1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



135 



should be shipped by freight altogether. Some 

 of the bee-keepers seem still to think that comb 

 honey must be sent by express only, believing it 

 to carry safer. This is entirely wi-ong. Honey 

 is carried just as safely, if not more so. by 

 freight— at least this has been our experience. 

 Owing to the short crop last season we received 

 a large number of small shipments by freight, 

 ranging from 10 to .50 crates each, and we had 

 bat two or three lots which arrived broken 

 down more or less. In one of these cases the 

 shipper wrote us afterward that the honey had 

 already leaked when he took it to the depot. 

 "We reship it in lots of all sizes, often in single 

 crates, and very seldom have a complaint. So 

 far as the responsibility is concerned, all of 

 them — the railroad, steamboat, and express 

 companies— will take comb honey only at own- 

 er's risk, and will i^ot listen to any claim if the 

 honey has been broken down while in ti'ansit. 

 Why", then, pay the expivss companies three 

 times the rate of freight lines? We would ad- 

 vise bee-keepers to load the honey in the car 

 themselves, properly protected. If this is done 

 they may feel s;ure that the honey will ai-rive at 

 destination in good order, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances. 



Anothei' point we should like to call your at- 

 tention to: namely, comb honey should be ship- 

 ped in the original crate only. We received 

 one lot of honey from CeiUi'al New York this 

 season, where the shipper had gone to work 

 and crated six or eight original crates into one 

 Utnjc crate. This certainly was too heavy a 

 packag(> to be handled with care. and. no doub*. 

 received rather rough handling. What was 

 the result? We received the honey all broken 

 down, and the shipper was out from 4 to fi cents 

 a pound — a sad lesson indeed. 



BEST TIME TO GET GOOD PKICES. 



Last, but not least, when is the I'ight time to 

 ship comb honey to market? We have always 

 advised early shipping — during September and 

 the first ]jart of October. Our experience 

 teaches us that the early shippers obtain best 

 prices, and get quickest returns, be the crop 

 large or short. In all our experience we have 

 never known the market to advance during 

 November and December: but it usually de- 

 clines as the season passes. 



One woid for ourselves. We have now been 

 in the honey business six years, and flatter our- 

 selves that" we have the" confidence and good 

 will of nearly all bee-keepers througliout the 

 country who have intrusted goods to our caie. 

 We always endeavor to obtain as good prices 

 for consigned goods as if they wei'e our own. 

 and make prompt ivturns, and I think there are 

 many here who will bear me out in the asser- 

 tion." We wish to tender our thanks to our pa- 

 trons (many of whom I recognize on this floor) 

 for past favors, and respectfully solicit a con- 

 tinuance of your patronage in the future. 

 Henry SsciELKEX. 

 for Hildreth Bros. i<: Segelken. 



New York. .Ian.. 1891. 



A lively discussion followed the reading of 

 these papers, in which both honey-producers 

 and commission men joined. For my own part 

 I was greatly surprised that there was such a 

 demand in the New York markets for glassed 

 sections of honey; and after the discussion Mr. 

 Elwood arose and said we should be very care- 

 ful about going to extremes. It would not be 

 best for us, as bee-keepers, to glass all oiu- hon- 

 ey next season. It would make a glut in the 

 market. The wisest thing was to glass a cer- 

 tain amount of it. put a certain amount in pa- 

 per cartons, and a certain amount in 3-lb. sec- 

 tions. What we bee-keepers need to avoid is a 



glut in the market in any one style of package. 

 As an example, several bee-keepers had. at the 

 advice of Mr. Wright, put their buckwheat 

 honey into %-\h. sections— these sections being 

 considei'ablv taller than wide. The result was, 

 they glutted the market with that kind of sec- 

 tion": and at this, several bee-keepers nodded 

 assent. A couple of years ago the New York 

 market demanded unglassed sections, and all 

 bee-keepers produced and sent to market that 

 kind. The I'esult was. that the glassed brought 

 a higher price. And. furthermore. Mi-. Elwood 

 said that the Western market would not use 

 glassed sections, while the New York market 

 would. A great deal of oui- honey goes west, 

 and we must be careful to put it up in such 

 shape that a part of it will be salable anywhere. 

 As \o the effect of low pi'ices in sugar. Mr. 

 Segelkin. like Mr. Thurber. did not anticipate 

 that it was going to affect the honey-trade 

 seriously. 



Forenoon, Third Day. 



REE -ESCAPE.S— THEIR ^^SE AND BENEFITS. 



An essav that should have been sent in on 

 this subject did not appear: but George H. 

 Ashiuead said that his bees were near the high- 

 wav— too near, indeed, to be pleasant to the 

 passers-bv. But latelv. by the use of bee-es- 

 capes, he could take off every pound of honey 

 without anv disturbance whatever. He uses 

 them for both comb and exti'acted honey. 



I was not present at all of the morning ses- 

 sion, and hence mv note-book has not much re- 

 garding it. The afternoon session was brief, 

 and simplv took up matters of business. 



Although there had been heavy rams, I 

 counted at lea*t a hundi'ed in attendance at 

 one of the sessions. For practical discussion on 

 important themes. I do not know that I ever at- 

 tended a better convention. Outside of Cali- 

 fornia, the State of New York. I heUeve. has 

 the largest and most extensive bee-keepers in 

 the United States if not in the world: audi 

 tell vou it is a great pleasure to take the hand 

 of those who count their colonies by the hun- 

 dreds, and, I might almost say, by the thou- 

 sands. . , -. 



I told the members of the convention that 1 

 had a warm spot in mv heart for all York State 

 bee-keepers. And now that I have returned 

 home, that spot is a good deal warmer yet. I 

 shall not soon forget mv pleasant memories on 

 the bicvcle tour, and the renewal of acquain- 

 tances "at that convention.- I am doubly glad 

 now that the- North American is to be held in 

 Albanv. and that its jiresiding officer is to be 

 P. H. Elwood. I anticipate that its next meet- 

 ing is going to be one of the grandest bee-con- 

 ventions ever held in the United States. The 

 last meeting of the North American was an ex- 

 cellent one: and. unless I am very much de- 

 ceived bv indications, the one yet to take place 

 in Albany will eclipse them all. 



SOCIAL CUSTOMS, ETC., IN SINGAPORE. 



ANOTHER GLIMPSE FROM BRO. MUNSON. OF 

 CHRIST'S CAUSE IN HEATHEN EAXBS. 



Dear Mr. i?oof.— Many days and months 

 have passed since mv last letter. I have long 

 waited for time, but time hasn't waited for me; 

 so if I don't "take time by the fetlock'' (since 

 I've not taken him by the forelock) I fear that 

 18W will die by without a single letter written 

 to you. 



This has been a very busy and important 

 year to this mission; and. having all its inter- 

 ests to attend to, I have had to let many a let- 

 ter go unanswered, many an interesting book 



