50 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Suggestions About Conventions. 



It is self-evident that tliere sliould 

 be a reform in tlie methods of con- 

 ducting Bee-Keepers' Conventions. 



Last November, when giving tlie 

 report of the Chicago District Con- 

 vention, we stated that it was in 

 many respects a model Convention. 

 There were no essays read; it consist- 

 ed wholly of discussion. The points 

 of interest were all covered, by the 

 excellent programme devised by the 

 President, Dr. C. C. Miller. 



In that Convention, the interest was 

 kept up, unabated, to the end, and it 

 was even difficult to get a motion to 

 ajourn when the time arrived to do so. 

 We have sent the following sugges- 

 tions to the North-Eastern Conven- 

 tion, held this week in Utica, N. Y., 

 on tliis subject, hoping that they may 

 draw out a full discussion : 



1. Some plan should be devised to 

 make a more perfect organization, 

 and knit together, more closely, all 

 the apiarists of our country. County 

 Societies should be auxiliary to the 

 State Society (for such is yours, except 

 in name), and all the members of the 

 county organizations should thereby 

 become members of the State So- 

 ciety, entitled to all its benehts and 

 privileges, and proportionately bear 

 the expenses of holding such. Tlie 

 Presidents of State Societies should 

 become ex-officio, tlie Vice Presidents 

 of the National Society, and thus co- 

 operate unitedly for tlie general good 

 — and delegates should be sent from 

 the Counties to the State— and from 

 the States to the National Society. 

 This can easily be acconiplislLed, and 

 would contribute to the general wel- 

 fare. Organization is life; in union 

 there is strengtli. Disorganization is 

 iceakness, and leads to dissolution— 

 death '. 



2. The present metliod of conduct- 

 ing conventions, by so many and such 

 long e.ssays, is killing in its influence, 

 and often works positive damage to 

 all concerned. To illustrate : 



A long essay is read, and before it 

 is eniled, tliose wlio listen to it are 

 tired out, and forget or do not quite 

 comprehend the points, and so it 

 passes, without being sufficiently un- 

 derstood or discussed — goes into tlie 

 minutes, and under the sanction of tlie 

 Society, is published to tlie world as 

 its views, when, perhaps, it represents 

 the opinions or feelings of but a 

 moiety of tliose present, thereby do- 

 ing positive davKige, because it mis- 

 represL'iits the society in general. If 



essays are admitted, but one should 

 be thrust upon a session, and if possi- 

 ble that one should be printed, and 

 placed in tlie handsof the members to 

 be discussedat the next session. In 

 this way some of the difficulty could 

 be overcome, and the detrimental 

 effects avoided. 



3. If such organization was obtained 

 it would facilitate correct statistics, 

 and U\e united power of the apiarists 

 of the Nation could be exerted to de- 

 mand legislation against fraud and 

 adulteration ; ol)tain redress for in- 

 jurious rulings of the Postal Depart- 

 ment, such as denying the admission 

 of bees to the mails, etc., and correct 

 the unjust discrimination of railroads 

 in classing honey at exorbitant rates 

 when they carry similar staple articles 

 at one-fourth the freight demanded 

 for honey. 



Again, a brotherly tie would be 

 formed— helping one another — not 

 only in the matter of marketing our 

 crops, but perhaps in helping the un- 

 fortunate, succoring the families of 

 deceased members, and possibly pro- 

 viding for those overtaken by calami- 

 ties, etc. 



These are but a few of the things 

 that could be accomplished by united 

 effort, but we only wish to throw out 

 these suggestions, and leave it with 

 others to discuss the matter, and de- 

 Yise a scheme for carrying it to a suc- 

 cessful issue. 



Honey-Making in the United States. 



The following paragraph is part of 

 an article which we have clipped from 

 an exchange, and is credited to the 

 Popidar Science Monthly: 



The annual production of honey in 

 this country is estimated at about o.5,- 

 000,000 pounds, and the business of 

 bee-keeping is becoming rapidly sys- 

 tematized. One tirni of wholesale 

 grocers in New York keeps as many 

 as 12,000 swarms ; other keepers have 

 often from 3,500 to 5,000 swarms. Ar- 

 rangements are made with farmers 

 and owners of orchards to allow an 

 apiary of a certain number of swarms 

 to lie placed on their grounds. At tlie 

 distance of three or four miles 

 another apiary is placed with another 

 farmer, and so on. For this accom- 

 modation, the bee-keepers pay either 

 in money or in shares. It is estimated 

 that, on an average, an acre will sup- 

 l>ort twenty-(ive swarms, yielding 

 fifty pounds of honey each. The 

 apiaries are cared for by men in the 

 emi'loy of the bee-owners. Many In- 

 genious contrivances have been intro- 

 duced for the purpose of saving the 

 labor of the bees and the keepers. 



We were surprised to see a para- 

 graph containing such gross errors 



emanating from so high an authority 

 as the Science Monthly, and cannot 

 pass it by without making some cor- 

 rections, as it is not only calculated ta 

 mislead statisticians, but may eventu- 

 ally work serious injury to the bee- 

 keeping interest. It illustrates, also, 

 the ease with which standard publi- 

 cations can be mistaken in matters- 

 with which they are not perfectly 

 familiar. 



The production of honey in the 

 country amounts to about 100,000,000 

 pounds annually, instead of 35,000,000' 

 pounds, as given above. 



The allusion to a firm of wholesale 

 grocers probably has reference to the 

 Messrs. Thurber, who may have 

 handled the product of 12,000 colonies, 

 but it was the combined production 

 of scores of bee-keepers in all parts of 

 America. But few, if any bee-keep- 

 ers in the country, have more than 

 3,000 colonies. Capt. Iletherington, 

 we think, is the most extensive bee- 

 keeper in the United States, and 3,000 

 colonies is the maximum of his oper- 

 ations. 



But when it is asserted that " on an 

 average, an acre will support twenty- 

 five swarms, yielding fifty pounds of 

 honey each," the most incredulous 

 disbeliever in over-stocking will smile 

 with doubt, and, with pencil in hand, 

 will figure it up as follows : Twenty- 

 five colonies, each gathering fifty 

 pounds of honey, would give a total 

 average per acre of 1,250 pounds, and, 

 assuniing the bee's flight in each 

 direction to be two miles from the 

 apiary, would give 2,.5G0 "average" 

 acres within reach, capable of sus- 

 taining an apiary of 64,000 colonies, 

 which, averaging 50 lbs. of honey 

 each, would foot up a total yield of 

 3,200,000 iiounds. Prodigious ! Truly, 

 " there's millions in it!" 



Honey Wine.— Mr. C. J. Quinby, 



says the Bee-Keepers'' jl/agazijie, " has 

 succeeded in producing a wine from 

 pure honey rivalling, if not exceling, 

 in all desirable qualities the imported 

 wines. This wine has been submitted 

 to experts, druggists, physicians and 

 wholesale importers, and all, so far as 

 we know have expressed themselves 

 as surprised and gratified, and predict 

 that this discovery is destined to 

 work a complete revolution in the 

 bee-business, greatly in favor of the 

 honey producer, as it turns much of 

 his produce into an entirely different 

 substance, and hence necessitates a 

 larger supply." 



