THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



659 



^^i^JSMiOAiHrv^Y^ 







THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol. IIIL Oct, 20, 1886, No,42, 



P^l^^^ 



The Conirention at Indianapolis, Ind,, 

 was a very pleasant gathering of bee-Ijeep- 

 ers, and all appeared to have a very enjoy- 

 able time. The committee of arrangements 

 had everything about perfect in preparing 

 for the meeting. Messrs. Cutting and 

 Dougherty and Mrs. Cass Hobbius deserve 

 much credit for their exertions to malse the 

 time a pleasant one. On the evening of the 

 second day, Mrs. Robbins and her lady 

 friends, assisted by Mr. Dougherty, got up 

 an entertainment interspersed with ice- 

 cream and cake, which was very enjoyable, 

 and all the bee-keepers, both male and 

 female, seemed to be well pleased with it. 

 A blind young man by the name of Hansen, 

 performed some very fine instrumental 

 music on the piano, as well as singing sev- 

 eral songs. A gentleman recited a poem, 

 entitled " Fesslers Bees," which was very 

 amusing, and produced roars of laughter. 

 Thanks were passed by a " standing " vote 

 to the ladies and their friends for the ex- 

 cellent entertainment provided, which was 

 quite unexpected, but none the less appre- 

 ciated. We give a report of the first day's 

 sessions in this issue of the Bee Journal, 

 and the others will follow in subsequent 

 issues. 



A National Corn Sbonr will be held 

 Nov. 8 to 19, in the Exposition Building, 

 Chicago, in connection with the National 

 Fat-Stock Show. One hundred premiums 

 will be awarded on exhibits of 20 pounds of 

 corn in the ear. Of these, 56 are cash pre- 

 miums of $10 and $5. Competition will be 

 between the growers themselves, in each of 

 the seven principal corn-growing States. 

 Four premiums of §15 and SSo are to be 

 awarded as swoeptakes in the competition 

 between the growers of the dilfereut States. 

 Most of the express companies co-operate, 

 by offering to carry parcels for exhibition, 

 all distances, over their respective lines at a 

 small, nominal charge of 25 cents if not 

 exceeding 25 pounds, placing distance and 

 near localities on a par. Entries close on 

 Oct. 20. Full particulars supplied on appli- 

 cation to the "Secretary of Corn Show," 

 care of Prairie Farmer, Chicago, Ills. 



liliigliKh Honey Markels are very 

 much e.xclted now over the 40 tons brought 

 by the Canadians. A bee-keeper in Surry 

 writes tbis to the Londtm Juurnal of Horti- 

 culture concerning that lot of honey, and 

 the probable result of its sale on the English 

 maket : 



The exhibit of honey from Canada, which 

 is now on view at the Colonial Exhibition, 

 will be likely to cause alarm to timid bee- 

 keepers who already are dissatisfied, and 

 not without reason, at the small price offered 

 for honey, even though the honey harvest 

 of this year has been much below the 

 average. It is no use trying to shut our 

 eyes to the fact that the sale of this 40 tons 

 of honey will sensibly affect the price of 

 English honey. Still we venture to think 

 that the ultimate result will be to the 

 advantage of English bee-keepers, and for 

 much the same reasons as the late exhibi- 

 tion of the B. B. K. A. has done good in 

 bringing before the public mind the great 

 advantages of honey as food, and the capa- 

 bilities of our own country for supplying a 

 large amount of honey. At present honey 

 has a very limited sale, and until we can 

 educate the public mind to the fact that it 

 is a necessary food, and not merely a luxury 

 to be indulged in by the few, so long will 

 there be a difficulty in securing honey even 

 at the low price offered by the honey com- 

 panies and the dealers. 



To take a parallel case, we can well re- 

 member tasting our first tomato nearly 

 thirty years ago, and thinking how unpleas- 

 ant it was. For many years after this there 

 was little or no demand for this fruit, but 

 within the last few years the demand for 

 tomatoes has enormously increased, and it 

 is said to be a better paying crop than 

 grapes, and as far as we are concerned we 

 never pass by this fruit, especially in the 

 form of salad. 



It would be difficult to point out the rea- 

 sons for this change, but the fact remains 

 that the consumption of tomatoes is steadily 

 increasing. So with regard to honey, if the 

 public will take it into their heads to use 

 honey in larger quantities than they have 

 done, there will be no difficulty in finding 

 out the real value of honey. 



The public press is a very good indicator 

 of public opinion. Though the B. B. K. A. 

 have held several shows in London during 

 the last twelve years, very slight notice was 

 taken of these shows, for bee-keeping was 

 looked upon more as a hobby than an in- 

 dustry. But with regard to the last Show, 

 the press quickly recognized the fact that 

 there was something in bee-keeping, and all 

 the leading papers had editorials on the 

 subject, pointing out the great strides that 

 had been made during the last few years. 



At present the supply far exceeds the 

 demand, and, except for sections, there is 

 not much business done in honey, as last 

 year's stocks have not been exhausted. The 

 Canadian exhibit will help to educate the 

 public mind, and when once the demand is 

 established there will be no difficulty as 

 regards the supply either from home or 

 abroad. 



This naturally brings us face to face with 

 the question, can we compete with Colonial 

 or foreign bee-keepers ? In the PaU 3IaU 

 Oazetle, Sept. 17, there is an account of bee- 

 keeping in Ontario, by Mr. Jones, one of the 

 deputation from the Ontario Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. He estimates the average 

 honey harvest at £100,000. and the average 

 yield of honey from a colony at 30 pounds, 

 though cases have been known wliere 100 to 

 600 pounds have been obtained from one 

 colony in a single season. This, of course, is 

 an enormous yield, and we have never 

 known a colony in Great Britain that could 

 touch this limit, though Mr. Cowan aver- 

 ages 100 pounds from his 14 colonies, and 

 we met a bee-keeper in Wales this summer 

 who had taken 200 pounds from one colony, 

 and still had the Heather honey harvest to 

 increase this yield. 



The price of honey in the comb at Ontario 

 is Is. a pound, while extracted fetches 8d. 

 Taking into account the cost of carriage, 

 commission, etc., these prices are too high 

 for the English market. Last year the whole- 

 sale price of good one-pound section honey 

 varied from Od. to 8d., and extracted from 

 4d. to 6d, per pound. This year prices have 



slightly still'ened, as the harvest has been 

 deficient, but a large bee-keeper offered to 

 supply sections at Hs. per dozen, and said 

 that he could at that price secure a very 

 good profit for himself. Every one knows 

 that the question of carriage is the burning 

 question of the day, as far as farm produce 

 IS concerned. Foreign fruit is underselling 

 our home fruit, because the railways give 

 greater facilities for conveying fruit from 

 the continent, and charge less for the 

 freight than they do for fruit from the 

 Kentish orchards, with the result Ihat the 

 farmers arc allowing their plums to decay 

 on the trees, as it does not pay to send them 

 to Covent Garden. If the Canadian bee- 

 keepers can get their honey delivered in 

 London at less cost than we can get honey 

 delivered, say from Lancashire, it will be a 

 bad look-out for the British beekeeper ; but 

 though they may be able to undersell us as 

 far as extracted honey is concerned, it will 

 be a more difficult task to drive our section 

 honey out of the market. 



JTIie HoneKSeason^in Scotland.— A 



Lanarkshire bee-keeper writeB^thus^to~the 



Journal of Horticulture : 



Between Sept. 4 and 1.3, in this part of 

 bcotland, we had heavy rainfalls, high 

 winds, with an almost sunless sky. One day 

 only during that period the sun shone, and 

 then tor a short space of time only. This 

 has been disastrous alike to bees, crops of 

 every kind, and threatening a total destruc- 

 tion m some places to the potato crop. The 

 other day, of potatoes sufficient for a family 

 of tour, only one was free from the disease. 

 There has been only one day upon which 

 the drones Hew, the result being that only a 

 tew late-bred queens are fertilized. I have 

 sufficient tor my own use, but some friends 

 must be disappointed. The loss in bees is 

 but a trifle when compared with the crops 

 lying upon the sodden soil caused bv ex- 

 ceedingly heavy rains. 



The honey of this year here in the north is 

 not only scarcer than that of last year, but 

 13 as a rule very much thinner and inferior 

 in quality, most of it being quite subject to 

 the extractor. The above report applies to 

 a wide area, and in many places there is not 

 even a surplus of honey an account of the 

 low temperature. Where my bees stand at 

 the Heather, we bad a fall of snow on May 

 IJ that completely buried the skep, and 

 trost and rain have been seldom absent 

 since. 



Pliotograplis of 131 of the principal 

 apiarists of America, all on one sheet, 11x14 

 inches, were exhibited at the Indianapolis 

 Convention, by Mr. E. O. Tuttle, of Vermont, 

 who has gotten them up, and will soon offer 

 them for sale. 



Frank licslie's Sunday magazine for 



November opens with the fourth of Mr. 

 Powell's interesting "Leaves from My 

 Life," dealing with the poet-banker, Samuel 

 Rogers, and the witty Douglas Jerrold. 

 Among the elaborately illustrated articles 

 is one entitled "The Still-vex'd Bermoothes," 

 in which a bright description of the Ber- 

 mudas is accompanied by twelve scenes 

 from the islands. " Salem, Past and Pres- 

 ent," shows us some scenes from the old 

 town of witches, in Massachusetts; and 

 many other interesting articles and fine 

 illustrations. The number is up to the high 

 standard of excellence attained by this 

 magazine. 



th?'l"l^'' J^S.?**''* ":"° """' be obtained at 

 the Post Ofiices at reduced rates. Five 

 dollars and under costs now only 5 cents 

 As these are absolutely safe, it will pay to 

 get them instead of the Postal Notes which 

 are payable to any one who presents them 

 and are m no way safe. 



