the request em- 

 bodied in their resolution heretofore submitted. 



M. A. Gilt., ) 



F. E. Brown, - Com. 



Frank Benton. ) 



R. H. Rhodes moved, and it was seconded by J. P. Ivy, 

 that the report be accepted. The chairman put the motion, 

 which, on a vote having been taken, was declared carried. 



F. E. Brown — In accepting the report of the committee 

 that does not adopt the resolution submitted by the commit- 

 tee, does it ? 



Vice-Pres. Harris — No, sir. What is your pleasure with 

 regard to adopting the report of the committee ? 



Mr. Brown — I move that we adopt the report of the com- 

 mittee. 



J. B. Adams — I second the motion. 



The chairman put the motion, which, on a vote having 

 been taken, was declared carried. 



REMOVING SUPERS OF HONEY. 



QuES. — "Will Mr. Coggshall show or tell us how to 

 kick ofif supers ?" 



Mr. Coggshall — Always get the bees subdued before 

 you do any kicking. 



Dr. Mason — How do you subdue them ? 



Mr. Coggshall — With smoke. The jar is no more when 

 you kick it off than when you pry it off with a chisel. 



Dr. Mason — Do you kick i,t off with your toe or heel ? 



Mr. Coggshall — I do it with my heel, usually. If it is 

 necessary, use your toe. 



CONSIGNING HONEY TO COMMISSION MERCHANTS. 



QuES. — " Is it advisable for the bee-keeper to consign 

 his honey to the comission merchant 7 " 



Mr. Hershiser — On that question I desire to read a little 

 correspondence, and I will be just as brief as possible. [Mr. 

 Hershiser read correspondence passing between a shipper 

 and commission merchants by the name of Batterson & Co.] 



Batterson, the commission merchant, in this case knew 

 just when the honey referred to in this correspondence 

 would arrive ; it was shipped immediately after the shipper 

 received instructions. He offered to sell his honey so that 

 it would net 4'2 cents per pound; the shipper afterwards 

 let him down to 4 cents net. He promised the shipper he 

 would not sell it for less than his limit, unless he got the 

 advice and consent of the shipper. It was necessary for the 

 shipper afterwards to place the matter in the hands of his 

 attorney, 1 being his attorney. I took the honey out of the 

 hands of the commission merchant, and ordered that no 

 more of it be sold. Then I asked for a statement of the 

 honey that had been sold, and he rendered such statement 

 showing that out of 204 cases there were 203 to be delivered 

 to me, he having sold one case. 



It was not very long after that till I found out, as a 

 matter of fact, that a ton of it had been placed in the hands 

 of another commission merchant in Buffalo, and that part 



of it had been sent to Cleveland to some other alleged good 

 commission men who knew all about honey I These men 

 had said it was adulterated ; and when I got his statement 

 it amounted to this, among other things: The freight came 

 tn S.10.S.25 ; then a matter of car service, $5 ; cartage, %S.^(^ ; 

 storage, 12.24 ; insurance, S5 ; and interest, S4.25. In the 

 first instance the cartage was about S10.40, but I showed 

 him that the prevailing price for cartage was only about 

 half that, so he cut that about in two. In the first instance 

 the storage was $1H.24, and I cut that down to S12.24; I 

 could get no reduction on the item of insurance ; and I got 

 KO cents ofT the item of interest, S4.25, on the ground that 

 part of the honey he had sold to another man, and there 

 was a little rebate on that amounting to 80 cents. He sug- 

 gested that was a very small matter, and I told him it was 

 just as small for him to take it as it was for me to take it, 

 and he suggested we cut it in two. With reference to the 

 item of car service, I contended it was owing to his negli- 

 gence the car was not unloaded, and by inquiry at the 

 freight-office I found he had increased that by one dollar, one 

 dollar of the car service having been charged up on a car- 

 load of potatoes. 



In order to get possession of this honey, it was eithef 

 necessary to settle with him on these expense charges he had 

 made, or else replevin the honey. To replevin it would 

 have meant three bonds, and would require, besides that, 

 bonds for security for cost on the ground that the plaintiff 

 lived outside of the State. So it would have cost, perhaps, 

 $150 or $200 in sheriff's fees, and fees for the bonding com- 

 panies, and so on, before he could have got in possession 

 of this honey, so it was necessary for me to settle and let 

 him bleed this man out of S60 in addition to his attorney's 

 fees. 



After this I demanded that he make this amount good 

 on this car-lot of honey on the price he had agreed to net 

 him, and if he didn't doit that I, as an officer of this Associa- 

 tion, would deem it my duty to lay the matter before them, 

 which I am now doing. So if any of you want to ship 

 honey to any like Batterson, and you lose your honey, don't 

 blame the Association or anybody that has given you this 

 information. I don't desire any practice of this kind; I 

 am an attorney, and anxious to earn fees, but I don't want 

 to earn fees of this kind ; I would rather earn them in some 

 manner that is not bleeding people out of their money. 



I think it would be a good thing for this Association to 

 take up matters of this kind so that commission merchants 

 in various parts of the country will realize that it does not 

 make any difference whether the shipper resides within 

 three or three thousand miles of this place ; that he has no 

 more protection in cheating a man out of his money, or 

 honey, if he lives three thousand miles away than he has if 

 he lives three miles away. 



I simply give you these facts, and you may do with them 

 as you please. 



Vice-Pres. Harris — I will take up the question of the 

 committee on the proper marketing of honey, to look after 

 the common interests of the whole country. I will name on 

 that committee, Messrs. F. Rauchfuss, of Colorado ; F. E. 

 Brown, of California ; Dr. A. B. Mason, of Ohio ; W. Z. 

 Hutchinson, of Michigan ; and O. L. Hershiser, of New 

 York. 



Vice-Pres. Harris then left the chair, and Pres. Hutch- 

 inson resumed it. 



EFFECT OF COMB ON THE COLOR OF EXTRACTED HONEY'. 



QuES. — " Does the color of the comb, from which honey 

 is extracted, have any effect on the color of honey ?" 



Dr. Miller— I should like to hear from any who have 

 had personal experience that would help to decide positively 

 that question one way or the other. I may say in general 

 terms that it has been claimed that the old combs did have 

 that effect upon the color of the honey, and some, who say 

 they have produced extra-white honey, say they have done 

 it by taking it from virgin combs. Mrs. Harrison, for one, 

 claims that there is some reason for believing that comb of 

 a very dark color should have an effect upon the honey for 

 this reason : I think nearly all of you know that when you 

 have taken some very old, black comb that has been tilled 

 with water, no matter how, if that has stood for some time, 

 and you take it and shake out the water, it looks almost 

 as black as ink. I think I can appeal to the majority of 

 you as to that. If water will take the black color out of the 

 comb, then the water which is in honey one might nat- 

 urally suppose would also take the color out. I think the 

 argument is plenty strong in that direction, and yet if any 

 one has had positive proof about it, it will be worth more 

 than theory. 



