GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



293 



suspend our judgment until we can tiy it ourselves. 

 If It should turn out that the use of tliis product 

 does not debase the comb honey, and it can be pro- 

 duced in commercial quantities at a low price, it is 

 quite likely that it will solve the question of how 

 drawn combs should be produced. In the mean- 

 while we can go on gretting drawn combs according' 

 to the plans that we know are sucessful. 



Mr. Hutchinson quotes me as saying that the 

 comb resulting from the new foundation is 

 " brittle " and eatable. By the term '• brittle " 

 he means the same thing that I do; but it 

 seems to me that brittle is not the correct word. 

 If I am any judge, comb is never brittle when 

 filled with honey. It is only when empty and 

 dried out that it becomes such. I think what 

 Mr. Hutchinson means by "brittle" is flaky; 

 and yet to my mind this gives a wrong notion. 

 Comb containing honey should be soft and 

 yielding, whether natural comb or that made 

 from ordinary foundation or from drawn foun- 

 dation. 



Mr. Hutchinson's position is very fair. We 

 are quite willing to place this whole question 

 before the bar of the future; and if that future 

 shall decide against the new product, even 

 though we have invested a heap of money in it 

 we shall drop it. But the past has most emphat- 

 ically given its decision in favor of the new 

 drawn foundation. 



THE NEW UNION AND THE RESULT OF THE 

 ELECTION. 



The following report has been received, and 

 will explain itself: 



To the :.i. 

 We, til- 

 ed in H- 1 

 ing as (in 

 States B ■■ 



nited States Bee-keeper.s' Union:— 

 imittee, according to the power vest- 

 -^fitution, hereliy appoint the foUow- 

 and Board of Directors of the United 

 1, to hold .their offices during the re- 



mainder of the year 18117, or until their successors are elected 

 and qualified: 



General Manager— Hon. Eugene Secor. Forest City, Iowa. 



Board of Directors— Ernest R. Root, Medina, Ohio ; Hev. E. 

 T. Abbott St. Joseph, Mo.; Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, Ul.; W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich.; E. Whitcomb, Friend. Neb.; C. P. 

 Dadant, Hamilton, III. George W. York, Pres., 



E. Whitcomb, Vice Pres., 

 A. B. Mason, Sec, 



Chicago, 111., Apiil 1, 1897. Executive Committee. 



[Mr. York, of the Bee Journal, comments as 

 follows:] 



Now as the United States Bee-keepers' Union is 

 fully equipped as to its officers, we trust that bee- 

 keepers everywhere will at once send in their dollar 

 membership-fees to the General Manager, Hon. Eu- 

 gene Secor. Forest City, Iowa, or to the Secretary, 

 Dr. A. B. Mason, Sta. B, Toledo, Ohio, so that there 

 may be ample funds to begin to carry out the ob- 

 jects of the Union, which are expressed in the fol- 

 lowing paragraph taken from the new Constitution : 



ARTICLE II.— Object.s. 

 Its objects shall be to promote and protect the interests of 

 its members; to defend them in their lawful rights; to en- 

 force laws against the adulteration of honey; to pi'osecute 

 dishonest honey-commission men; and to advance the pursuit 

 of bee culture in general. 



What more do you want? Where is the bee-keeper 

 that doesn't want to help carrry out every one of 

 those splendid "objects " V Surely, every bee-keep- 

 er in the land will be glad to have his name enrolled 

 as a member of the new Union. 



I say amen to every thing that Mr. York has 

 said. Article 3 shows the object of the new Or- 

 ganization. Its field is large— very large. Per- 

 haps this season it will not be able to make a 

 very great showing until we can get it on its 

 feet. First of all, we need funds, and that 



means a large membership. Those who are 

 anxious to see some of the crooked ways of 

 commission men brought to light, and the glu- 

 cose evil fought, should plank down their dol- 

 lars at once. Unless the officers are supported, 

 they can not very well compass much in the 

 lines indicated. 



THE WILLIAMSON PRODUCE CO. ; S ANFORD & CO. ; 

 COMPLAINT.S. 



Mr. J. H. UoYT, of Otisco. N. Y., shipped to 

 the Williamson Produce Co., commission mer- 

 chants, of New York, 2000 pounds— his entire 

 crop— of honey last September. He has their 

 note, but it would appear he will not be able to 

 realize upon it. The Williamson Produce Co. 

 gave as references on their card the name of R. 

 J. Dean & Co., bankers, New York. We wrote 

 to that firm, inquiring about the responsibility 

 of said Williamson Produce Co., and received 

 the following reply: 



The A. I. Root Co:— In reply to your letter of 

 March 19, we would say that we never gave the 

 Williamson Produce Co. permission to refer to us. 

 From the complaints that have been coming here, 

 we should say that they are anything but responsi- 

 ble. Yours respectfully, 



R. J. Dean & Co. 



302 Greenwich St., New York, March 23. 



On the 19th of March we wrote to the Wil- 

 liamson people, calling their attention to the 

 complaint of Mr. Hoyt; but as yet we have re- 

 ceived no reply. It is possible that they will 

 take up the noie; but in the mean time our 

 readers can draw their own conclusions. 



In the last American Bee Journal there is 

 recorded a complaint regarding the now extinct 

 firm of Sanford & Co., of New York. Com- 

 plaints have also come lo us concerning the 

 same parties. A word to the wise "'s sufficient. 



When will bee-keepers learn not to trust the 

 product of their honest toil to entire strangers? 

 In the first instance, it is possible that Mr. 

 Hoyt was misled by the fact that the William- 

 son Produce Co. referred to a responsible bank- 

 ing house which he knew. If he had taken 

 pains to write to this house before he shipped 

 his honey he might now have something to 

 show for his year's work with the bees. 



A few days ago we received what we thought 

 was quite a bad complaint against one of the 

 firms that furnish quotations for Gleanings. 

 On referring it to the firm in question we learn- 

 ed that the bee-keeper had sent the honey 

 without orders, as well as some other produce; 

 and the firm wrote us that, if their patron had 

 simply asked for instructions, they would have 

 advised him to hold his produce until they 

 could have found for him a customer in his own 

 vicinity. But, no; our friend, without orders, 

 shipped the produce to the city, at a distance 

 from his own home, where the goods (apples in 

 this case) were a drug on the market, and were 

 actually being dumped by the hundred bushels 

 because there was no sale. 



