108 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Feb. 



eomplish. Some ol' the brothers wished to 

 aceoniplisli one tiling, and some another; 

 and, all together, the question seems to be 

 rathei- unwieldy. A few wished to have it 

 worked as_a means of giving eacli member 

 of the association private advices in regard 

 to the honey-market. Others wanted it 

 made general for all. both producer, con- 

 sumer, and middle-man. The following 

 quotation in regard to it, we clip from the 

 A. B. J.; but no one seems to know who the 

 author is : 



The convention of honey-pioducors in the State 

 of Now Vork will begin "at Utica, Tuesday next. 

 Three days will be occniiied in the deliberations. 

 .[. L. Scotield will preside. The prodvicers of over 

 ."),()00,OCi() pounds of comb honey and 1,000,(100 of ex- 

 tracted honey as an annual crop will be present. 



Among- other subjects to be discussed will be the 

 shape, size, and style of the ])ackages for the com- 

 ing year, the price to be charged to the wholesale 

 dealers, and a plan for unity of action to prevent 

 the cheapening competition which has marked the 

 sale of honey during the past. 



It is proposed to form a trust, to be composed of 

 all the large producers in the State, nominally to 

 regulate the size of combs, so as to unify the mar- 

 ketable packages, but actually to buy up all surplus 

 honey when there is a glut of production, so as to 

 keep up the price and shut out competitors who 

 might be willing to sell at a sacrifice. It is e.vpect- 

 ed that this plan will meet with great opposition 

 from the small producers. 



While the above is not exactly true, it 

 outlines the work proposed. The matter of 

 buying up the surplus honey so as to make 

 a corner in the market. I do not remember 

 to have heard suggested. I believe the con- 

 clusion was, to organize a lioney- producers' 

 union ; and to meet the expense of collecting 

 statistics in regard to the honey crop, and 

 forwarding them promptly, an 'admission 

 fee of one dollar was to be charged ; and 

 anybody can be a member of this union by 

 sending a dollar to G. H. Knickerbocker, 

 Pine Plains, N. Y., who will forward circu- 

 lars, giving full particulars in regard to the 

 matter, if desired. Of course, this tmion is 

 not to consist entirely of York State bee- 

 keepers, but it is expected to represent the 

 Tnited States, Canada, and any other 

 country where honey is produced, that cares 

 to assist in the matter. 



The question- box brought forth a good 

 deal of fun, and, we hope, threw light on 

 many subjects. Friend N. N. Be'tsinger 

 gave us a most excellent talk in regard to 

 the marketing of comb honey. The special 

 point he brought out was a somewhat novel 

 one to me ; but as soon as he mentioned it, I 

 felt sure he was right. It was this : People, 

 the world over, are fond of change. Our 

 forefathers first brought honey to market in 

 pails and tubs. When somebody devised a 

 clean nice box with a pane of glass over one 

 end, it starteil a boom in honey, because the 

 idea was so unique. Of course, honey in 

 neat clean boxes l)rnught a better price. 

 When father Qiiiiiliy,' however, brought 

 honey to market in a box having glass on 

 four sides, so that it was really a little glass 

 show-case, this called forth a new demand, 

 and much better prices still. A little later, 

 friend Betsinger himself, if I am correct, 

 gave us a glass box holding only a single 

 comb. The glasses were held in the oppo- 

 site sides by tin points. This had its boom, 

 and prices were up at one time as high as 



40 cts. a pound, we are told. Your humble 

 servant, at about this stage of proceedings, 

 suggested a l)ox holding only one pound, and 

 this created another boom, "especially when 

 these one-pound boxes were packed in a 

 case of 24 or 48 pounds. The one-pound 

 section had its boom, and is booming yet, I 

 believe, a little ahead of any thing else, 

 even it some of the York State folks did 

 hurl anathemas at your bald-headed servant 

 A. I. Boot because he had the audacity to 

 teach the public to demand little sections of 

 only a pound each, when they might have 

 been perfectly satisfied with the two-pound 

 sections, had nothing better been shown 

 them. I here called forth quite a little fun 

 by remarking titat I should not wonder if 

 we should be obliged to get out new things 

 a good deal as the women do in their bon- 

 nets and manner of doing up their hair. It 

 gives variety to life. There are none of us 

 but tire after a while of having a constant 

 sameness, day after day and month after 

 month. I mentioned that, in our own 

 State of Ohio, the women-folks must have 

 a new way of doing up their hair about 

 once a year. When we men-folks just be- 

 gin to get reconciled to bangs, and think 

 they are rather pretty after all, then the 

 women start out with a top-knot on top of 

 their head, and so on. Friend Aspinwall, 

 of the Bce-Kcepcrs' Magazine, said that, in 

 York State, they change their styles and 

 fashions once a week. 



The only matter that brought up any thing 

 like unpleasantness during our convention 

 was, that friend Betsinger, at the close of 

 his excellent talk, recommended pretty ve- 

 hemently a little ]>apei- box of his own, with 

 a glass window in it. 1 presume that no one 

 would have objected to mentioning his 

 own wares in his essay, were it not that the 

 paper box is patented— or, at least, a patent 

 has been granted him on some feature of it. 

 As a means of avoiding similar unpleasant 

 scenes, C. M. (xoodspeed suggested that, 

 hereafter, no article should be exhibited 

 to the convention, on which there was 

 a patent. This stirred up a lugger hornet's- 

 nest yet, and he made haste to withdraw 

 his motion. 



Now, please do not conclude, dear friends, 

 that our convention was the means of stirring 

 up bad feelings. This matter of the paper 

 boxes was laughed off pleasantly, and, in 

 fact, there was so much pleasant good nataire 

 constantly going on, that 1 forgot myself so 

 far as to get away back into one of my boy- 

 hood excesses. 1 had almost forjfotten that 

 I used to get into fits of laughter that were 

 uncontrollable. In fact, I don't know that 

 I have laughed until I cried, for twenty long 

 years, as I did at this convention. When 

 they found out tliat I was trying hard to be 

 sober and sedate, as becometh an editor, and 

 one who is away from home, they seemed 

 to take pleasure in provoking me to mirth. 

 Finally, when I began to think I had obtained 

 the victory, and was going to be steady the 

 rest of the evening, one of the reporters 

 started me going again. Brother Aspinwall 

 was making quite an elaborate speech ; and 

 when he got to the point where he said, 

 with a good deal of emphasis, that a cert in 



