602 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



red while circling upward from the 

 hive. 



I have also watched bees, in the 

 agony of death, crawl out of the hive 

 and try to fly. and being unable to do 

 so, to fall and strain themselves in 

 order to pass the feces, which was 

 then so thick and stiff as to hang to- 

 gether like a rope, and hold its shape 

 and dry so ; but tlie poor suffering bee 

 only strained itself to death. In no 

 case have I ever been able to detect 

 anything like dry powder save as the 

 excrement became decomposed. 



The conclusion I liave arrived at is 

 this: 1. That healthy bee-excrement 

 is always liquid, or liquid more or less 

 thickened with the refuse of pollen, 

 «tc. 2. That it is frequently occurring 

 during flight; and with large num- 

 bers of bees, might be observed at 

 almost any time on a large scale, as 

 by Mr. Youngman. 



If this is true, it has some impor- 

 tant bearings: 1. On the disease 

 called •■ diarrhcea.'' How can a thick- 

 ening of the feces, as in the state of 

 disease, by any right use of terms, be 

 called "diarrhoea," which means to 

 flow, and is used to describe an un- 

 usual and unhealtliy condition. 2. It 

 is my belief that " dry feces " is an 

 impossibility with a live bee; but if 

 it is possible, it is certainly not nat- 

 ural. If dry powder is observed, 

 some other explanation must be 

 sought for its existence ; and until 

 none can be found, or healthy bees 

 are seen to pass it, I will not believe 

 it. 3. If this is a true description, it 

 affords a firm basis tor the •' pollen 

 theory," the disease not consisting of 

 a thinning of the feces as implied by 

 the term " diarrhoea," but a thicken- 

 ing of the same, until it becomes im- 

 passable. 



AVill Mr. Ileddon tell us the condi- 

 tion of those bees that died in three 

 weeks in the cellar '{ Were" they quiet 

 at all ? How often were they ex- 

 amined at the first V And what, if 

 anything, was done to quiet them ? 



Custer, 111. 



TOT tne American Bee JoumaL 



Iowa State Convention. 



The display of honey-bees and apia- 

 rian implements of the Iowa State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, at the Iowa 

 State Fair, was excellent. Though 

 the number of exhibitors was n~ot 

 large, the display was very creditable 

 to the Society. Among the most im- 

 portant of the exhibitors were the 

 following : In extracted honey and 

 bees. Rev. O. Clute, of Iowa City, cer- 

 tainly took the lead, he having a very 

 large and excellent display of ex- 

 tracted honey in glasses of all sizes. 



Messrs. Simons & Humphery took 

 the lead on comb honey .having a large 

 ■display of both fall and spring honey. 



Mr. Kimball, of DeWitt, Iowa, also 

 had an excellent display of bees and 

 honey ; his display of bees being 

 equaled ouly by that of Mr. Clute. 



In the display of apiarian imple- 

 ments and hives. Mr. Sorrick took the 

 lead. There were a number of other 

 good displavs. among them that of 

 Mr. Norris, of Cedar Palls. 



The Society held its second annual 

 meeting on the Fair Grounds, Wednes- 

 day evening at 5 o'clock, President 

 O. Clute in the chair. 



In the absence of the Secretary. L. 

 E. Cardell, Mr. T. W. Livingston was 

 elected Secretary 'pro tern. The Presi- 

 dent then gave his report, which was 

 approved. The Treasurer, Mr. Sor- 

 rick, then gave his report, which was 

 approved. Secretary Livingston then 

 read the minutes of the previous 

 meeting, which were approved and 

 adopted. 



The following officers were then 

 elected for the coming year : Presi- 

 dent, Rev. O. Clute, Iowa City ; Vice 

 President, O. O. I'oppletou, Williams- 

 town ; Secretary. Wm. Goos, Daven- 

 port ; Treasurer, Fred. M. Sorrick, 

 Des Moines. 



On motion it was decided that the 

 dues of L. E. Cardell be remitted, 

 being in consideration of the expenses 

 met by him for postage, etc. 



There was quite a lively discussion 

 in regard to holding a winter meeting 

 as well as the annual Fair meeting, 

 some thinking it best and others not. 

 It was finally suggested that it be left 

 to the executive committee to decide. 

 Mr. Clute then said that we could get 

 a tent for about SW in which to hold 

 our annual Fair meeting. 



A motion that the executive com- 

 mittee be instructed to get a tent, was 

 carried. After some discussion in 

 regard to the programme to be carried 

 out for the evening, it was decided to 

 have a question-box ; the questions to 

 be answered by any of the members 

 present. A motion to leave the mak- 

 ing of the programme for the coming 

 year, to the executive committe. was 

 carried. On motion the meeting then 

 adjourned till 7 p. m. 



The evening meeting was called to 

 order by President Clute at 7 o'clock. 

 The programme for the evening being 

 carried out, in which the members 

 took a lively part, on motion, the 

 meeting then" adjourned. 



Wji. Goos, Sec. 



Texas Farm and Ranch. 



Organization for Bee-Keepers. 



K. J. KENDALL. 



Probably one of the greatest causes 

 of the spread of apiculture through- 

 out the entire country during recent 

 years, is the growing "practice of hold- 

 ing conventions and meetings of api- 

 arists. These meetings, either county, 

 State, district or national, are of the 

 utmost importance, and the more 

 nearly they become perfect in organi- 

 zation, full in membership, and regu- 

 lar in attendance, the more useful 

 they will be. 



The average bee-keeper has not the 

 money to spend in making long trips 

 to a quarterly meeting, and the same 

 reason seems to operate against his 

 attendance at an annual meeting. 

 The question is, how shall we obviate 

 the difficulty V In my poor opinion it 

 is to be overcome in only one way — 

 by county organizations If we were 

 to zealously go in for these, and every 

 member faitlifully attend each month- 

 ly meeting, we would help ourselves 



amazingly, not only m mutual instruc- 

 tion as to our apiaries and their care, 

 but also in that equally important 

 branch of our business — the sale of 

 our honey and the prices we should 

 get for it. I believe that there is 

 scarcely a county or district but what 

 could be educated to use more honey 

 than could be produced, so to speak. 



What we want is system and organ- 

 ization. Instead of each one of us 

 going ou his " own hook " and sepa- 

 rately and individually soliciting store- 

 keepers for orders, this should be 

 done by an agent, or by circular, from 

 the coiinty society, if this method 

 were practiced, the store-keeper would 

 not be able to play one bee-keeper off 

 against another in the way he does 

 now. We should liave a market price, 

 and that price the store keeper would 

 have to pay, or go without his honey. 

 Some leader may think that if this 

 course were adopted, much of the 

 honey would remain unsold. I do not 

 think so. As soon as people found 

 that there was honey — good, pure 

 honey — in the markets, they would 

 have it, and would gladly pay 1.5 cents 

 per pound for it, right along. We can 

 jjioduce honey to retail at that figure 

 and do well ; but when we go to a 

 .dealer and ask him a certain figure, 

 he replies as promptly as if he had 

 learned his answers: '"'Oh, I can buy 

 it at so and so." In this way he 

 creates a doubt in the mind of the 

 seller, that other honey-i)roducers are 

 offering their honey at less than he 

 does, and he puts down his own price, 

 believing that the store-keeper told 

 him the truth, which he may or may 

 not have done, just according to his 

 belief in the adage that "honesty is 

 the best policy." 



If honey-producers were organized, 

 agreed ou their prices at each monthly 

 meeting, and had a central depot in 

 each town from which could be sold 

 to retailers, all this beating down 

 could be checked and stopped. Have 

 my readers never heard that there are 

 such things in the cities as " trades 

 unions." and that " in union there is 

 strength?" If tliey have, do they 

 imagine that the same principle would 

 not work equally as well to their ad- 

 vantage as to other businesses ? If 

 they do, they are missing a splendid 

 means of self help, and losing money 

 every season because of it. 



Austin, Texas. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Northwestern Ohio Convention. 



According to the announcements, 

 the bee-keepers of Defiance and ad- 

 joining counties met, and Mr. O. 

 Welcli was called to the chair. After 

 some preliminarv remarks, the chair- 

 man appointed Messrs. W. V. Thomas, 

 Wm. H. Ralston, and I. T. Parker a 

 committee to draft a constitution ; 

 this they did, and reported one, which, 

 after some slight changes, was 

 adopted ; therebv naming this asso- 

 ciaticm " The ^"orthwestern Ohio 

 Bee-Keepers' Association." 



The permanent organization was 

 then formed by the election of Mr. 

 Lake E. Myers, President; Mr. O. 



