972 



(-.T.F. AN'TXGS IN P.F.E CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



keeping interests of the country. But, un- 

 fortunately, a "cog slipped." A committee 

 was appointed to prepare a statement for 

 the press, and secure its insertion in some of 

 the leading St. Louis dailies. The state- 

 ment was telephoned over to the night editor 

 of the St. Louis Republic. Imagine the con- 

 sternation of the bee-keepers the next 

 morning when a brief item came out, to the 

 effect that the members of the great inter- 

 national convention, in their session at the 

 Christian Endeavor hotel, just outside the 

 fairgrounds, were divided in their opinion as 

 to whether comb honey was manufactured 

 or not ! You can believe this produced a 

 buzz of protest at the next morning's con- 

 vention. A vigorous resolution, prepared by 

 a committee, denying absolutely that comb 

 honey was manufactured, and offering a re- 

 ward of $1000 for evidence of such manufac- 

 tured honey, was passed by a tremendous 

 viva-voce vote, every one rising to his feet. 

 A committee was appointed to wait on the 

 editor and secure a corrected statement. It 

 made several attempts to get together, but 

 failed, and finally Mr. E. T. Abbott, a mem- 

 ber of this committee, called on the afore- 

 said night editor, and gave him a ' ' few 

 facts." The next morning the following 

 statement came out: 



BEE-KEEPERS OFFER REWARD; CLAIM THEY CAN NOT 

 BE DECEIVED BY MACHINE-MADE HONEY. 



Delegates to the National Bee-keepers' Association, 

 which has been in session at the Christian Endeavor 

 Hotel since last Tuesday, devoted their time yesterday 

 to the discussion as to whether it is possible for comb 

 honey to be manufactured by machinery. 



On account of the fact that the public press has 

 from time to time published statements to the effect 

 that this has been done, and thereby causing people un- 

 acquainted with the making of honey to take same as 

 an accomplished fact, a committee appointed by the 

 convention adopted the following resolution: 



In view of the oft-repeated statement in the pubhc 

 press that comb honey is made, filled, and capped over 

 by machinery, . , „ , .a 



Resolved That the National Bee-keepers Associa- 

 tion will forfeit the sum of $1000 to any party or par- 

 ties who will furnish proof beyond successful contradic- 

 tion that said statement is true, and produce as part of 

 such evidence two pounds or more of such comb honey 

 that has been manufactured without the use of bees in 

 anv way. with sufficient skill to deceive ordinary honey 

 experts E. T. Abbott, 



^^P^^ Ellis E. Pussler, 



E. Kretchmer, 

 M. A. Gill. 



This was very fair, except that the mat- 

 ter had been doctored by the aforesaid edi- 

 tor in a way that was not at all to the taste 

 of Mr. Abbott and the members of the com- 

 mittee. Still, the item as a whole was very 

 good, and is probably as good as we could 

 expect under the circumstances from the 

 average newspaper man. 



A feature of the convention that was 

 very convenient and much appreciated was 

 the putting of large numbers on the coat or 

 waist of each member when he registered. 

 The entire list was then printed, with the 

 name and postoffice opposite the correspond- 

 ing number. Each member was then fur- 

 nished a copy for reference. Sometimes we 

 would forget who such and such a man was; 

 but a glance at his number and a compari- 

 son of the printed list would show instantly 



who he was and where he lived. In the 

 same way the stenogi*apher could easily 

 identify each speaker on the floor. Later 

 on, Mr. Hutchinson took a picture of all the 

 members, and of course these numbers will 

 tally with the printed list below the picture. 

 All together, the number feature was a 

 great convenience, enabling us to get the 

 right name to each face, and thus get better 

 acquainted. 



There were very many interesting discus- 

 sions and papers at this convention; and I 

 will endeavor to give in our next and sub- 

 sequent issues a condensed report. But it 

 will repay well every reader of this journal 

 to send $1.00 to General Manager N. E. 

 France, Platteville, Wis., and secure a ver- 

 batim report of the whole proceedings, which 

 will be issued in book form in a couple of 

 weeks. This dollar will not only entitle you 

 to a full report, but also to all the ben- 

 efits and privileges of the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association. Even if you do not 

 expect to get any very great pecuniary ben- 

 efit, remember that the dollar turned into 

 the National will mean a great good to the 

 bee-keeping interests of the country. This 

 organization is not only a sort of protective 

 association, but it looks after the interests 

 of its members in a hundred different ways, 

 and no bee-keeper can afford not to be iden- 

 tified with such an organization. 



BEE AND BEER EXHIBIT AT THE ST. LOUIS FAIR. 



It is a matter of regret that the bee-keep- 

 ing interests of the country were treated 

 somewhat shabbily by the management of 

 the exposition. Strong efforts had been 

 made to have all the exhibits in Agricultur- 

 al Building along with other allied industries. 

 A fine location was laid out, and at one time 

 there was a reasonable prospect of securing 

 it, but the management gave this space over 

 to the bee(r) instead of the bee business. 

 As a natural consequence, the exhibits of 

 bees and honey and bee-supplies were scat- 

 tered all over the grounds, miles apart and 

 in obscure places. Many bee-keepers came 

 away without seeing a single exhibit relat- 

 ing to their chosen pursuit. 



The A. I. Root Co.'s exhibit (the only one 

 of its kind) was put in an out-of-the-way place 

 over into the basement of Horticultural Hall, 

 a building that is clear over to one corner of 

 the grounds. This basement is very rarely 

 visited by sight-seers, and, all together, the 

 location was most unfortunate. Our repre- 

 sentatives made a vigorous protest, and final- 

 ly secured a small space in the same base- 

 ment next to Senator Swink's exhibit of 

 bees, honey, and beeswax. The A. I. Root 

 Co. was given no definite information as to 

 where it could have its exhibit in the first 

 place, and was not able to prepare a booth 

 that would be in keeping with other exhibits 

 of its class. As a natural result, the display 

 was rather commonplace as compared with 

 those made at other expositions. Senator 

 Swink, in spite of his being pushed off into 

 the basement, had a most magnificent dis- 



