THE AMERICAJSI BEE JOURNAL. 



71 



certainly does seem to me a matter of 

 so much importance that it is at least 

 wortli tallviiig about. 



Whilst tlierc may not he a bee- 

 keeper iu tlic land who would^tloubt 

 tlie desirability of obtainius accurate 

 statistics, it niay not be amiss to con- 

 sider will/ we want them, as also what 

 and when. Passing by all other rea- 

 sons. I am free to say that as a pro- 

 ducer of honey, my chief answer to 

 the (luestioii whij is.'that I may better 

 know how to sell my honey, my ichat 

 is the amount of lionev produced in 

 the various sections of the country, 

 and my when is in summer or fall, 

 immediately after the crop is taken, 

 and before"! put my honey on tlie 

 market. 1 know these tha"t I have 

 mentioned are not by any means all 

 the things to be considered, but they 

 are the ones of the greatest impor- 

 tance, of the greatest money value. 



Like all other things, the market 

 value of honey depends on supply 

 and demand, arid to know what price 

 to expect for my honey, I should 

 know something about the supply of 

 honey in tlie country. If this year's 

 crop is double that of last year, the 

 price must be lower, and rice versa. 

 But if we know nothing of the amount 

 produced, both buyer'and seller are 

 in the dark, and we may sell early at 

 a low price to find that we might 

 have done much better later, and 

 another year may suppose the crop 

 light, hold our hoiiey at a high figure 

 and refuse a fair price early in the 

 season only to sell for much less late 

 in the season. A few days ago I 

 learned from a prominent dealer that 

 he had offered " 20 cents for a lot of 

 comb honey in December, which did 

 not bring more than 12 cents in the 

 latter part of February." Now. I do 

 not believe that either producer or 

 consumer is benefited by this state of 

 things, but until some plan is adopted 

 for securing imformation of the right 

 kind and at the right time, this un- 

 certain state of things is sure to con- 

 tinue, resulting in an annual loss of 

 • thousands of dollars. 



Now the question comes, how are 

 we to obtain this information y I do 

 not know. I have thought much 

 about it. and have studied various 

 plans without being satisfied in full 

 with any. If all interested will do a 

 little thinking about it, and offer sug- 

 gestions, we may arrive at something 

 feasible. 



Better than nothing would be to 

 continue the plan tried already. Pos- 

 sibly, if all the bee papers urged it, a 

 fuller report might be obtained next 

 time. 



Mr. O. O. Poppleton. vice-president 

 of Iowa, suggests a plan that I think 

 is better. lie suggests that each vice- 



E resident of the National Society (I 

 ope no Canadian friend will take 

 umbrage at my using the short and 

 familiar name " National " instead of 

 " North American." We are all one 

 nation of bee-keepers). Mr. P. sug- 

 gests that each vice-president gather 

 statistics from his own State or ter- 

 ritory, and forward them to the sec- 

 retary to be compiled by him. This 

 plan is good if the vice-presidents can 

 secure the reports. I am of the opin- 



ion that more would report to a man 

 in their own State than to any outside. 



Another plan. Let inlUie'ntial par- 

 ties in the dilVereut States secure the 

 passage of laws, such as exist in Illi- 

 nois, and perliai)s other States, mak- 

 ing it the duty of some officer of the 

 State to collect the desired statistics. 

 Very fully reports were thus obtained 

 in Illinois last year, but whether they 

 were early enough to be of much ser- 

 vice is doubtful. 



The fact that so many send indi- 

 vidual reports to the difterent papers 

 eacli year for piiblication, suggests 

 the thought that if the names were to 

 be publislicd in full, many more would 

 report. This would be a matter of 

 considerable expense, which might be 

 kept down by limiting the reports to 

 those who luid not less than 5, 10 or 20 

 colonies. 



Another plan would be to have each 

 bee-keeper send with his report the 

 trifle of .5 or 10 cents, then let all the 

 names be printed and a copy sent to 

 each one who sent in his pittance and 

 report. In this case each name could 

 be printed, if only owning a single 

 colony, as he would bear his full share 

 of the expense. 



Now, friends, do not let us drop so 

 important a matter as this without at 

 least trying to get at something prac- 

 tical. I think I could well anord to 

 pay S'T or $10 annually for a full 

 knoweldge on this subject. I feel 

 confident of the co-operation of the 

 bee papers, and I know that the Bee 

 Journal, which has done so much in 

 this direction, will not go back on its 

 record. 



Who can suggest a plan that will 

 work, or show the faults in what has 

 been done or suggested V 



Marengo, 111. 



For the American Bee Jovmal. 



Champlain Valley Convention. 



The Champlain Valley Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, met at the Addison 

 House, Middleburg, Vt., Jan 10, 1884 ; 

 called to order at 11 a. m., by Presi- 

 dent Crane. 



On motion, V. V. Blackmer was 

 made secretary pro tern. 



The Chair appointed a committee 

 of three on nominations. A commit- 

 tee was also appointed to select topics 

 for discussion. The committee on 

 nominations reported : for President, 

 11. L. Leonard ; Vice-President, E. P. 

 Wolcott ; Secretary and Treasurer, J. 

 E. Crane ; and they were unanimously 

 elected. 



President Leonard, on taking the 

 chair, made a short speech, expressing 

 his thanks for the honor, and his ap- 

 preciation of the great usefulness of 

 the Association in building up the in- 

 dustry of beekeeping. 



The meeting now being open for 

 business, Mr. Isham asked, " Is it de- 

 sirable to exchange queens with other 

 bee-keepers for the benefit of their 

 apiaries V" 



President Leonard thought it not 

 desirable. 



The secretary thought it might 

 often be of great benefit. He had 

 much more respect for black bees, af- 



ter having used them in seme of his 

 apiaries during the past season. 



Question : •' Will some strains of 

 bees of the same race prove more pro- 

 ductive than others, or will some col- 

 onies of bees vvitti the same care, in 

 the same condition in spring, prove 

 more productive than others V 



Dr. Boyd thought the difference 

 owing to good crosses or the innate 

 good qualities of some strains of bees, 

 and that such good qualities should be 

 perpetuated by careful breeding. 



Mr. Forbs :' Some of my colonies 

 that were in equally good condition in 

 the spring, would vary greatly in pro- 

 ductiveness. Others spoke to the same 

 effect. 



V. V. Blackmer asked which had 

 wintered best, the black or Italian 

 bees V Answered by E. Smith and 

 G. S. Brown, in favor of the black 

 bees. 



II. B. Isham gave his experience 

 with the two races the past season. 

 His Italian colonies had given an 

 average of 32 lbs. more of honey, and 

 as many swarms as his black bees, to 

 the colony. 



R. II. Holmes inquired, in what re- 

 spect the black bees wintered bestV 

 Answered that the Italians died while 

 the black bees lived. The Secretary's 

 experience had been different ; the 

 Italian bees wintered best. 



Adjourned till 1.30 p. m. 



At the opening of the afternoon ses- 

 sion, a report from those present was 

 called for by the President, and much 

 interesting information obtained, 

 which is condensed in the following 

 table : 



• Sold to the value of $151.00. 

 t Honey for family use. 

 t One colony Kave 2.50 lbs. of honey. 

 t Best yield from one colony, 273 lbs. 

 i Also IJC) lbs. of extracted honey. 

 **Honey not reported. 

 ttSold *2'Hi.o<i worth of honey. 

 ttAlso l.uoo lbs. of e-\tracted honey. 



While the various reports were 

 being put on paper, the President 

 called on Mr. F. L. Ripley, of Boston, 

 to give any information on the honey 

 trade or marketing, that might be o"f 

 use or value to honey producers. 



Mr. Ripley then read a short hastily- 

 prepared paper on the best methods of 

 putting up honey for the Boston and 

 other New England markets, which 

 was listened to with great interest by 

 all present. During the reading of 

 the paper, he was frequently interrup- 

 ted with questions, which were an- 

 swered satisfactorily to all. He said 

 he did not come to represent the firm 

 of Blake & Ripley, of which he was a 

 member, but rather in the interests 

 of the honey trade. He wished to be- 



