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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 27, 



Honey is Becoming a Staple. 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, 



CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 27, 1881. 



g^ Several correspondents write 

 with pencil, and we desire to ask them 

 to write with ink hearafter. By con- 

 tinuous work, writing and studying, 

 our eyes are getting quite weak, and 

 it tries them very much to read long 

 articles written with pencil. Eyesight 

 is precious, and we wish to preserve 

 it as long as possible. 



l^" We have received from the au- 

 thor, J. B.LaMontagne, A. M.,LL. D. 

 of Montreal, Canada, a copy of his 

 new work, entitled : " Le Nouveau 

 Manuel du Gultivateur ou Culture Bai- 

 sonnee des Abeilles, de la Vigne, et de la 

 Canne a Sucre." It is modern in its 

 teachings, and though the engravings 

 are not as nice as they should be, still 

 we are glad to welcome this Manual 

 for French bee-keepers. Price 75 cts. 



O" E. P. Roe's Catalogue of Small 

 Fruit and Grape Vines, for the sum- 

 mer and fall of 1881, is received. It 

 is full of information on the produc- 

 tion of small fruit. Mr. Roe's nursery 

 is located at Cornwall-on-Hudson, 

 New York. 



l^ - We hear complaints from many 

 bee-keepers, this season, regarding 

 difficulty in rearing and testing queens. 

 Some complain of the cool nights as 

 being unfavorable for the nuclei, and 

 others have much trouble in getting 

 queens mated. Most breeders have 

 found it impossible to fill all orders 

 promptly, and have been obliged to 

 ask the forbearance of customers. 



®T The Inter-State Exposition will 

 be held at Chicago, commencing Sept. 

 7, and closing Oct. 22, 1881. At the 

 same time and place the Illinois State 

 Horticultural Society will hold its an- 

 nual fair, the premium list of which 

 is on our desk. Prizes are offered 

 ranging from $2 to $100 for the best 

 exhibits of fruits, vegetables, etc. 



gyBy reterence to announcement 

 in another column, it will be seen that 

 the National Convention will meet in 

 Lexington, Ky., on the 5th, 6th and 7th 

 of October, 1881. We regret that a 

 time has been selected by the Execu- 

 tive Committee when we will be una- 

 ble to attend, but an engagement 

 made nearly a year ago will necessi- 

 tate our absence. We would, howev- 

 er, urge all who can possibly attend, 

 to do so, and make the meeting as in- 

 teresting as possible. 



<^° The Kentucky State Convention 

 will meet on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1881 , 

 at Louisville, Ky., and holds 2 days. 

 It is expected that many who attend 

 the National Convention, at Lexing- 

 ton, will also attend the State, at Lou- 

 isville. The prospects for an interest- 

 ing Convention at Lexiugtan are very 

 nattering. 



The Bulletin of the Apicultural So- 

 ciety of Alsace and Lorraine, for July, 

 1881, edited by Mons. Dennler, of 

 Enzheim, near Strassbourg, Germany, 

 has an article upon " the importation 

 of American honey at Hamburg dur- 

 ing the year 1880." It says that " the 

 Hamburg Journal has formulated a 

 very interesting table on the quanti- 

 ties of American honey that have 

 been imported in the past four years." 

 In astonishment it says : " Voice ce 

 tableau /" — see the table ! 



The total amount of American honey 

 received at Hamburg in 1877, was 

 1,018,000 kilos (a kilo is 2 pounds). In 

 1878 it was 1,529,500 kilos ; and in 1880 

 it was swelled to the enormous amount 

 of 1,912,500 kilos, or nearly four mill- 

 ions of pounds. 



It will be seen that the amount im- 

 ported last year is double the amount 

 given for 1878. 



When the National Convention of 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety, in October, 1878, appointed the 

 editor of the Bee Journal to repre- 

 sent the Society at the Conventions 

 and among the bee-keepers of the Old 

 World, it elicited considerable criti- 

 cism on the part of some near-sighted 

 bee-keepers, who could see no market 

 beyond their own limited home trade, 

 and could recognize no right for oth- 

 ers to engage in an enterprise which 

 might by any possibility come in com- 

 petition with themselves. Rut the 

 Convention, with a wisdom for which 

 it has not received proper credit from 

 the bee-keepers of America, foresaw 

 the advantages to be derived from the 

 cultivation of closer relations with 

 foreign bee-keepers. 



In 1880, the Delegate visited most of 

 the more prominent apiarian societies 

 of Europe, and was received with 

 cordiality and courtesy by all. But 

 much prejudice was discovered to exist 

 against American products, and espe- 

 cially was this the case regarding 

 honey. In England the public had 

 been frequently imposed upon and be- 

 come disgusted with vile trash sold as 

 " Pure Strained Honey ;" while in 

 France, Italy and Germany, it was in- 

 comprehensible how the Americans 

 could produce such vast amounts of 

 apparently superior honey, and com- 

 pete with their own producers, after 

 paying exorbitant freights. 



The Delegate appreciated the im- 

 mensity of the market awaiting our 

 product, but realized the necessity for 

 removing distrust, and wherever he 

 went, labored with this object in view. 

 It was not enough to assert that our 

 honey was superior to theirs, but he 

 was obliged to prove why it was ; nor 

 was it sufficient to claim that we could 

 produce pure honey and meet the pub- 

 lic demand at popular prices, but he 

 found it best to demonstrate how it 

 would be accomplished. 



However, a limited few in this coun- 

 try looked with disfavor upon the 

 whole movement. We copy the fol- 

 lowing from the minutes of one of the 

 Western Conventions : 



Much discussion was bad pro and con 

 in regard to sending delegates to Eu- 

 rope to instruct their people to keep 

 bees in a better way, thereby causing 

 them to produce more honey to com- 

 pete with our own honey. Some were 



opposed to such a course, saying it 

 would injure our foreign honey mar- 

 kets ; others favored it, claiming it 

 would increase our sales, as the more 

 honey was advertised the more it 

 would be bought. 



Another Convention had the follow- 

 ing question for discussion : 



" Is it advisable to send delegates to 

 foreign countries to educate their 

 people in the advanced methods of 

 bee-keeping, to thus enable them to 

 more readily compete with our own 

 bee-products, and also follow the same 

 course in this country. 



Scarcely, however, had the delegate 

 returned home, when our market be- 

 came stronger. The foreign demand 

 was strengthened, and a healthy com- 

 petition was springing up. We give 

 the following extract from a letter re- 

 ceived from the principal honey dealer 

 in England : 



You might cover Europe with the 

 most approved modern bee-keeping 

 appliances, but you could not prolong 

 our honey seasons. Bee-keeping here 

 can never be pursued as a business, 

 because our honey seasons are of no 

 consequence ; so all fears of our com- 

 petitition can be discarded as absurd 

 and ridiculous. You here rendered 

 me great assistance in abolishing the 

 unfair prejudice existing about that 

 time in the minds of English consum- 

 ers against American honey ; in fact, 

 it was remarked by many that the 

 whole of your valuable time was de- 

 voted to this most important desidera- 

 tum. Time which almost all visitors 

 to this country would have spent in 

 sight-seeing, you occupied in counter- 

 acting the many absurd stories about 

 " stuffed honey combs" launched into 

 this country from America. You de- 

 serve and will have great credit for 

 your tireless efforts in that direction. 



Now we have the gratifying intelli- 

 gence, in German figures, that the 

 sale of foreign honey in Germany has 

 nearly doubled in the past four years, 

 reaching an aggregate almost equiva- 

 lent to one-eighth of the entire pro- 

 duet of North America. But very 

 few years can elapse before Europe 

 will eagerly consume our whole sur- 

 plus product, and seriously encroach 

 upon the portion required for a liberal 

 home consumption ; and while the 

 honey itself is rapidly becoming asta- 

 ple production, and finding its way as 

 such into the markets of the world, 

 the price is as rapidly assuming a sta- 

 bility as is that of butter, cheese, lard, 

 etc. A couple of years since a famil- 

 iar correspondent querulously wrote, 

 in substance, " Bee-keeping will pay, 

 as an occupation, when honey shall 

 have become as staple as is beeswax, 

 for the latter is as staple as gold." 

 We believe we have about reached 

 that time ; and it only remains for the 

 bee-keepers themselves to maintain it 

 as such, by producing a superior arti- 

 cle, and selling it only at a remunera- 

 tive moderate price ; by exercising at 

 least an ordinary business judgment 

 in providing sufficient pasture for the 

 bees, so that one season may not be a 

 plethora and the next prove a dearth, 

 and by cultivating a generous, frater- 

 nal spirit, remembering that the saint' 

 wise Creator who placed us here and 

 imbued us with generous as well as 

 selfish natures, also created the bal- 

 ance of mankind, and endowed them 

 with equal reason and rights. 



Encourage Progressive Apiculture. 



Referring to the correspondence of 

 Mr. J. S. Tadlock, and our comments 

 thereupon, we have received the fol- 

 lowing communication from Pres. N. 

 P. Allen, bearingdate July 12, 1881 : 



I was pleased with the editorial re- 

 marks in the Bee Journal of July 6, 

 relating to the exhibition of bees, etc., 

 at the National Convention, It was a 

 good suggestion, and is better calcu- 

 lated to bring out the " coming bee" 

 than anything that has been done in 

 that direction. Let every bee-keeper 

 who possesses what he thinks to be a 

 superior strain, send bees for exhibi- 

 tion — not full colonies, but a queen 

 with workers enough to spare a few 

 for comparison and examination. A 

 committee can be appointed to com- 

 pare size of bees, length of tongues, 

 etc., and make decisions as to whom 

 belongs the honor of having the "com- 

 ing bee." We can undoubtedly have 

 on exhibition fine specimens of Apis 

 dorsata. Syrian, Cyprian and Italian 

 bees; also. Apis Americana, Albinos, 

 and the German or black bees can 

 come in for their share of the honors. 

 Hives, honey boxes and useful imple- 

 ments can be exhibited. No one is 

 authorized to offer premiums for bees 

 in the name of the Society, but the 

 honor of having superior bees, with 

 the longest tongues, will amply pay for 

 all the trouble and expense of making 

 the exhibit. After the committee 

 makes its report, the bees and queens 

 can be returned to the exhibitor, or 

 donated to the Association. I shall 

 write to the bee-keeping fraternity in 

 Europe to take part in the exhibition. 



We are glad President Allen ap- 

 proves the suggestion. Not only can 

 the National Association do much to 

 encourage the development of the 

 " coming bee," but Local and District 

 Societies can also assist greatly in ad- 

 vancing progressive apiculture. Pro- 

 gress is not confined alone to the com- 

 ing bee, but to every part of the 

 business that exercises a bearing upon 

 ultimate success. In fact, the summit 

 of progress will not have been reached 

 until the problem has been solved 

 of how to realize the greatest amount 

 of profit and pleasure, from the small- 

 est investment of capital and labor, 

 with the least risk. Many factors 

 will enter upon this solution, and we 

 believe it should be a special feature 

 of fraternal associations to determine 

 upon and encourage the best. 



C. F. Muth and W. Williamson are 

 appointed a committee on arrange- 

 ments for the National Convention, 

 and they will, in due time, give rail- 

 road and hotel rates in the Journal. 



ig^The German Zeitung, of Milwau- 

 kee, Wis., makes the following notice 

 of our pamphlet, a German copy of 

 which was sent at the request of the 

 editor of the Zeitung. It says : 



" The Honey Bee " is the title of a 

 valuable little work of 80 pag^es, in- 

 tended for the beginner, and is pub- 

 lished by Thomas G. Newman, Editor 

 of the American Bee Journal, 

 974 W. Madison street, Chicago. It 

 contains everything that is interesting 

 to beginners ; it leads off with a short 

 natural history of the bee, and then 

 describes the management of the 

 same, and it also details all new in- 

 ventions pertaining to bee-keeping. 

 This book is embellished with 56 en- 

 gravings, and costs but 40 cents. It 

 may be had of the publisher, both in 

 German and English. 



Igy We have received the Premium 

 List of the Kansas State Fair Asso- 

 ciation, to be held at Topeka, Kan., 

 Sep. 12 to 17, 1881. We notice that 

 §18 and 7 diplomas are offered for bee- 

 fixtures and honey. Mr. George Y. 

 Jrhnson, Topeka. Kan., is the Secre- 

 tary, who will send a copy of the Pre- 

 mium List upon application. 



