May 30, 1907 



457 



American Vae Journal 



for their kindness and attention during 

 the sessions of this Convention. 



Dr. Bohrcr — I move that we adjourn. 



Mr. Parsons — I second the motion. 



The motion was put, and carried, thus 

 adjourning to meet at the call of the 

 Executive Committee in 1907. 



The following paper by C. A. Hatch, 

 of Richland Center, Wis., was not read 

 at the convention, as Mr. Hatch was not 

 then fully prepared on it, hence there 

 was no discussion: 



WHAT CAN THE NATIONAL DO 

 FOR ITS MEMBERS? 



I am not among the number who think 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 should take up the bee-supply business, 

 neither do I think it should go into the 

 direct selling and handling of honey; 

 this is too large a country for that, 

 the interests of each section are so 

 varied, the grades of honey are so vari- 

 ous, that mountains of difficulty loom 

 up at all points ; while they may not be 

 insurmountable, the difficulties are too 

 many to think of with comfort. So let 

 us look at things yet undone which are 

 less complicated. 



To reach the highest success there 

 must be the best feeling and greatest 

 confidence among members. Loyalty 

 should be the watchword of the mem- 

 bership — this breeds confidence, and 

 confidence gives self-respect. There is 

 no place for jealousy or suspicion in a 

 successful society. 



It should be a sort of " clearing- 

 house" for its members, of ideas as well 



C. A. Hatch. 



as actual products. Not that the prod- 

 ucts of the membership should be act- 

 ually handled, but members should be 

 placed in such close touch with each other 

 that each would know what all are do- 

 ing in the way of producing and selling 

 honey and wax ; this leaves no place for 

 secrets. 

 The Secretary or General Manager 



should be able at any time to furnish 

 to members or dealers the exact amount 

 of bee-products held by each member, 

 and at what price it could be put on the 

 cars. H a dealer ordered a certain 

 amount of honey of the General Mana- 

 ger, he should be able to fill it from 

 the nearest member having that grade 

 of goods to sell, to the mutual benefit 

 of both producer and dealer. 



He who thinks the National can dic- 

 tate prices and "hold up" the consumer 

 for an advance, is harboring a delusion, 

 besides fostering a principle that has 

 given us over to the power of the trusts. 



That the producer does not get all he 

 is entitled to is self-evident, but he has, 

 as a rule, no one to blame but himself; 

 for no sooner does a large crop come to 

 him, and his neighbors, than they all 

 rush it into the nearest market, with the 

 result that they each compete with the 

 other, and the market goes to smash, 

 and freight and commission consume 

 what ought to have been a fair com- 

 pensation. 



The sooner we learn that the interests 

 of dealer and producer require that each 

 should be fully informed as to crop ot 

 each year, the better; and do not for a 

 moment imagine you can get ahead of 

 the dealer and get inside information 

 before he does ; he has correspondents 

 in every neighborhood that keep him in- 

 formed, and it remains to inform our- 

 selves as well, and be prepared to act 

 intelligently, thereby will we be able to 

 ask for our crop what it is worth, with 

 the certainty that we will get it. The 

 mere fact that you are a member of the 

 great National Bee-Keepers" Associa- 

 tion is not going to help you the least; 

 help can come only from facts and sta- 

 tistics which it can furnish, and if you 

 would get benefit from these you must 

 be prompt to do your share toward mak- 

 ing them full and complete; give and 

 you shall receive, withhold, and what 

 you seem to have shall be taken away. 



Some seem to think that the mere fact 

 that you are a member is going to give you 

 an advantage in the market for supplies 

 that others have not. If you have that 

 kind of a bee in your hat, get it out 

 quickly, for nothing is further from the 

 facts. No can company or supply dealer 

 cares one cent how many societies you 

 belong to; all he cares is how many 

 cans you want and your ability to pay 

 for them. I know that something to 

 rather disprove this last assertion has 

 been sent to members, yet I am willing 

 to stand by it, for there are facts to 

 back it up. 



If you and your neighbors can jointly 

 use a carload of supplies of any kind, 

 then, and then only, can you demand re- 

 duction from the dealer ; and you are 

 working against your own interest if 

 you do not avail yourselves of the dis- 

 count on price and saving on freight- 

 rates. If you think some supply dealer 

 is building up a trust, deal with some 

 other one ; there are plenty of factories 

 in this broad land of ours, and the sup- 

 ply dealer can nc't live without patron- 

 age; on the other hand, neither can we 

 as producers gel along without supply 

 dealers. Do iifit let us waste strength 

 kicking one aiinther, for each is de- 

 pendent on the other. 



Another way in which members can 



be helped is by furnishing them informa- 

 tion as to reliability of commission men 

 and dealers in the cities. One corre- 

 spondent at each distributing center 

 could easily do this, and save much loss 

 and trouble. With fair knowledge as to 

 amount of honey produced each year, 

 and a knowledge as to whom to deal 

 with, producers can stand some show 

 of getting reasonable prices. 



C. A. Hatch. 



The following paper, by Mr. R. F. 

 Iloltcrmann, of Brantford, Ont., was 

 received too late to be read at the Con- 

 vention. 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

 RIPENING NECTAR IN THE 

 HIVE AND EVAPORAT- 

 ING IT ARTIFICIALLY 



The subject which has been assigned 

 to me has, I am sure, much about it 

 as yet unknown, and yet probably of 

 much practical value to the bee-keeper 

 in making him put a better article upon 

 the market, and assisting him in the 

 sale of it ; and to the consumer in 

 showing him wherein lies, in part at 

 least, the superiority of honey to all 

 other sweets, fats and starchy products, 

 as a food. 



The apiarian body will contradict it- 

 self in the value of honey as long as 

 some of its members claim what has 

 been proven as to the nature of honey, 

 and other members claim that honey or 

 nectar taken from the hive freshly 

 gathered and evaporated outside of the 

 hive is the equal of that which has 

 gone through all the stages in the hive 

 until capped and fully evaporated to 

 the consistency of well-ripened honey. 



The obvious superiority of honey 

 over many other products as a food, 

 lies in part in its source — fragrant blos- 

 soms. It is gathered by the most fas- 

 tidious and cleanly insect known ; this 

 insect storing the honey, and in the 

 process of ripening the nectar, in the 

 combs and moving it about from cell 

 to cell, inverting the saccharine sub- 

 stance and making in reality a pre- 

 digested food. Such foods are highly 

 prized, and in other lines very high 

 prices must be paid for them. Nor is 

 this all. Honey is not only a sweet, 

 but it contains an essential oil, im- 

 parting to it an aroma peculiar to the 

 source from which it springs; this with 

 our commercial honey, pleasing the pal- 

 ate and bringing into beneficial action 

 the organs of digestion and assimila- 

 tion. That the honey in the process 

 of production before explained, is in- 

 verted, has been proven, the latest evi- 

 dence being by Prof. Phillips, of the 

 Washington Apiarian Experimental 

 Station. 



We know that during the process of 

 evaporating nectar outside of the hive, 

 no honey will be inverted. We can 

 therefore not contend that the pro- 

 duct of this artificial ripening is as 

 valuable as that of the more natural 

 process. Some may not be willing — 

 more, I know some are not willing — 

 to recognize this inversion by the bee. 

 The question of the fact is not de- 

 pendent upon such a recognition any 

 more than that the fact that my friend 



