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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Statistical Information— Suggestions. 



In reference to the committee ap- 

 pointed by the late meeting of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, at Cincinnati, O., we have re- 

 ceived tlie following letter from ex- 

 President Cook, being a duplicate of 

 one he has sent to the New Jersey 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association : 



At the recent very interesting meet- 

 ing of the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society, there was a very full 

 discussion of the importance of more 

 full and accurate statistics of the pre- 

 sent condition of Apiculture in the 

 United States, both as to tlie number 

 of colonies of bees and the honey pro- 

 duct. It was thought that nothing 

 would so aid our art as such informa- 

 tion. The magnitude of the business 

 once known, and it would be better 

 appreciated as one of the important 

 industries of the country. As a result 

 of the discussion, a committee was 

 appointed to take the subject into 

 consideration, and act, if possible, so 

 as to accomplish the result. 



The committee were : Messrs. C. 

 C. Miller, T. G. Newman and A. I. 

 Root. All of the money in the treas- 

 ury of the Society was pledged to tlie 

 accomplishment of this result. 



Of course no one will fail to recog- 

 nize the value of such statistics ; but 

 the possibility of gathering them is a 

 question of reasonable doubt. I have 

 tliought of a plan which I believe may 

 be made practicable ; I wish to sug- 

 gest it for discussion, in hope that 

 it may be improved, or a better plan 

 suggested. 



The plan is that the Committee pre- 

 pare blanks, suggesting the desirable 

 facts, and that these be sent to an en- 

 terprising bee- keeper in every town or 

 county of the United States, upon 

 application, and that said person see 

 that the supervisor of his town or the 

 supervisors of his county have these 

 blanks, and that said supervisor be 

 pledged to get the desired facts as he 

 takes the assessments. It would seem 

 that there must be such a bee-keeper 

 in every county, if not in every town- 

 ship. These could be reached through 

 the bee periodicals and other journals. 

 These blanks, when once filled, could 

 be gathered by the same bee-keeper, 

 and sent to the committee. I have 

 already asked several supervisors in 

 this State of the practicability of this 

 scheme, and all report favorably. It 

 seems to me the information could be 

 made more correct and be secured 

 more cheaply in this way than in any 

 other. In fact, I can see no other way 

 to compass it. I hope that the matter 

 will be thoroughly discussed by you. 

 and that we shall get some practical 

 results as the outcome of your delib- 

 erations. A. J. Cook. 



We cheerfully give place to the 

 above suggestion of Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 and, by the time the committee shall 

 assemble, organize and prepare to act, 

 the members will, no doubt, have 

 given tliem due consideration, and be 



then and there enabled to decide upon 

 a plan of operation— if they under- 

 take this work. 



Incidentally, we "will remark that 

 we do not think that " supervisors " 

 (more generally called "assessors"), 

 will take any trouble to get the " de- 

 sired facts," unless they are well paid 

 for it. Our experience with such men 

 gives us no confidence either to ask or 

 expect anything of them above or be- 

 yond the regular routine of their 

 duties. There are some who would be 

 obliging enough to do it — but we fear 

 the great majority would either abso- 

 lutely refuse to do so, or else lightly 

 promise, with the intention of forget- 

 ting to fulfill their promise, "made 

 just to get rid of it," or, in some other 

 way, fail to obtain the desired informa- 

 tion. 



Unless the bee-keepers,individually. 

 can be enlisted in the work, and for 

 the sake of benefitting themselves and 

 aiding the honey markets generally 

 throughout the country, we fear it 

 will be a failure. 



We rather prefer the plan suggested 

 by Mr. J. S. Terrill, P. M., of Ridge- 

 ville, O., at the National Convention, 

 which is described thus by the Secre- 

 tary of the Convention : " lie mailed 

 postal cards to every post office in the 

 county, asking the postmaster to write 

 on it the names of the bee-men at his 

 office. The cards were all addressed 

 to himself, so the postmaster had 

 nothing to do but to put it on in pen- 

 cil, and drop the card in the mail. 

 Now, by mailing similar cards to all 

 the bee-men, with a printed request, 

 and blanks to fill out, he got almost a 

 correct report of all the bees in Lorain 

 county, and of the honey raised. This 

 list of names he considers worth all 

 they cost, for calling a convention or 

 any other purpose pertaining to the 

 industry." 



The Vice Presidents of each State 

 could appoint some bee-keeper in each 

 county to act, in the way that Mr. 

 Terrill did, and thus obtain, with 

 some degree of absolute certainty, 

 the desired information. This he 

 could transmit to the State Vice Pres- 

 ident, and he to the Chairman of the 

 Committee on Statistics, to be tabu- 

 lated and published. But the great 

 drawback to all this is the cost. Per- 

 haps no one has even thought of that; 

 we have, however, made a careful es- 

 timate of the cost of postal cards, 

 envelopes, circulars, etc., and at the 

 least calculation, such alone will cost 

 $4,000, even if the labor of the com- 

 mittee be given to the cause. 



Prof. Cook remarks that " all of the 

 money in the treasury of the Society 

 was pledged to the accomplishment of 

 this result." That amount is, we 

 think, less than $150— where is the 

 small balance of $3,a50 to come from':' 

 Is it expected that the committee 

 shall make up the small deliciencyV As- 

 it is only about $1,300 for each member 

 of the committee, for the honor, work 

 and abuse combined, we presume they 

 will, cheerfully—" go home and think 

 about ilV " 



Bees and Honey at Yirginia State 

 Fair. — We notice by the Richmond,. 

 Va., papers that there was a very 

 creditable display of bees and honey 

 at the Virginia State Fair. The daily 

 papers at Richmond contained the fol- 

 lowing notices of it on Nov. 3, 1882 : 



The exhibit of the Sunny Side Api- 

 ary, of Baltimore, deserves more 

 than what the newspapers have said 

 about it. Mr. C. H. Lake is the 

 manager, and was very busy yesterday 

 showing the workings of his new hives, 

 which are consitlered by bee keepers- 

 to be the best made. Mr. Lake ex- 

 hibited Cyprian, Holy Land or Syrian, 

 and the two species of Italian bees. 

 From one colony 220 pounds of honey 

 was obtained in six weeks. — Daily 

 Whig. 



One of the attractions at the Fair 

 is the exhibition of Mr. Charles II. 

 Lake, manager of the Sunny Side 

 Apiary at Baltimore, Md. This gen- 

 tleman has a large tent, under which 

 he shows a case of over two hundred 

 pounds of honey made from one hive ; 

 has several colonies of Italian bees, 

 one of Cyprian bees, and also other 

 foreign bees. Every appliance used 

 in this business is shown by Mr. Lake. 

 He is running seven hundred hives- 

 this season. — Daily Dispatch. 



1^ We have received, from the 

 publishers, a copy of Edwin Alden & 

 Bro.'s American Newspaper Cata- 

 logue, including lists of newspapers- 

 and magazines published in the United 

 States and the Canadas ; together with 

 the population of the Cities, Towns, 

 Counties and States in which they are 

 published, and many other items of 

 interest. It is a large volume of over 

 700 pages, and is nicely bound in clothe 

 There are in America 2,9-I-5 counties 

 in which papers are published— and , 

 the whole number of papers published I 

 is stated in this catalogue to be 12,158. 

 It is a very useful book. It is pub- 

 lished by Edwin Alden & Bro., Cin- 

 cimiati and New York. 



I®" New subscribers for the Weekly 

 Beb Journal for 1H83, can obtain alt 

 the rest of the numbers for this year 

 by sending $2 to this office. 



