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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



narrow. Each group wanted to be 

 the favored one, each wanted to 

 dominate the market, and be favored 

 in the buying of supplies. A few 

 years of tliis kind of competition con- 

 vinced the managers of such associa- 

 tions that even large State or re- 

 gional associations must either be 

 united or have some understanding 

 as to their common interests. 



Growing up along with the bee in- 

 dustry were certain other industries 

 which were wholly or partially de- 

 pendent upon the beekeepers.- Manu- 

 facturers of bee fixtures, comb-foun- 

 dation and publishers of bee papers 

 were entirely dependent on the bee- 

 men, and those of honey containers 

 partially so. These men, whose liv- 

 ing depended just as much upon the 

 bee as that of the bees" owner, were 

 not included within those asocia- 

 tions. At the same time the trans- 

 portation of bee fixtures and prod- 

 ucts became great enough to attract 

 the express and railway companies, 

 and likewise many other firms had 

 more or less interest in beekeeping. 



This multiplicity of interests, clash 

 of activities and strife for suprem- 

 acy, resulted in the formation of the 

 American Honey Producers' League. 

 If this succeeds, its component parts 

 will have to give up the selfish idea 

 of rushing honey to market to get a 

 high price and spoil future sales. In- 

 stead of glutting the market, they 

 must help create a market so that 

 not only they, but other men, may 

 sell. They must remember that 

 manufacturers, printers, transporta- 

 tion agencies and even schools are 

 vitally interested in bees, and where 

 such parties desire, bust be admitted 

 to the League. It is far easier to 

 gain the desired point by a co-opera- 

 tion of allied interests than to gain 

 the same by sheer force of the dom- 

 inant party. 



A NOTABLE BUILDING 



We are pleased to picture in this 

 issue the new Apicultural building at 



the Ontario Agricultural College. It 

 is of more than passing interest, be- 

 cause it is the first building of its 

 kind to be erected especially for bee- 

 keeping at an agricultural college. 



A small frame building was erect- 

 ed for the beekeeping work at the 

 Massachusetts College of Agriculture 

 a few years ago, but it was not in the 

 same class with this, which is a fully 

 equipped college building. 



We congratulate the beekeepers of 

 Ontario upon the fact that their col- 

 lege of agriculture is the first to rec- 

 ognize beekeeping of sufiicient im- 

 portance to justify a really creditable 

 building. We congratulate Prof. F. 

 E. Millen upon being the first teacher 

 of beekeeping to attain the rank of 

 full professor with such a fine struc- 

 ture built for his exclusive use and 

 that of his stafl. We congratulate 

 former Prof. Morley Pettit as 

 founder of the beekeeping depart- 

 ment of the Ontario College as being 

 the first to establish a course in bee- 

 keeping which has grown to such an 

 extent as to occupy such a building. 



We feel that the dedication of this 

 building by the Ontario beekeepers 

 at their convention in December will 

 mark a new era in the development 

 of the industry. It is so very re- 

 cently that beekeeping has received 

 serious attention at any of the agricul- 

 tural schools, that it is a matter of 

 surprise that a college should erect 

 a building, modern in every respect, 

 for the exclusive use of the beekeep- 

 ing department. Minnesota has a 

 building at its University for bee- 

 keeping, but it was built for another 

 purpose and given over to the bee- 

 keepers when the other department 

 needed larger quarters. The Ontario 

 building is a new and fireproof struc- 

 ture, built especially for the bee- 

 keeping work. 



The building is of red tapestry 

 brick, with oak trimming; iron stair- 

 cases, finished with mastic, and with 

 fire escapes at the rear. On the top 

 floor is a lecture room 55x40 feet, 





and seats to hold 250 students. The 

 lecture room is fitted with lantern, 

 enclosed blinds and sliding black- 

 board. 



On the main floor there are offices, 

 reading room, small lecture room, 

 laboratory and steel vault set in con- 

 crete for the preservation of records. 

 On the basement floor there is a wax 

 room, a honey room, a stock room, 

 a bench room and a bee cellar. The 

 bee cellar is finished with walls 18 

 inches thick, waterproofed inside and 

 out, and has a false ceiling with ven- 

 tilating system. Inside the concrete 

 walls it is lined with matched lumber, 

 covered with two thicknesses of in- 

 sulating paper and two-inch cork 

 boards. 



The building is fitted with steam, 

 hot and cold water, and gas. It is 

 also provided with dark room and 

 elevator. From the above descrip- 

 tion it will be seen that the beekeep- 

 ing department at the Ontario Col- 

 lege has received everything in "^he 

 way of fittings and equipment that is 

 provided for any other department. 



We have pointed with pride to 

 Minnesota as the first to establish a 

 beekeeping course with the rank of a 

 department on this side of the line. 

 Let us hope that it won't be long until 

 all the colleges will not only have 

 beekeeping courses, but a full staff of 

 instructors and research men, housed 

 in such buildings as Millen and his 

 staff now occupy. 



New bee building at Guclph 



HONEY FROM PRODUCER TO 

 CONSUMER 



By Arthur C. Miller 

 Can you sell honey as well as pro- 

 duce ft? Can you produce a good 

 article, and do you really know a 

 good article? You say it tastes good, 

 looks good; but is it good? All too 

 often it does not suit the majority of 

 the consumers, but why? 



I have not sold thousands of tons, 

 but I have sold many tons, many of 

 my own production and many pur- 

 chased, and I early found that what 

 I liked was not always what the pub- 

 lic liked. I tried putting up differ- 

 ent kinds, properly designated, and 

 at once found myself in a sea of 

 trouble. It was not possible to keep 

 track of what a customer had previ- 

 ously had, and if they did not get 

 the same as they had before, there 

 was remonstrance, changing or stop- 

 ping- 

 Then I undertook blending. Sim- 

 ply said, but not simply done. It not 

 only called for a keen sense of taste 

 and a discerning palate, but it called 

 for a community palate. Several 

 promising blends were made and dis- 

 tributed freely among all manner of 

 people. The blend which met with 

 the approval of the widest variety of 

 folks was adopted and the others 

 were abandoned. The kinds and pro- 

 portions used in the blend were care- 

 fully recorded and closely adhered to. 

 Sometimes one or more sort^ of 

 honey were not to be had, and then 

 tlure was a search to find others 

 that would as nearly as possible 

 match those previously used. It was 

 no easy task, and often the price of 



